My pain med free Bradley birth. (long)
My surprise baby was born on November 5th at 11:24pm at 39w 4d. Michael Gavin weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and measured 20".
The night of the 4th into the 5th I was awoken numerous times throughout the night with heavy cramps, this is something that rarely occurred during my pg. When I went to the bathroom at 6am and wiped I discovered blood and mucus on the toilet paper. At the time I didn't let my mind go crazy because the day before we had sex in the afternoon and I had some pink spotting, so I just assumed it was my cervix softening.
My plans for the day were to wait along with my mother in the hospital waiting room because my father was have surgery that day. So I jump in the shower to get ready and by the time I get out we started to realize that this could be the big day. I continue to get ready and my husband gets ready for work as well as finish packing the bags for the hospital. So I meet my parents at the hospital and inform them that I've started cramping and now it's progressed to intermittent pains. My dad is admitted and checked into a room while I wait in the waiting room. I try to time the pains but given the fact that I was in a waiting room with a small clock on the opposite side of the room it made it very difficult. I finally decide that I don't want to chance not being able to drive back home to meet up with my husband and then drive to our hospital an hour away, so I had better leave my parents sooner than later. Through tears I go to my dads room when he's still being examined and explain that I think that I had to go. (Not how I imagined my day. I wanted my parents to be there for their first grandchild being born and I wanted to be there to support my parents through a scary time.)
We arrived at the hospital at noon. At 1pm the mw checked me and I was 2-3 cm. Deciding that I was definitely in labor they start the antibiotics for me being GBS+. Within 10 minutes I start to feel like something was wrong. My hand and up to my wrist was burning and felt like it was going to explode. Turned out I was having a reaction to the Penicillin. The nurse stopped the IV, flushed it then started Ancef, which was better.
For the next couple of hours I labored in the jacuzzi, bed, on the birthing ball and while swaying back and forth with my husband. I followed my Bradley training with my breathing and not tensing with the contractions. My husband was an amazing coach and partner. I threw up numerous times, and all together was a complete mess at times yet he was very supportive and did everything that he could to help me deal. At 7pm my progression was checked and I was 7cm. At this point the back labor was horrific. I felt like I was on some crazy drugs. I'd say something and not even a second later not even remember saying it. I'd be wide awake saying my oms through contractions and the next second I'd be asleep. We moved onto the birthing tub to prepare since I was progressing. When I was checked again I was at 10cm. At that point I was beginning to become hysterical. The contractions were so rough. I was begging to God (not something I normally do - I'm not a religious person), I was begging to my husband and the midwife to please give me a c/s. My husband was starting to get scared for me. He asked the mw about breaking my water. She said at this point any other mw would have done it but she wasn't prepared to.
There came a point where my mw yelled at me. With each contraction I would end up crying that "I can't do this" or "Why, please why". She told me that I need to stop being so negative, that I've come this far and I'm doing a great job. With my stern yelling I calmed myself and realized that I had come this far and there was not much further to reach my goal. Two hours after my husband brought up breaking the waters the mw said she was prepared to do it then. I got out of the birthing tub and she broke the waters and mentioned that there was meconium in the fluid. At the mention of the meconium and knowing how long I was already in labor I was freaking out and ready to get my baby out. If it wasn't for the fact that I had a little bit of a cervical lip I would have started pushing right away. I tried to see if a couple more contractions would do the job and it didn't. So instead the mw held the cervical lip back while I tried pushing, and it worked. Within the hour of my waters breaking my little boy was born.
All together it was the most amazing, powerful, scary and breath taking experience ever.
Some things I learned through my labor
-Don't hype yourself over the perfect labor or birth plan. Besides going pain med free (at one point I almost gave into this), my birth plan was not even a thought to me. My mw and husband were the ones who made me stick with it. Perfect labor...Ha! Everything I thought my labor would be was not the case at all.
-Don't be scared about having a bowel movement while in labor. I was so scared to fart or poop and yet I had absolutely no control over it. I pooped three times while pushing and I would have been non the wiser if I didn't make my husband tell me the truth. It didn't even phase him.
Also, during the hospital stay my baby had problems breastfeeding. Each time a nurse or lactation consultant helped he eventually latched on, but when it was just him and me nothing worked. I asked for help every feeding and was told to not be so hard on myself he's only so many hours old and he'll eventually get it. After 2 days of being home and him still not eating properly we eventually looked into nipple shields. What a godsend! He latches on with the first attempt. There is no more hysterical crying fits from me or him! I would definitely suggest this to anyone who is flat nippled which apparently I am.
Good luck to everyone!
Re: My pain med free Bradley birth. (long)
He's absolutely gorgerous!
Thanks for sharing your story. I can't wait to start our Bradley classes.