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3rd Trimester
Cooper's Birth Story
Hi All - I always enjoyed reading birth stories so I thought I'd tell you my son's birth story since everyone is closing in on their due date.
I went into labor naturally the morning of 5/29; however, I didn't know I was in labor until a couple hours passed! I woke up at 2:30am with really bad menstrual cramps which I'd experienced numerous times a week leading up to this so I just shook it off as that. I took a bath to relax and got back in bed. An hour passed and I was still having cramps so I started timing them. They were all over the place: 5 minutes, 11 minutes, 7 minutes, etc. I got in the bath yet again and got back in bed and laid a towel down just in case. I woke up my husband around 4ish to tell him I thought I was in early labor stages and to just sit with me. I kept timing the cramps. I suddenly felt a little tiny trickle, like I'd peed myself. I grabbed the towel and looked at it and saw my mucous plug so I went to the bathroom. It wasn't all of it, I don't think, b/c it was smaller than I'd expected but it was definitely part of it.
My Mom came over at 6am to help get our 3 year old DD ready for daycare while my husband and I were finishing last minute packing items for the hospital. FYI: he was doing LAUNDRY!!!!! My "cramps" really started to pick up in intensity and were getting closer together so I started to think I was in real labor, but they were tolerable still. I was all packed up and sat in the rocking chair with my phone timing them while he finished packing his stuff and loaded the car.
We arrived to the hospital at 7:45am. He came around to get me out of the car and when I stood up my water broke right there in the parking lot! I was shocked. I just looked at him and said "OMG MY WATER BROKE" He walked me to the entrance and we checked in quickly and they sat me in a wheel chair, wheeled me to the elevator and when my husband helped me out of the wheel chair into the bathroom to change into my gown, I gushed again, all over myself and on the floor. Right then I knew this was for real and we were going to have a baby. The nurse came in and did all of her registration stuff, put a IV (port only, so I could freely move to labor) in my hand, and checked my cervix which was at a good 2.5cm. I signed the form to get an epi but told them to hold off for now until my labor picked up. I sat on the ball for a good hour or two. The contractions were coming on pretty strong now and they were intense to the point where I was gripping the side of the bed (so I wouldn't fall off the ball) and holding onto my husband with my other hand. And with each contraction I had the longer they lasted. It was getting really painful.
DH hollered out to the nurse that my contractions were coming really fast, like 2 minutes apart and with no breaks. She came in and told me to get in the bed so she could check me. I was at a 4 now. It seemed moments later that the contractions were back to back and I was in a lot of pain and really tried breathing through them. The nurses came in, told my DH that I was starting to go into active labor and the transitioning to it will be intense. They were right. Not only did I have DH hold a bucket in front of me b/c I felt like throwing up but the contractions were getting really really painful. I screamed for an epidural. The nurse told me she'd have to hook my IV in first before I got it. So as she was hooking my IV bag up, I was contracting non-stop and screaming at this point. Before I knew it, nurses were running in and hollering to call the doc. The nurse checked me (which hurt like h*ll) and I could barely stand it. She looked at me and said "You're 9.5 cm!!!" She turned to the other nurse and said GET THE DOC NOW!!!!!!!! I screamed at her to give me an epi. She told me "there's no time for an epi, you have to do this naturally". Side Note: I went from a 4 to a 9.5 in 20 minutes!!! I was terrified and crying at this point. I remember looking at my DH and telling him "I can't do this".
My OB raced in, put my bed down where my legs hung down at an angle and told me to stop screaming, instead, to bare down and push.
I did that and out he came. He came out in ONE PUSH! And OMG the relief. It felt amazing to get him out. I tore naturally (she had no time to cut me). I remember her telling me she was numbing me up (after I delivered placenta) to give me a stitch and I didn't even feel her numbing me, there's so much trauma down there by this point I really couldn't feel particulars.
Just know this: Labor and Delivery hurts. But even though it was the most intense pain I'd ever felt, it was all worth it b/c not only did it happen naturally, but it was over quickly. I arrived at the hospital at 7:45am and had my baby boy at 10:40am. I labored ALL DAY with DD 3 years ago and was induced and had an epidural. I had two totally different experiences and I'd take the natural delivery any day over the induction. I remember being so tired with the induction b/c I labored all day long, this time it happened much quicker. I was BFing my baby within 10 minutes of him being born. The nurse described how natural birthed babies are exactly like puppy dogs, since they're not drugged when they come out, they would literally crawl to your breast to find the milk.
Ladies: it's amazing and the outcome is well worth the pain. I promise.
Good Luck to you all 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Cooper's Birth Story
B born 7/15/13, C born 3/2/15, #3 on the way May '17
I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond! I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
DS1 Jan 2012
DS2 July 2013
DS3 February 2016
Not sure what BTDT is, I'm not caught up on the 'lingo' but I think I understand your question. I was definitely relaxed at home with laboring even though I wasn't quite sure I was in actual labor until a few hours had passed. I even remember telling DH on our way to the hospital (while having a few contractions during the car ride) that they may send us home. The contractions were very tolerable and I could breathe through them so I wasn't sure until my water broke in the parking lot
I urge each and everyone of you to hold out for natural labor. This is when it's supposed to happen! I loved going into labor naturally this time around.
Congrats again!