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December 2010 Moms
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Jackson's Birth Story PIP (uber long)
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Oh girls, those of you who are still waiting for your LO's are in for such a HUGE treat. I cannot express how much I love my son and how much I love my DH as a daddy.
I've been off the bump since having him and so I've missed a ton that I'm not even going to try to catch up with, but congrats to everyone who has their LO's!! 
SO exciting!!
Here's Jackson's birth story:
Nov. 30th I started having regular contractions and called when they got to the 5-1-1 stage. They felt like regular period cramps with BH. I was told to take a bath to relax and get baby to move into position and go to bed. I was so miserable that I couldn't fall asleep until 2am. I woke up at 4am having to pee and felt a teensy gush (thinking maybe water? maybe from having sex the night before?) and then blood in the toilet. Got super nervous and called again and was told to come in and be checked for amniotic fluid.
Woke up DH and he was sooo excited. 
Drove to the hospital and was sent to L&D triage. They did an internal and I had not progressed any since Monday, and was still 2-1/2cm and 80%, and was not leaking amniotic fluid. So they sent DH and I walking the halls to see if it was the real deal. We walked for about 1/2 hour and I dilated to a 3 in that time. They sent me walking again and then set us up with a room.
Contractions were not bad at all at this time, except for lower back pain which I thought was pretty normal. DH and I walked and played UNO and I texted through them. I was put on a monitor every so often to check baby and he was always happy. By 10am my OB had suggested to the on call Dr that they break my water. But I really wanted to see what I could do on my own, so I declined.
My mom showed up and we were all still having a good time. Some time after that I would gush a little bit with every contraction, so my nurse checked me and I was actually leaking AF this time! Contrax were still totally manageable. Around 2 my OB showed up to check on me and I decided to let him break my water since it was leaking already anyway. He estimated that if I let him break it that I would deliver by 9pm. So he got all set up to break it, had his hand up there, positioned the hook and BAM my water broke on its own! lol It was pretty cool.
I was really surprised at how much fluid came out when I stood up, I totally soaked my comfy labor pants and kept gushing huge amounts of fluid every time I moved and every time I contracted all the way until baby came out.
This is when my contractions started becoming something I had to deal with. I used slow focused breathing to work my way through them, and DH was by my side the whole time encouraging me. (I think I was 4-5cm at this time)
I alternated between the jacuzzi tub and the bed counting down the hours until 9pm. One of the nurses suggested moaning through contractions because it would help move baby down by using my muscles. So I moaned through the harsher ones. My back was still killing me, I was apparently having back labor, and had been the whole time, but I thought it was normal. It was probably the worst part of the pain, and DH massaged my lower back with each contraction.
9pm came and went. When I got to 8cm the contractions started getting truly unbearable. I actually started yelling through some of them, and felt ridiculous doing it, but it was uncontrollable. I'm actually crying right now remembering how intense it was.
I got to almost 10 cm and had a tiny lip to go. I was completely exhausted and somehow was able to fall asleep between contractions, and then breathe/yell my way through them. However, they plateaued and I couldn't get past that tiny lip. I was SO frustrated at my body. I'm not sure how long I stayed like that but December 1st was gone.
I was laying on my side at this point because it helped with the back pain. I was the same when I was checked for the 3rd time, and they suggested pitocin to make my contractions more effective. I was terrified. I knew that these contractions were already the more than I could imagine - I was cave-woman yelling at this point - and if pitocin made them more intense then I thought there was no way I could handle it. I told DH that I didn't know if I could do it, and that I was scared of the pitocin and that if they could just knock me out and take the baby at this point I'd be fine with it. But he and my mom were so encouraging. So I got the pitocin.
It really didn't hurt any more, it was just more intense somehow, I can't describe it. I would fall asleep between contractions and then feel one coming on and stare at a ceiling tile and just yell my head off. I really only remember a few of those contractions before I felt this INSANE urge to push, like my body was going to push without my permission. So the nurse checked me and the lip was pretty much gone, but she wouldn't let me push. During one of these contractions my calf cramped and I went crazy kicking and screaming. lol It was awful.
The on call Dr was in emergency surgery, so the nurse got permission to have me push. At first I was pushing just from instinct, no real focus, just PUSH during contractions. I was able to get 4 pushes per contraction. Then the Dr came in and extra nurses and I knew it was go time. I started to focus and push the way that I learned in our birthing class, start at the top of the uterus and curl around it and push out the bottom. After about 3 contractions, at 2:11am on December 2nd, he was OUT.
They put him on me and it was amazing. So amazing.
Some reflections on my 20+ hours of labor without pain meds:
It was extremely painful, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I really don't know if I would/could do it again. But the important thing is that I DID do it, and you can to if you want to.
I really had no prep other than a general birthing class where they taught some basic relaxation techniques. I used slow, focused breathing until I had to instinctively yell.
I could NOT have done it without my husband helping me. He talked to me throughout my contractions, held my hand, and rubbed my back constantly.
The back labor was the worst part, if I didn't have back labor I feel like it would have been a cake walk. I had to have someone rub my back each and every contraction after my water broke. It helped a lot to be on my knees, and to lean over the back of the bed which the nurses sat straight up. I was pretty weak when I tried that position so I couldn't hold it for long, but it helped a lot. Laying on my side was also 100x better than laying on my back and I wish I had figured that out before 8cm.
If you want to do this natural, you CAN. If you don't feel prepared, it's OK, you can still do it. The most important piece of advice I can give is to realize that with most pain in your life your body is telling you something is wrong, and that you need to fix something. This is not a 'something is wrong' pain, this is a pain with a purpose. With every contraction you are getting your body ready to give birth, every pain is a sign of something going RIGHT. Remember that and tell it to yourself constantly. ?
I used to be a big deal. Now I'm just old.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Jackson's Birth Story PIP (uber long)
I usually don't read super long birth stories, but yours was so well-written! And OH MY GOD I literally said 'aaaaawwwwwwww' when I saw the picture of Jacksons face. He is SO PERFECT!! I love his sweet little lips! Congratulations! You have made me a bazillion times more impatient to meet my little Shnookums
Great story! I wish you had said that labor wasn't so painful, but it's good to hear honest feedback. You're a rock star for getting through it. Would you say the contractions were worst than the pushing part? You didn't really mention any pushing pain.
Anyway, congrats! Jackson is so cute!
aww.. what a sweet little face that jackson has!!
i really enjoyed reading your labor story. i think you expressed the pain perfectly! unlike you, i wasn't planning to go med-free, but i dilated super-fast (all 10 cm in 2 hours) and the pain was freaking excruciating. in the end, i got the epidural but not until i was already the full 10cm (they didn't check me, otherwise i probably would not have been given it!) props to you for going the entire way med-free, and congrats on your beautiful boy.
Your birth story is an inspiration. I am planning to go as med free as I can, so reading your story was really helpful. Congratulations he is so beautiful. What a perfect little face!