XP: med free hospital birth

Background:  I was 3 cm dilated at my 34 week appt and 70% effaced.  My water broke with my first LO at 35 weeks, so I wasn?t sure what to expect this time around.

I started noticing around 10:00am Sat. that I had light pink discharge.  I wasn?t sure if it was the rest of my mucous plug or even the bloody show.  I went ahead and contacted my doula just in case.  She wasn?t sure either but said to watch for contractions, etc.  Around noon I started to notice random heavy pressure ? nothing timeable.  I kept thinking they were just Braxton hicks because they weren?t painful. 

At 3:00pm we left to go to inlaws house for dinner.  My contractions at this time were 8-12 minutes apart.  They were definitely noticeable but not painful.  I was sure that they would stop and it would be a false alarm. 

At 5:30pm they started to be around 4-5 minutes and were increasingly painful.  I would have to stop talking and breathe through them.  But again, it wasn?t that bad.  I totally thought that it was just a false alarm.  My doula told me to go to the hospital when I thought I couldn?t take it anymore.  She was afraid that I would miss the transition time and be in the car at a bad time.  I was in denial that this was the real thing.  I thought that it would be more like the movies where the woman was moaning and unable to walk/talk.  Mine were nothing like this.  Yes the pressure was intense and hurting, but nothing I didn?t think I could handle. 

At 6:45, the pressure was getting to the point where I thought that maybe we should at least be checked at the hospital (I fully expected to be sent home lol). 

At 7 we arrived and the triage nurse wanted me to be checked and said that I would have to wait in this small room and she would check me after a while and see if I was progressing.  The contractions were like 3 minutes apart and I was really having to concentrate through them.  She asked me if I was having an epidural and I told her no.  She kindof acted surprised like she didn?t believe me   She checked me and the look on her face was priceless lol.  She had her hand in there for what felt like forever!  I finally asked her what was going on and she was like, ?umm you?re a 7 and I can?t feel your cervix at all!? 

So they immediately got me in a room and started setting up everything.  In my memory I felt like I only had 4 or 5 contractions before they said it?s time to push.  Shocked me to death!  Thankfully my doula arrived at this time and the pressure to push was intense.  Like everyone has said, pushing relieved the pain of the contraction.  The pressure felt just like I had to poop.  My water broke at this point.  After a few sets of pushes, the pain started to get really really bad.  Thankfully my doula really relaxed me and helped me breathe, but I?m not going to lie.  The pain of her crowning was awful ? I remember thinking between pushing that this was the last kid ever and what was I thinking to go without meds lol.  I didn?t scream, but I definitely moaned through it all.

The doctor/nurses were not happy that I didn?t put my legs in the stirrups and push on my back.  They didn?t force me but they kept saying rudely, ?The doctor needs your legs up so he can see? and blah blah blah.  I just ignored them and continued to push on my side.  After 30 minutes of pushing it was over!  When she finally came out, the pain was immediately gone!  It was amazing    I was at the hospital exactly one hour before she was born.  (7pm to 8:09pm) Craziness!

Seriously, if I can make it through it?.anybody can!  I am not some strong Amazon woman lol.  I didn?t take any Bradley/hypnobirthing classes.  I didn?t read much on natural birth- just knew the basics.  But I did it!  It feels like such an amazing accomplishment