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January 2012 Moms
My birth story: love my new baby, hate the labor/recovery
So...I was due on January 9th. Since I was a GD, my OB/GYN didn't want me to go past my due date. At my very last prenatal appointment (5 days before my due date), my body wasn't showing signs of going into labor soon (dilation was slow, baby didn't drop, etc.) so my doctor stretched my cervix to encourage my body to go into labor (that HURT, by the way) and scheduled an induction on my due date.
Lo and behold, I actually started feeling back cramps early on the morning of my due date. Every time I called the Labor and Delivery department that day to report my progress, the nursers were all surprised that I was actually going into labor on my actual due date. Lol. I finally got admitted in the hospital at around 4 PM so of course I didn't even need to go through with the induction.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the baby right away. I went through 31 hours of labor and 3 1/2 hours of pushing but still couldn't push him out. Finally, the doctors used a vacuum to help guide him out and that, combined with even MORE pushing on my part, helped my son emerge at 9:20 the next morning. Baby B came in at a whopping 9 pounds even and almost 22" tall. I'm petite and little, which was probably why I had a hard time pushing him out.
The complications: his shoulder was stuck in my birth canal so the staff was concerned about that. There were a couple of specialists who keep testing him to make sure his shoulder was okay and thankfully, it was. Also, he had jaundice so he had to bake under the phototherapy lamps for a whole day. We ended up staying in the hospital a total of 4 days and 3 nights for his treatment and my recovery. Let me tell you, I was SO glad to finally be allowed to go home.
Recovery: sucks because I had third degree tears (almost tore all the way, wince) so I was in a LOT of pain. Thank God for drugs because they really helped me numb the extreme pain. I was also exhausted from lack of sleep, which didn't help with the recovery. I also came down with a lovely case of hemorrhoids and I was constipated for several days. Thankfully, after a couple of extremely painful days, Preparation H and Milk of Magnesia helped get rid of those problems.
End result: despite the hellacious labor experience, I'd go through it all again, over and over, just to have my beautiful son. He brings so much joy and happiness to our lives that I don't even care about the pain I went through. Every time I look at him, my heart overflows with love and wonder. He is definitely my own little miracle and I'm so grateful for him. However, I'm pretty sure I won't be having any more babies any time soon, if ever again! LOL!
By the way, my son was my second child. My first born is my 15-year-old daughter and having her was a LOT easier than having my son was. With my daughter, I was only in labor for 19 hours and I didn't tear at all since she was only 6 1/2 pounds and 19 inches. So don't believe anyone when they tell you that it's always easier to have the second baby 'cause I'm proof that it's not. Lol. Like I said, though, it doesn't matter 'cause I still love both my babies to pieces. :-)
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Re: My birth story: love my new baby, hate the labor/recovery
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