CPT: Was delivery what you expected?

Cara1024 · February 2014

No matter how your LO was born, was the birth harder or easier than you imagined it would be?

Deblondie1 · February 2014

I voted harder because I hadn't expected to be pushing for over 3hrs. I dilated quickly, she just wasn't in the right position. I also had not expected the horrific pain from a vacuum assisted delivery.

teacher0708 · February 2014

I put what I expected. I didn't think it would be so fast but everything else was what I thought.

mrskratt · February 2014

Harder for me-- pushed for 3 hours then having to have a CS sucked!
AND my contractions hurt way worse then I ever imagined.

mrsjenni · February 2014

Nope. Much, much harder. Baby girl was stuck, but thankfully it all ended well... just hours after we thought it would.

peanutmuse · February 2014

Too complicated to answer. I never made it to actual labor, but I was not expecting induction to be that emotionally draining. My c-section was not as difficult as I expected, not even the recovery. But the swelling was worse than I expected. So... Both better AND worse, but definitely NOT what I expected, lol.

SandFHasse · February 2014

Well it went faster then I thought this time, but I'm going to go with harder since I ended up needing a c section. Definitely not what we expected this time.

worleygirl · February 2014

Went much better than my first so I said easier. But right after was worse bc was taken from me bc of her breathing issues. So overall it wasn't great. I don't think DH could handle it again.

forevergraceful · February 2014

Harder, much harder. They had to put the epidural in four times and it still failed. They also felt the need to give me ungodly amounts of pitocin. She was also face up. Combine all that together and I had unbearable pain, and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Luckily, I didn't have to push very long, only 1.5 hours. In the end though, we were both healthy and I have forgotten about all the pain.

nicnique · February 2014

I think the labor itself was easier than I expected but definitely longer than I expected. The after delivery BP issues and epidural headache was difficult. I wasn't prepared for that and didn't expect that to happen.

CeeJC121013 · February 2014

I put as expected. Labor was longer than my 1st (which I was not expecting) but I was more prepared for the pain I would experience because of already having gone through this before.

LabPupLuv · February 2014

I put as I expected because I wanted to see results. I had a section.

jwp325 · February 2014

Harder and definitely did not expect to have a forceps delivery or for baby girl to be face up and take forever to move down. Plus back labor sucks!

thelittlepear · February 2014

Harder, and definitely not as expected... 2 epis (still didn't really work), a whole lot of pitocin, face sideways (then turned face up), back labour, and 2.5 hours of pushing...

Armyratt · February 2014

I said easier. It ended up being easier then my other births but I didn't think it would turn out that way with only being at a 1 at my induction. Induction started contractions were not bad just a lot of pressure with the foley bulb. After a couloir hours it didn't want to come out so I was getting discouraged and baby's heart rate was not looking good so they prepped an OR room just in case. I had to push the bulb out and I ended up being a 5 and labor just quickly progressed from there. I knew when I was ready to push and she was out in a couple pushes.

valigrl21 · February 2014

This was my second and almost identical delivery to my first. So it was pretty much what I expected.

goldenB · February 2014

I voted that it was easier than I expected.

I fully went in thinking I will eventually get the epidural, but that never happened. The contractions were easier (I have really bad menstrual cramps and TBH some of my menstrual cramps were more painful than actual labour)
But what surprised me was the fact that I found the pushing to be worse than I anticipated (I pushed for 1.5 hrs and felt like nothing was progressing). Also everyone says the pushing is almost a feeling of relief compared to contractions, yaa well they lied. Pushing hurts!

RedSaffron · February 2014

I honestly did not know what to expect since I'm a FTM. I was open minded and I think labor was pretty easy on me for having my water break and not having any contractions until they had to induce me. I think what was hard was after delivery, my blood pressure drop to a scary 83/52 and I did not get to bond with DD until 4 hours later.

khunter11 · February 2014

Expected.

18 hours unmedicated and it was horrible but my Bradley classes prepped me well. When they checked and I was still at 5 cm I got the epi - and then it was easy peasy. I started making progress when they finally broke my water and pushing was 1.5 hours.

Not too shabby for a first timer and I'm kind of glad I experienced the pain as bat sh*t crazy as that sounds.

berenely · February 2014

I said easier. 20 hours of labor and 3.5 hours of pushing, but my epidural was amazing and my husband did great coaching me. In the end it still surprises me - I consider myself to have a low pain tolerance, but I don't know if I was going on adrenaline or if I was just in a zone, but my L&D was textbook, just how I wanted it to happen, and not as difficult as I was expecting it to be.

JuliaH21 · February 2014

I put as expected, because it was what I expected in a best-case scenario way. I was prepared for things to be much worse, but since this was my second and I'd been walking, doing squats, and various stretches, I was hoping for a labor that was about half the time of my last one (1st was 14 hrs, this one was 6.5). I'd also looked into various pushing positions and techniques more this time, so cutting pushing from 45 min to 20 wasn't unexpected either. I feel really lucky this delivery was so easy, but since I put in work the whole 9 months to try to get this kind of delivery, I didn't feel like it was really unexpected.

cja06 · February 2014

I put harder, although my real answer is it totally was not what I expected even after having two children! I didn't expect my entire labor from first contraction to delivery to take less than 5 hours. Didn't expect to arrive at the hospital at 9 cm! Didn't expect that I would be facing an unmediated delivery. And didn't expect at all they would have to do a c-section. But I do have to say that for as dramatic as it all was, at least it was short which makes it in some ways easier than my 27 hour labor (with 3 hours of pushing) with my first.

CopperT0p · February 2014

I put what I expected, but some parts were harder and some easier so I just put the in between answer.

Labour was 39 hours, starting with my water breaking and intense contractions that only got me to 1cm and 90% effaced after 30 hours. I was hoping for a home birth VBAC but I ended up needing pitocin and an epi to make my contractions work. The part that was easiest was the pushing. I didn't feel like I was doing much but apparently I was. It took less than 40 minutes of pushing to bring him down and he ended up shooting out in the end without me pushing. The recovery was also much easier than I expected. I had a second degree tear but I never felt it in my recovery.

sugarland726 · February 2014

I was not expecting to labor at all because I was supposed to have a RCS. I went in to spontaneous labor 4 days before my RCS date. I had to labor for 22 hours before DS was finally delivered. So, harder than expected.

cpm1223 · February 2014

I said it was easier than I thought. Yes contractions sucked and I did wait about 12 hours til I got the epi, but I had imagined it was going to be much worse. The epi didn't hurt at all, pushing was fairly easy for me too and I only pushed for 25 minutes. I was actually watching the monitors to see when I was having contractions, and once I was I looked at the doc and said "ok I'm going to push now!"

I was originally petrified of pushing, I even cried before I had to push because I was so scared that something would go wrong. So I was pleasantly surprised at how fast he came out!

km_md · February 2014

I voted harder. I prepared myself (as much as a FTM can) for being in pain from contractions, but I didn't anticipate how hard the oxytocin would hit me, and I couldn't have imagined the pain that my stuck placenta caused when the doctor had to manually rip it out of me.

ThankfulSnail · February 2014

Much harder. My epidural only partially worked despite the surgeon coming back twice and I felt everything when pushing for 2 excruciating hours.

Summer889 · February 2014

Some parts were easier, some parts were harder.

I progressed really quickly through active labor and transition, which I thought would be the hard part. And I had just 2 small first degree tears.

But I did not expect to push for nearly 5 hours, and certainly didn't expect the added stress of having an emergency induction and baby's heart decels throughout labor. I also thought I'd be able to move around the room during labor and get in the tub or shower, but instead I was confined to bed which made pain management without an epidural difficult.

ashybear · February 2014

cpm1223 said:
I said it was easier than I thought. Yes contractions sucked and I did wait about 12 hours til I got the epi, but I had imagined it was going to be much worse. The epi didn't hurt at all, pushing was fairly easy for me too...

This is pretty much me. The early part progressed way more quickly than I expected and the contractions were truly painful, but once I went ahead and got the epi, about 8 hours in, it was pretty easy. I wound up pushing for 3 hours and it wasn't fun, but DH and the labor nurse were the only people in the room and they kept the room so quiet and calm and were so supportive and instructive to me, that I still can't believe it was 3 hours. And recovery was also pretty simple; I didn't need any pain killers once LO was out. The worst part of recovery was having to stay in the hospital, being treated like a patient, when I felt like I could have been at home.

susieandmarty · February 2014

Deblondie1 said:
I voted harder because I hadn't expected to be pushing for over 3hrs. I dilated quickly, she just wasn't in the right position. I also had not expected the horrific pain from a vacuum assisted delivery.

Yes. This was my second vacuum and reminded me why we are two and through

BShreeve · February 2014

Much, much harder. Nothing really went according to plan. I have a healthy baby so that's all that matters. But, yeah not at all the experience I expected.

tahloulah10 · February 2014

I voted as expected because I knew it would be tough. I was hoping to go med-free, but I kind of knew in the back of my mind all along that an epi was a big possibility for me. My water broke at 1cm and the pain was hard to work through, even though I used my pain management tools the best I could.

Epi was awesome, but pushing was different than I expected. The perineal massage was horrendously painful and I had some ridiculous hip pain from my legs being in stirrups for almost 2 hours. So worth it, though. I know I could do it again.

brideandbreve · February 2014

Easier.

I called it when I got my EDD that it was a girl and that she wouldn't arrive until February, and I was right on both counts. That being said, I was assuming that since my L&D experience with my first child was so easy, this time would be the exact opposite.

I ended up being induced at 41w2d, laboring from 9am - 5pm, pushing for 4 minutes, and my daughter was born. So much easier than I had expected.

ksonne · February 2014

I had a very difficult labor with DS1. This time I had a doula and I was prepared for a difficult labor. But my labor this time was only 4 hours, and I did it med free (which I had prepared for but would have an epi if I was eligible). I didn't need an epi, DS2 was too fast!

MamaP19 · February 2014

Harder. My labor with DD was long and awful so I really expected this one to be easier in comparison especially since I didn't have pitocin with DS. Going med free was so much harder than I expected. I also never thought transition would last 4+ hours for me. If my doula hadn't been there encouraging me and ignoring my pleas for meds, I would have gotten an epi for sure. I also had no idea how much a 3rd degree tear could hurt and how swollen I would be. I'd still take this birth over my c/s any day though. My recovery has been a challenge, but so much easier than last time.

cowscrub · February 2014

This was my 1st c section and I'm allergic to most narcotics so recovery was painful. I'm 4 weeks out and still having incisional burning and overall pelvic pain.

slmille4 · February 2014

Harder. In labor 30 hours, kicked out of hospital twice, didn't progress, epidural didn't help my back labor, regressed dilation cause of swelling (didn't know that could even happen). Ended up with csection

cnctf · February 2014

I voted easier. The contractions without the epi was a lot of pain, but after I got the epi, it was wonderful bliss. Pushing was under 2 hours and I did not feel a thing.

OSUWifey09 · February 2014

Harder. I knew from the moment I got my positive pregnancy test that I would probably be induced, so I was prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for how fast labor progressed after my water was broken, or having DD without an epi [my pain threshold is pathetically low]. I'm glad it went quickly, though, because I didn't have a chance to think about my loss or convince myself that things would end badly again.