Hi all,
I really want to be positive and stoical about the impending birth of my first baby but the closer I get to my due date, the more petrified I become.
I was in L&D today as there were some concerns about baby's movements (All fine, just me freaking out and wanting to be sure everything was OK) as well as other complications and all I could hear were women suffering through painful contractions, begging for the epidural or screaming down the halls in full labour.
I was hoping for a relaxed, natural water birth, first using the TENS machine at home and possibly a bit of gas and air in hospital. Due to health complications and a nasty all over PUPPPs rash, it doesn't look like any of this will be possible and I may even have to go down the induction route next week due to GD which I am dreading. I've heard these labours can be particularly arduous and extra intense/painful more often than not resulting in a CS.
I am 37 weeks and feel like in the last trimester my pregnancy has become extremely difficult. I'm totally sleep deprived, uncomfortable and starting to feel anxious and quite depressed about the whole thing, rather than looking forward to meeting my son like I should be.
Does anybody else feel this way?
I would also appreciate any shared positive birth/induction experiences you have had. I don't have any friends who are pregnant or mothers and I guess I am needing the support of other women going through a similar experience more than ever!
Thanks and wishing you all happy labours and healthy babies
Re: Anyone else freaking out about birth?
What helped calm me was an honest conversation with my doctor. I talked to her about everything I had read about inductions and how much more painful they were. Word of advice STOP READING!! She brought up a great point that the pain between natural and induction is the same its just that becuase it's forced it happens quicker. Becuase of this the hormones in the body may not have as much time to generate and help deal with the pain. After talking with my doctor I realized that for the induction it seems to be much more mind over matter and willing yourself to get through it. Of course the option for meds is always available and I won't feel bad about getting them but I feel better about going into the induction believing I can handle the pain.
I keep telling myself that the moment I am holding my newborn in my arms and seeing his Dad cradle him, all will have been worth it. It's literally the only thing keeping me going through all of this!
Thank you all for sharing. I guess the only thing that matters is that our babies get here safely. And you're right @klcarr19, we can only plan so much and we have to trust our instincts.
But that all being said. Even if things don't go exactly as planned that's okay! Everyone is in the same boat as you. Impatient, excited, nervous... But your baby will be here soon no matter how that happens and it'll all be okay
Unfortunately we hear so many scary things and that seems like stay in our heads more than the positive things do!
:-S I have mentioned before in other posts, I'm afraid of both types of births c section and vaginal and it's probably because of everything I have heard and watched lol
Be positive :x
Maybe. But I think there is a point where you just get bombarded with too much information on what could go wrong that it's stressful. I purposely avoided the book "what to expect when you're expecting" and similar types of books. I did my research on nursing, genetic testing, home birth vs hospital birth ect and all the other basic stuff. But I'm one of those people that will just research the crap out of something lol. So I have to stop myself. So maybe that advice would only be helpful to people like me who like to research something to death.
My son, I went in around 7p on a Monday..they gave me cervadil which softens the cervix and starts contractions.. they started at about 1am, and I had the kind of contractions where you would stay home, but definitely know it's labor..it was uncomfortable but not unbearable. At 7 am they broke my water, and the contractions started coming hard and fast. They were very painful, but I had no pitocin, so they were just natural labor. I had him 4 hours later. I ended up getting an epidural, but literally only had it for pushing lol I was at a 6 and by the time they were done giving it, I was ready to push! It was a great experience.
With my daughter, I went in at like 8 in the morning, they broke my water right away, and I had her at 12. I did have pitocin with her, and did not notice a difference in contractions. I had an epi with her too.
You hear a lot of horror stories with inductions...but I had two really great experiences, and fairly quick labors. It's going to be different with every person, obviously, but I wouldn't be any more nervous because you may have to induce. I plan on inducing with this one too.