First Time Moms: Was labor what you expected?

robynjeannette · May 2015

Curious about the experiences of FTMs who have recently given birth. Was the pain of labor/contractions/pushing what you were expecting? Better? Worse? Also, did you use any pain medications? Haven't had my baby yet and super anxious over the whole experience, especially the unknown factor.

brittburck · May 2015

I had false labor that didn't progress for two days. Nothing about those contractions FELT false! By the time my contractions moved closer together I was so mentally and physically exhausted from the previous day's that I considered pain meds. Luckily I was 7 cm dilated by the time I checked in the hospital so I decided I had already gotten that far without the meds and continued without them. I'm really happy with my decision because I was up walking around minutes after giving birth which I think sped up my recovery. I wasn't expecting the contractions to be painless but I was caught off guard on the intensity of my later contractions. I also vomited with every contraction for the last 5 or 6 hours so that was tough. Pushing was easier for me than I expected. It stung/burned a bit but it was really quick and the relief from the diminishing contractions was instant. It really is true once your baby is out you don't notice what else is happening down there. I tore once and required a few stitches but didn't feel a thing. I was more nervous about the recovery for some reason than the birth. My recovery has been great and also easier than I expected. I don't think labor was better or worse than what I was expecting but I understand the fear of the unknown. I think I was naive about expecting the length of my labor to be shorter based on all the averages I read about. Even with the pain I look back at my birth in a really positive way and am really proud of myself and my body. You will do great!

freshie723 · May 2015

Was due on the 10th. Water broke on the 1st, ended up getting csection on the 3rd due to babies heart rate dropping drastically after receiving pitocin . .only dilated to 5 centimeter.... csection was fine, but went to ER 2 days after being released due to having a seroma ..which is a build up of fluid, so now i have an open little hole on incision thats constantly leaking fluid, on antibiotics and placing pad on seroma to intake fluids. Go back to dr on monday to check seroma. Pain during labor was awful, ended up getting epidural, it definitely helped. Hope you have a smooth delivery

Megaphone2752 · May 2015

Mine was definitely better. I ended up with no meds because it went so fast. The pain was strong, but manageable. Good luck!

cawleyva · May 2015

I had serious fears too but as soon as I got the epidoral it was all good. I was afraid of the epi because I hate needles but it was just uncomfortable, not painful to get. I felt next to nothing for the duration of labor and pushing.

seethebaker · May 2015

Water broke at 7pm we checked into triage with steady intense contractions around midnight. I was 4-5cm Labor slowed way down for me at the hospital though. I went into it like I was gonna just go with the flow and see what happens and try to do without medicine. I had been up since 4am for work that morning so by the time I hit transitional labor (8cm) I had been up for 28 hrs straight. My body didn't handle it very well. I started shaking really hard and throwing up. My family was very concerned. I wasn't, but I also couldn't see myself pushing a baby out like that. I needed a rest. I got an epidural. It was awesome to get a little rest. But it slowed labor down so much that they had to give me a bunch of pitocin to pick it back up and I ended up having him at 330pm that next day. So.... Labor. It was certainly not what I expected but only because u can't really know what to expect. U can count on it hurting. And u can count on ur body taking over. U won't be freaking out when things go down. Hormones are your friend during labor and your body gives u adrenaline and all kinds of stuff to manage through. Trust me as crazy as it gets u will forget half of it in less than a year.

it's like a rollercoaster ... I hope u like roller coasters. They're so excited. And the rush afterwards is amazing.

jame1380 · May 2015

I am a plan for the worst person because I don't like surprises. So, labor was not what I expected. At my last appointment I was dilated 1 cm and my water broke 6 days later. I had contractions the 3 days leading up to it. I was hoping to be dilated to a 3 or 4 at least when I was admitted. Still a 1. The pain of the contractions was not awful but they were getting much more intense. The nurse checked me 2 hours later and I was at 10 cm! At this point the pain was awful and making me throw up so they gave me the epidural. I thought from there we were ready to push. I had to labor down for about 3 hours then started pushing.

It's hard to have an idea of what to expect for labor but I would say the recovery is what kicked my butt! I had read about L&D so much that I didn't research the recovery process.

kimmeenoelle · May 2015

So much better than I could ever imagine! 7.5 hrs start to finish, ftm!! I was induced with pitocin at 9:15am and I was only at a 1&60% they tried Foley bulb an hour later when I was at 2, fell out 10minutes later at a 3! I started having couplet contractions 90 seconds apart and baby's heart rate was dropping. I was told this whole pregnancy that I wouldn't be able to get an epi because of my scoliosis and spinal arthritis. Well, my nurse was amazing and had a chiropractor sent in for an eval. He put 5 ribs back into place, had to re aligned my back, hips, and shoulders and I ad two neck joints fixed. Then the resident AND attending anesthesiologist worked together and were able to find the right location. Successful epidural at 3:30 in between 6&7cm and was complete at 3:50! They gave me oxygen and gave baby 40 minutes to get nice and low and let my body push on its own. Then the real pushing started around 4:25pm and out came Olivia at 4:34pm! She was born with her hand up so I had one 1st degree internal tear, two stitches. Can't even feel it! I seriously feel like I hit the labor jackpot! It was amazing.

stephv18 · May 2015

Hello!! Let me first say that I tried to imagine what it would be like and it was much different, but much better than I expected!

My water broke on Saturday afternoon at 5:30, and we went straight to the hospital because my water was not clear it had a yellow/greenish tint, which I knew was maconium(?). We got checked into the hospital and I was not in labor, I was still 1 cm and 70% efface which I had been for 3 weeks! So they gave me me some pills to kick start labor, and believe me it gets labor going! Around 12:30am I got my epidural so I could get some rest during the night, I was only 3cm but the meds made the contractions pretty strong. At first my epidural only worked on 1 side and I went two hours,while my husband slept with pain on one side! (I felt bad to wake him up lol) they ended up taking my first epidural out and putting a new one in, they said it's very rare to on numb on one side! Also, I was deathly afraid of the epidural, and it was a piece of cake, so if your thinking of getting one, it was not bad! After the second epidural went in I was pain free in about 10 min and I finally got some sleep, that was about 4am! I continued to dilate like 1 cm per hour until I got to 9 cm and I stalled there for 2 hours! They were getting worried because I was getting a fever and her heart rate was up and she wasn't moving all that much. The doctor came in and said we are going to try and push and hopefully she will just come down. Well she did because I only pushed for 20 min and I had an adorable baby girl in my arms! It was amazing and all I can say is it went so much better than many people make it out to be! Good luck! You all will do great!

nolababybaby · May 2015

FTM - I was 2cm and got a membrane sweep at 41weeks. About 8 hours later, I went from no signs to full contractions, 30sec each but only 1-3 minutes apart. Went to the hospital and was 6 cm. No epidural, handled the pain pretty well. Fully dilated 6 hrs after first contraction. 3.5 hours of intense pushing...That was way harder than I expected. My arms, back and shoulders are really sore which I didn't expect.
So total labor was ten hours! Pretty good, I think. It was harder than I imagined, but I did it with only A little tear with a few stitches.
Got a pitocin drip after delivery for excessive bleeding. That was the only intervention pretty much.
Don't be afraid - just dive right in

Also, I'm convinced the red rasp leaf tea made my contractions and labor short. And deep breathing and relaxation studies helped me fall asleep between contractions when I got too tired. I highly recommend both of these things

MrsS728 · May 2015

I just had my daughter on May 6th and came home yesterday. We were admitted the night before because I was dilated 5 cm and 100% effaced and not in labor. We stayed over night and started PIT at 8:30 am, by 11 am there were no signs of labor, so my doctor broke my bag of waters.....an hour later she was here. I went from 5 cm to 10 cm and a mom in an hour, no time for an epidural or pains meds. It was so fast that the doctor and nurses were scrambling to get everything prepped as I was pushing. Nothing went as planned. It only took 10 minutes to get her out and I had a small tear. It was not at all what I thought it would be. I assumed that I'd be in labor for hours and hours and that baby would be at least 8 to 9 lbs. She was barely 7 lbs and tiny.

At the end of the day....I wouldn't change a thing. Everything happened the way it was meant to happen. :-)

nvrswimalone · May 2015

I really want to thank you ladies for sharing your stories and especially in such detail. I know every L&D is different but being a FTM it helps to at least have a broad idea of things to expect because let's face it, the books are pretty basic. I cannot wait to share my experience but until then thank you for easing my nerves.

cassietegtmeier · May 2015

I went into it expecting nothing. I pretty much knew I wanted pain meds but decide if I was feeling ok to hold out.
My water broke Saturday at 9am. We waited around to go to the hospital till around 1 because I wasn't having contractions. They couldn't get a good read on if my water broke or not so I wasn't actually admitted till 4. Contractions got pretty intense around 7 so I got the IV pain meds. I'd didn't help with the contraction pains but I was able to get some sleep. I had been dilated to 4 for a very long time so they got me on a birthing ball & let me tell you that was the most pain of the whole labor. Right after I got my epidural then was checked again and had gone from 4cm to 9cm dilated in less than an hour. Unfortunately the epidural kind of stalled things out and I didn't end up having my son till 6:49am Sunday morning after about 45mins of pushing. I wouldn't say it was easy but I know it could have been a lot worse.

sowmyas4 · May 2015

I'd heard a LOT of horror stories before going into labor. My experiences was a better.

I was scheduled for an induction on May 11th. I read up everything I could about induction, but I was really worried about it since I heard that it can be more painful than labor (if my body isn't ready for it).

My water broke Tuesday evening (May 5th) around 7pm. I ate dinner and was admitted to the hospital by 8pm (in my half-crazed mind, it was super important to stop and eat dinner since they don't feed you at the hospital). I wanted to have a natural delivery, but told them to keep the epidural on standby in case things got too painful. The contractions got more and more painful. By 12:30, I was screaming for the epidural, and the nurse told me I was 8cm dilated; a couple more contractions and I'd be ready to push. Of course, it could be quick after this, or it could take over 2 hrs.

The rest is a little blurry: I had 3 more contractions; the nurse called the doctor; the doctor told me I was ready to start pushing. I did, and by 1:30am the baby was in my arms. Apparently, that 2 hrs (last stage of labor) ended up being 10 minutes. I remember them all scrambling into the room: they told me later that they didn't expect the baby to come so quickly. (I vaguely remember the nurse telling me once not to push because they weren't set up for the baby to come yet. After that, I kept screaming "Can I push yet? Can I push yet?" And I did push.)

I had a little tearing (nurse said 2nd degree tears), and some stitches. I had (and still have) quite a bit of soreness, but it could have been a lot worse. My advice? Don't think too much about it. Just remember, it'll hurt a lot in the moment, but you'll live. And once it's done, it's done.

robynjeannette · May 2015

Thank you all for sharing your stories! I guess really all you can expect is that it probably won't be anything like that you would expect, but in the end it's totally worth it!

justkeeptrying · May 2015

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. FTM here and I am enjoying these and finding them very encouraging.

@nolababybaby - can I ask how much raspberry leaf tea you drank? When did you start and how frequently were you drinking it? I've been trying to drink it but am getting a bit sick of the taste. Just wanting some feedback from someone who found it helpful even though I know everyone will have a different experience.

mandapanda806 · May 2015

I gave birth last Thursday and I will admit that my labor and deliver was extremely difficult, however having my little guy here makes it all worth it.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, 5/4 at 7:30pm due to some medical issues I've been experiencing, which was 6 days before my due date. I know not to go in there expecting anything, however what was on my mind was that in the next day my DS would be here. I was 1cm dilated and baby hadn't dropped much when they started the induction. Long story short, they ended up doing several different induction techniques - cervidil, cytotec, pitocin, back to cytotec. Wednesday evening at 5:30 I was finally 5cm and 80% effaced. We started the final round of pitocin and at 6:30 my midwife broke my water. 11pm I asked for IV pain meds, followed by an epidural an hour later since my contractions were just so painful. At 11am Thursday morning I was finally 10cm. at 1:22pm my DS was born with the help of a vacuum extraction. I was told that chances are the mixture of being exhausted from being at the hospital from Monday through Thursday to have him, plus the fact that he was sitting like the letter C in my letter C so he didn't engage correctly is the reasons for the vacuum extraction. Even if I wasn't so exhausted it most likely would have happened that way.

The most pain I had was before the epidural. It took all of my pain away while I was pushing, as well as when my Dr. put in my stitches (I had a 2nd degree tear).

Don't go in there expecting ANYTHING. I wished I used that advice because I can't begin to tell you how frustrated and miserable I felt.

nessaic21 · May 2015

@mandpanda806 so glad to hear you are okay! I cannot believe they gave you cytotec! That is not supposed to be used on pregnant women! It's extremely dangerous and has caused women to die.

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