Back in June my husband and I went through "baby boot camp." That's our title, not theirs. Basically, it was all the information you could ever want to know about having a baby that you could get in the course of a weekend. When they were reviewing all the different delivery techniques I definitely looked at my husband and said he could have the baby, I was done. He laughed and told me as soon as I figured out how to make that happen he would oblige. Needless to say, that whole process scared the crap out of me after hearing horror tales of 24+ hour labors and multiple things that could go wrong. It also didn't help listening to stories of friends and family about different pain levels and complications. I was also crazy enough to consider a natural delivery to which most people looked at me as if I was insane.
Anyhow, anticipating labor for the first time can make you kind of crazy! I spent so much time worrying about if I would know if I was in labor and what if I screwed something up or couldn't handle it. Everyone kept telling me you won't miss labor, that you will definitely know the difference between braxton hicks and real contractions. Well, apparently that isn't always true! In retrospect, I am pretty sure I spent most of the day before my son was born in back labor. I never had any real clear contractions with a pattern. I suspected I might be, but I didn't feel that bad so I just kept going. No harm, no foul . . . right? Well, apparently maybe not so much. I had a backache but whatever. What lady who is 9 months pregnant doesn't have a backache?! Well after going to bed that night, I woke up at 2:40 am to a pop and a gush. I had heard so much about how most women don't actually experience their water breaking before the hospital so I definitely had a panic moment deciding if it was my water breaking or me peeing on myself. After some inspection I decided it was my water breaking. When I woke my husband up to let him know his first dazed and sleepy response was, "This is really inconvienient timing!" Not the most helpful response. I wasn't having any notable contractions though so I told him to go back to bed while I called my doctor and I would let him know when we needed to leave.
My doctor called me back and let me know I could wait at home and go to the hospital when the pain wasn't manageable or at 9 am whichever was first. I let me husband know he could sleep till 8:30 and called my mom to let her know. About 30 minutes later, I started having regular back pains. Those were contractions, but not like they are typically described. I decided to pay attention to timing them only to realize they were already between 3 and 8 minutes apart. So after 40 minutes of this and increasing pain, I called my mom to let her know not to wait and to come now because "I don't feel too good." I then woke my husband up to more awesomeness. We left the house a little after 4 and got to the hospital about 4:30. We had to wait because the was only one lady at the registration desk and she was helping another couple. After the second contraction in a 5 minute window or less I heard her pick up the phone and call for help. They basically took me back before officially checking us in. A side note, back labor HURTS! That pain is insane! I was on my hands and knees on the hospital hall floor at registration.
Oh and in addition to a speedy labor, momma never told me I would lose ALL modesty during this process. In triage, I had to get undressed for the exam. After checking me and realizing I was already at 5 centimeters, the nurse tried to cover me with a sheet while she went to get orders. I was so hot, I am pretty sure I yelled at her to leave me alone. I did eventually agree to put a gown on to go to a labor and delivery room. Once there I was hurting more and more. The nurse there was frustrated that I was being disagreeable about letting her hook me up to the monitors because it required being in a less comfortable position. Apparently she noticed some signs labor was progressing at one point and made me lay down to check me again. That did not make me happy either, but apparently it was a good thing as I was already up to about 8 centimeters less than an hour later. It wasn't much longer till I was pushing and soon after that at 6:18 am, my perfect baby boy made his way into the world. I would love to say because it was fast it didn't hurt, but that would be a HUGE lie. And all that crap you hear about how you forget that part, LIES. You don't forget, you just realize it's worth it (once you get used to not sleeping!). The contractions hurt, pushing hurt A LOT, but really, the after stuff like the bruise from the IV for fluids and the stitches from tearing is what really hurt. That stuff isn't fun.
Anyhow, from water breaking to baby being born was about 3.5 hours. In comparison to the nightmare experience I was expecting I'll take it! It also meant I was able to do an all natural delivery which was pretty rewarding as well. And as I write this I am holding my beautiful new little creature in my arms watching him make the funniest faces and that more than anything makes it all worth it. But don't ever let anyone try to downplay the pain. Love hurts!
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