Man, I used to wonder why it took new moms so long to start posting on their blog or put up pictures! Now I understand. If you are feeding your child every 3 hours, 45 minutes are taken up by the actual feeding/diaper-changing part. After that you spend another 15-45 minutes entertaining your baby while they are awake. Then, you have to decide whether you want to sleep, shower, eat, or some other task in the remaining 1-2 hours left over. Repeat 8-10 times a day! I am getting a little more efficient, so I hope that I start joining the real world again on a consistent basis!
Here is a brief synopsis of my birth story for those of you who are interested:
I started having contractions on Saturday morning (the 25th) around 6:00 am. Things weren't too bad, I was just a bit uncomfortable every 10 minutes or so. I started getting excited because things were finally starting to happen. I went for a walk, went to Starbucks, and ARC to try and distract myself and move things along because Al was sleeping (he was up late the night before). Later in the afternoon, I watched the Arkansas/Alabama game and contractions were starting to get stronger. We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and by that point I was cringing every time Al hit a bump in the car. I think I ate a total of 1.5 chicken strips before I couldn't eat any more. My contractions were continually getting stronger, but not much closer together (about 6-10 minutes apart). About midnight we called the midwife to see if there was anything we could do to speed things up or give me relief because I was starting to shake and get really tired. She recommended that I take a hot shower, a benadryl, and some Tylenol to try and get some sleep and relax. The shower helped a little, but sleep- yeah right! Finally things started to speed up and man I was ready to get to the hospital because I wanted some pain relief!
About 2 am, my contractions were finally coming about every 4 minutes and lasting for a minute each, which meant we were finally allowed to go to the hospital per midwife instructions. We got there and they checked me out, but I was only 3 cm dilated! The midwife told me we could either go home (yeah right!) or walk the hospital for 2 hours and she would recheck me. So, we decided to pace the hospital for a couple hours. Imagine us walking around the empty hospital floors while I'm stopping every 3-4 minutes swaying back and forth with each contraction!
Finally 4 am rolled around and we went back to the labor and delivery floor. I was 4 cm dilated, so they decided to admit me. By this point I'm so exhausted I'm ready to just get an epidural and be done with it, but they offered me some IV pain meds to help me get a nap and see how I felt after that. So, the meds did work, and I dilated to 6 cm while I napped for a couple hours. The only problem was that Caleb flipped sunny-side up and my labor stalled. 2 hours later I was still 6 cm dilated and my contractions were only every 8-10 minutes. At that point they told me they could either break my water or give me pitocin to speed up the contractions. Looking back I wish I would have had them break my water first to see what would happen, but we went with the pitocin because the nurse midwife said that keeping my water intact would help with the pain of the contractions. So, I took a did some exercises on all fours to try and flip Caleb back. Then I got in the bath and they started pitocin. Another hour or two later I was ready to see whether I had dilated any more. Sure enough I was up to 8 cm. I asked for more pain meds and another hour or two later I was finally at 10 cm. Then, two hours of pushing later, at 5:48 pm (36 hours after my labor started), Caleb was born! It was definitely the most intense, grueling, exhausting thing I have ever done. I kind of wish I could slap myself for comparing it to running a marathon :). I think if my labor wouldn't have stalled, it would have been a lot better, plus pitocin doesn't help the whole labor pain out much. But, I'm proud of myself for doing it without an epidural and being able to get up and walk to our new room after the delivery. Plus, I have a sweet prize that I get to enjoy for the rest of my life- a son!
PS- My husband was absolutely incredible during the entire process. There is no way I could have done it without him. He was able to be my voice and help me make decisions when I was beyond exhaustion and he was a constant support and encouragement during the whole labor. Thanks babe!
1 comment:
Way to go Susan! It is so interesting how different everyone's labor experience is. I think having your water broken does make contractions more painful (at least from my experience), but pitocin isn't fun either. I am glad that the IV pain meds worked for you. I tried the lowest dosage when in labor with Aidan and they made me really dizzy and sick, but didn't help with the pain. Caleb is a cutie! Congrats!
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