Tuesday, March 17, 2009

6 Births and 1 Epidural Part 1

There are so many things that can not be described, only experienced. Like color, kissing, chocolate, and (of course) child birth. That is why, a week before my due date, I had no idea I was in labor. Well, that, and the fact that I am very good at being in denial.

It all started when I kept waking up to this uncomfortable sensation. My constant thrashing was bothering Peter, so I decided to get up, hoping that moving would make the pain go away. Now, in my defense: 1) sleeping when 8 ¾ months pregnant is always uncomfortable; 2) all women start with false labor to warm up for the real thing and I had had nothing, 3) the day before at the doctor’s office I had not been dilated or effaced at all, and 4) I had watched Brazilian women giving birth in one of the 2 birthing classes I attended, and my discomfort was nothing to the (obvious from her screams) excruciating pain of that poor woman squatting over the floor.

Anyway, I may not have known what was happening at first, but an hour or so into the Perry Mason rerun, when the “discomfort” was coming exactly 7 minutes apart and lasting about 20 seconds, you’d think I’d figure it out. But I didn’t. Oh sweet denial! I did, however, walk past the bedroom and inform my husband of this weird “tightening” and its timing and duration. Due to his tendency to sleep deeply, I received some mumbled reply. And less than 30 seconds later a wild-eyed Peter burst into the room, “You’re having WHAT every 7 minutes?!?” I assured him it wasn’t labor. More like menstrual cramps (funny, I couldn’t relate uterus contracting to get rid of tissue with uterus contracting to get rid of baby. Oh sweet, sweet, denial).

Peter forced me to call and ask my mother, who assured me that what I felt WAS labor and I should start the drive to the hospital. And, low and behold, she was right. I had decided to keep the epidural option on the table and see how I went without it; I knew that after transition it would be too late. After a while in the hospital, I wanted to know how much time I had left to decide, so I asked the nurse how long it would be before I hit transition. She looked at me like a freak and told me I was already halfway through transition. This meant, of course, that I WAS a freak, since I obviously wasn’t going to need an epidural.

Things went great until it was time to push. That was when we discovered the baby had decided to come out turned the wrong way (posterior). So, during the next contraction, they flipped her. And she flipped back. Thrice. So they flipped ME onto my hands and knees. The baby turned, but as soon as I was on my back again she re-flipped. So I spent the next 3 hours on my hands and knees, pushing out my baby. At one point I asked if I could rest through a few contractions. Everyone laughed, but I was completely serious. Sweet denial that I could just stop myself from pushing even for one contraction.

Finally, the head crowned and I could flip back over. She still came out sideways. And then the nurse told me to stop pushing. Are you kidding me? My entire entourage (Mom, Dad, and husband) abandoned me for the foot of the bed where they could oow and awe at the baby’s head and now the nurse is telling me to breathe in a hyperventilating fashion and not push out the rest of the baby yet. Not push! Who was in denial now?

And as post script, when packing my bags for the hospital I was unsure what to wear home. I asked my mom and she told me (TOLD ME!) that she wore her regular clothes home when she had me. So I packed my favorite jeans. You know when I fit those jeans again? Never. I wish I could stay in denial about my pant size.


Only 2 more births left. Read about the other 3 births here!

13 comments:

  1. Hee - La - Rious!

    My birth story goes something like this: I went in for a scheduled delivery (c-section that I definitely don't recommend) at 37 weeks. No contractions, no nothing. So if I never have another kid (two is plenty, right?) I'll never have had to do the whole contraction and pushing thing. Methinks I like that idea.

    Especially compared to being on hands and knees for three hours.

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  2. I remember her being born so well! We were all so excited and couldn't wait to get to the hospital to see you. You both look so darn young in that picture.

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  3. I remember not knowing I was in labor with my first too. I really should have known because I was in the middle of being induced. I went in for my first application of progestin. (I think that's what it's called. They don't usually use it anymore when inducing.) Then we went out to dinner and visited friends. While visiting, I kept feeling these cramps and I couldn't figure out why I was having them because it had been so long since my last period. Duh! I didn't put 2 and 2 together until we went back to the hospital for more progestin and the nurse hooked me up to the contraction monitoring device. Amazingly the "cramps" correlated to the contractions it recorded.

    Thankfully, I didn't have any babies flipped around weird. That's quite a story for your first labor and delivery experience!

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  4. Wow! Look how young y'all look in this picture. It's stories like this that make me realize I didn't miss anything by skipping labor.

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  5. The first are so tricky. Either that or I was better at being in denial with my first as well. But holy cow, I can't imagine doing that on your hands and knees. That Elise! So does this mean that her birthday is coming up? How fun.
    Loved the story as always.

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  6. You are such a great story teller! I've been so fascinated by your birth stories and I love that you've shared them with us. I can totally relate when they told you NOT to push. I too heard that same silly directive with T because for some reason I had to wait for the doctor to get there. I told them she'd better hurry because I wasn't waiting for her! And I didn't, she happened to get there just in time.

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  7. I honestly don't know how you did it. You are one strong chick.

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  8. Man, you had told me about the pants (had a similar experience there) but I had no idea the labor was such an ordeal! Bless your heart! Elise looks so much like you, I always thought so but I definitely do after seeing this picture.

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  9. How is it that I've never heard ANY of your birth stories before you started posting them? Everyone else needs to start doing this, since I just realized I don't know anyone else's either.

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  10. In your defense on the last post, I thought you probably knew as much as Peter considering you hear him answer dr. questions on the phone all the time. However, after this post, I am glad he ended up the dr. instead of you.

    You look so young in this picture. What were you 20? Oh yeah. You were.

    Oh, and I'm sure the jeans shrunk. They do that.

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  11. Yeah, I am just laughing. And really, you guys look more like 14 and 15. You did this 6 times? You are either very nuts or very brave...or maybe a little of both (though the part about being nuts remains a mystery...before or after the children were born?)

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  12. I loved that experience. My first grandchild. It was sooooo cool.

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  13. That's amazing. Samara was posterior but she ended in a c-section. I had to not push too for a while and that wasn't much fun at all. I love birth stories. I am going to go read your other ones.

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