My Own Birth #1

It was our first baby, our first pregnancy. We thought we were prepared. We had read through "What to Expect When You're Expecting" after all... we had an OB/GYN who we trusted. We thought we knew what was going to happen.

On the morning of March 6th, 12 days before our EDD, I awoke early with contractions. Matt stayed close by as we timed them together and we found they were 10 minutes apart. They were mild, but never having experienced contractions before I was excited and sure 'this is it!'. I had a small cold, slight fever and was dehydrated. Had I known what I know now I would have stayed home, drank lots and slept.

Matt decided to go into work since they were mild, but planned to stay close by the phone just in case. I spent the day watching TV, sewing and timing contractions. By around 6 pm they were 5 minutes apart and lasting all of 40 seconds. Matt came home, we called the Dr who told us to come in.

We arrived at the hospital around 7 pm. I was 4 cm dialated and the Dr said "this is it!" I was checked in and labored through the night. Around 7:30 am, March 7th, the Dr came in and checked again and I was only dialated to 5 cm. I was a little disappointed, but didn't really know what to expect. The Dr. decided to break my water. He explained very little about it other than that it was speed up my labor. It definitely made my contractions more difficult, but labor still progressed slowly.

Sometime in the afternoon I was only dialated to 6 cm, so they decided to give me pitocin. Again, I knew little about it, but was told it would speed things up. The contrax came on hard and strong after that. To be honest I was so self involved I don't remember times after this. I know that I continued to labor through the night... Around 3 or 4 am my husband passed out on the bed from exhaustion. They offered stadol to help me rest a little and I said 'ok'. I knew very little about any of it....so I basically was a pawn in their hands.

6:20 am the Dr checks me again and said "IT's time!!" FINALLY... 48 hrs from the first real contraction that I felt and now I could push!! I was excited and scared. The phone rang... it was Mom. "Please pray for me! I'm ready to push" I said into the phone and heard her gentle reply that she would pray.

2 pushes and things were going well. I looked at Matt and saw the look on his face... a mixture of awe, worry and shock. I asked, "are you ok?" to which everyone in the room giggled at. "I've never heard that before!" one of the nurses quipped.

2 or 3 more pushes and the Dr said "Reach down and pull your son up". I reached down and put my hands under his arms for the first time. As I gently pulled him up to my chest he peed all over me and we all laughed. I was a mother! I felt amazing, strong, empowered and like I had just accomplished the most important thing of my life. I was up and showered, moving around w/in an hour and felt so wonderful.

Later, as I learn more about births and about that hospital/Dr I found I was one of the lucky ones. No one ever pushed epidural on me, no one suggested c/s to me (tho I found out later they were talking about it in the hallway), no one pushed me too much.... but they also did not inform me of all the repercussions that having your water broken, having pitocin or stadol could have on a mother and baby. I'm lucky we both came out of it healthy and strong with no repercussions at all.