SHE's HERE! - Part 2 - Labor

When we got to the hospital, we went up to the Labor and Delivery floor, and they took us to our Labor and Delivery room. Then we waited for our nurse.

The Nurse - It felt like we were in high school. And this girl was too-cool-for-school to talk to us. SO WEIRD! She really wasn't too interested in getting-to-know-you chit chat. She always seemed to be on the defense. She just seemed very I'm-the-nurse-you're-the-patient. Her attitude was a bit of "*I* do this everyday and know what's going on, so you just need to do what I tell you." We really should have asked to switch out for another nurse (but I guess the hospital was having a TON of peeps come in that "waited till after the weekend", and so they were pretty "booked").

Changed into a gown, got in bed. Nurse hooked me up to the IV. Monitored my contractions for a bit. SHE measured my cervix to be 3-4 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Hmmm... Well, I guess it ended up being for about 4 hours (but it went by quick). Our doctor actually had a family emergency up North, but was able to stop in and say Hi. The doctor actually wanted to get me on Pitocin at about 11am so that maybe she'd be able to get there (before heading north) to deliver the baby. But I wanted to hold out. The doc said we could walk around a bit, so we made two rounds around the floor, and some "steps" onto a stepping stool. At about 12:40, I decided to start Pitocin and got it going at about 1pm.

The contractions started becoming closer and more regular, but not unbearable. It was actually pretty cool listening to my HypnoBabies tracks and getting through the contractions. I would actually almost fall asleep between contractions because I was so relaxed!

It started getting "harder" as the contractions became stronger. I changed positions a couple of times that seemed to help at first. Sat on the exercise/birthing ball, stood and rocked with Tim...
The nurse checked me at one point...7 cm dilated.

After "rocking" with Tim a bit, and trying to find another comfortable position (like squatting), it was probably about 3, 3:30ish. The contractions were really strong. It just felt like really STRONG cramps right in my pelvis. I started feeling like I needed to pee... or that I needed to poop. The "cramps" were getting so strong that I decided maybe I should get the epidural. The nurse checked me to see how far along I was... she had a hard time determining... it was either 9cm...or gone. She called the doctor the see what she wanted to do, and I think (if I remember correctly), the doctor said I could start pushing if I felt the need.

I tried pushing on my side for a little bit, and then on my back. It was hard to do! Pulling my legs back, pushing through the contractions. The nurse yelling push push push... Some of the contractions were easier than others... some of them, the pushing felt good... some of them were so tough that I really didn't know how I would get through it.

It was a really interesting sensation... at one point, the nurse called the on-call doctor in, and other nurses. Ugh... maybe it's too close to the event for me to be thinking-back on all these things. :) Taking a break now.

Natural? Epidural?

I don't remember how I got on this topic, but...

I'm opening up to the idea of giving birth naturally. Well, at the very least, IF I get pregnant for a second time, THEN I will DEFINATELY give natural-birth a try.

I've heard from a couple different ladies from church that they've gone the Hypno-Birthing route. I've researched it, and it's quite intriguing. I found some CD's that I've been listening to (called HypnoBabies) that are basically relaxation/meditation type sessions... but from what I've read, people have been able to have pain-free births from listening to these things (well, there's also some books and stuff you're supposed to buy and practice with...).

I guess if you "practice" enough, and gain a good understanding of what your body is doing during labor, you don't feel contractions as PAIN...simply pressure.

I figure I watched my sister give birth to one of her daughters, and the nurses were too slow at giving her an epidural, so she HAD to do it naturally. It went pretty quick...

What's going through my mind is...

1. From what I've read, the "hardest" part of giving birth is when your body is dilating from about 6 to 10. Before and after that time period, it's not that bad.
2. IF I am lucky enough to dilate fast like my sister, then that's really only about 10 mins (?) of "hard labor" that I'd have to go through. Would I want to stick a fat needle in my spine for 10 mins of relief? (maybe...)
3. IF this hypnobirthing stuff works, "hard labor" really won't hurt at all...just pressure. (Then again, I really don't like to "push" myself...running, sports, etc.)

Hmmm...

Here are some videos from YouTube (don't worry, they don't show anything):

This is someone's first-hand experience with Hypnobirthing...


This is of an old news story about hypnobirthing...