Started having contractions 3am on the 28th (of June.) By 7am they started getting farther apart. By 3pm I noticed they were getting closer together again and a little more painful.
My husband and I went out and got some stuff for the hospital (food to take) and some pizza for dinner expecting to have another 8-24 hours before we would go. While we were out contractions were 8-10 minutes apart and then started getting closer and stronger.
We checked in around 12:30am on the 29th. I was 4-5 cm dilated. I had contractions and suffered miserably. By 2:30am I could not take it anymore. I wanted the epidural. My husband stalled around (I was busy trying to get through the contractions to notice.) Finally at 3am I was firmly insisting husband to get the nurse NOW. I told him he needs to at least check and see if I am almost there and if not I was doing the epidural despite my original plans. Nurse checked me I was 9 3/4 cm dilated. I remember saying over and over again "thank God thank God." I was almost in tears knowing that all my suffering was coming to an end.
Nurse left the room to go call the doctor. While she was gone my water broke. At this point I was laboring standing up (in a slow dance position with husband). The water breaking was like such a physical relief even though that feeling only lasted a few seconds.
After that some of the contractions gave me the urge to push, so I did. The baby was crowing before the Dr. could even get there. I had to “breathe through the contractions” and resist the urge to push until the Dr. got there. (That is the stupidest rule ever.)
Once the Dr. got there they wanted me to push the baby out in one push. Needless to say she was crazy (no one needs a new permanent hole the size of a basketball.) I pushed when I felt the urge and only as much as I felt comfortable doing.
Within about 4 pushes my little girl was out. (4:05 am) A lot of physical and mental relief. (Once you get the head out the doctor can just pull out the body.) Zeinab was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. She looked almost exactly like her mommy at birth which was almost scary.
Dr. wanted to give me pictocin to deliver the placenta quickly. (Again...that is dumb...just did a drug free birth why would I want to have drugs at the end???) Took about 30 minutes to deliver the placenta...cramps/contractions for that were super mild, but once it was out more physical relief.
I got a 2nd degree tear so I got a shot to numb the area and stitched right up. That seemed like the longest and most boring part of the night.
If I had it to do all over again I would. The hardest part for me was not knowing when it would all be over (especially after hearing all the horror stories of long medicated births in my family.)
My milk came in 48 hours after birth so she never really had a chance to get jaundice. Right now my little girl is getting in a nice schedule and sleeping in 4 hour segments. This is a dream come true for every parent of a 5 day old.
My advice for moms to be:
Zone out and shut off your brain as often as possible once you start labor. (I took Hypnobrithing and it seemed to work well with the help of my husband.) If you can relax some your body will do most of the work.
Don't let anyone rush you or try to convince you that you need something you know you don'
Buy a good electric breast pump if you plan to breastfeed as well as breast pads, and some type of heat compress.
Make sure your husband can take the week off, otherwise find him a new home and get help from someone else.
Have a nice pillow to sit on and something to treat hemorrhoids. (Chances are you will get them.)
Have enough sanitary napkins to last a heavy pre-pregnancy flow.
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