A Baby Story

Here's where you get the rest of the story, a birth story. So, if you're the kind that just prefers to think that babies get dropped off by storks because birthing details are too much for you, feel free to go take your blog reading elsewhere for today and I'll see you back here next time! It's totally ok!

If you read my posts leading up to the delivery of baby #4, you know that I was getting a little nervous pretty freaked out  about labor and delivery (L&D) and feeling somewhat unprepared (even though I'd had three babies before). I think I just had this experience in mind and, that's totes not what was happening. I thought my water would break and I'd be whisked away to the hospital to have a few pain-free contractions and a baby in my arms an hour later. Ok...I don't know WHY I would think that because I've never had that experience. Anywho...I had an induction scheduled and I planned on having a med-free birth (aside from the Pitocin they shoot you up with along the way). This is how my last birth went, also, but I only had a day or so to get worked up about it so it wasn't that bad. This time, I was on the verge of throwing up for a day or two as I thought about how the process was going to work. I also found myself Googling "Pitocin induction, no epidural" to analyze how many people actually go through with it (even though I had before). Of course, this made things worse because most people don't go through with it and having nothing but sheer terror to report. Now, before you think I'm condemning everyone who gets an epidural, let me write a side note. I had an epidural with my first child. It wasn't fun. It took about seven tries before the needle went in (which is NOT fun when you're having back to back Pitocin-induced contractions at 7cm). I also had a fever afterward that kept the baby and I separated for 12 hours after birth. I really hated that experience and I haven't had an epidural since.

On the morning of my induction, I went in at 10am...on very little sleep as you might imagine. It was storming all the way to the hospital and continued through about half my labor. My doctor was at the hospital and I shared all of my concerns; she told me I could get all unhooked and go home if I was that worked up. I told her that I didn't want to lose anymore sleep and that we just needed to go with it (even though I told her that I didn't want to about fifteen seconds before). She broke my water and we waited to see how things were going. Of course, I had no contractions...nothing of significance anyway. The nurse upped my Pitocin little by little (I pleaded with them to only use a minimal amount and they did). I started off at 3cm and was sitting at 6cm about four hours later (I truly did expect to be finished by then as my last two labors were 3hrs each). I finally progressed to 7cm and decided to sit up in bed. As soon as I sat up, I had about four good contractions and it was time for the baby to be born. I paged the nurse and she came flying in with my doctor. Two pushes later, I had a sweet round-headed baby girl in my arms. As far as pain goes - the majority of the labor was fine. Once I got to the transition stage (about 7cm) we had five or so minutes of pretty intense pain and then it was over and immediately forgotten. You most certainly CAN have Pitocin and no epidural if that's what you want. You just have to relax, focus on the end result and know that it will be over.

The recovery has been pretty easy. I was up and moving around quickly. For that, with three other kids, I'm SO thankful. So, there you have it...all that freaking out for nothing. :) 'Tis the story of my life it seems.

Take care, friends!