I've been hesitant to write this out, because although it was a beautiful, amazing birth to me and I am SO in awe that I did it without any meds, I feel like it's tainted by some of the hospital staff, even my own doctor. But I know the details will begin to fade and so I'd like to remember things as they were.
My contractions began Halloween afternoon. I don't seem to get any contractions, not even BH, before the actual labor. They were very far apart and erratic throughout the day. I tried to take it easy because I really didn't want a Halloween baby!
After taking DD trick or treating, passing out candy, etc., I let DH know I was having contractions about every 15-20 minutes, and went to sleep at around 10pm. Around midnight I woke up because the contractions were too intense, but they kept fluxuating from 3-5 mins apart to over 8 mins apart.
Oh well, forget sleep. I decided to wash some of the baby's clothes considering I hadn't yet! I also did whatever cleaning up I could without waking DH or DD up. My contractions got more intense and I ended up waking DH up around 4ish. Woke MIL up to keep an eye on DD and left for the hospital nearing 5am.
Got to the hospital, my contractions had slowed down. But as soon as I got into bed and they wanted to monitor the baby for a while they picked up again. The nurse was there almost the whole time doing paperwork. I didn't know it would take her so long to do that stuff - I just wanted her to leave so I could focus on relaxing through the contractions. Finally they wanted to check to see if I was dialated and to decide whether to admit me or send me home. She checked me and seemed really shocked, told me I was around 5-6 cm, but wanted another nurse to doublecheck. Okay, so the other nurse says nope, I'm 8 cm. So yeah, obviously they admit me!
Long story short, I labored in bed, slightly sitting up (laying flat is owwwwie!). My contractions were painful, but I only thought "Oh no, I can't do this" for one or two until the pressure down there was sooo intense. My waters still hadn't broken, and I kept saying, "I wish my water would break!" To me it felt like the most pain was from the pressure of it, not the contractions. Not long after, my water DID break, it felt SO good. The nurse kept commenting on how I was doing amazing, that she'd never seen anything like this. Ha! Oh yeah, when I told them I didn't want an epidural, talk about confusion on the nurse's face.
I won't even get into the other nurse yelling at me for not wanting an IV...
A couple contractions later and I could feel the baby was ready to come out. "She's coming," I told the nurse. She called for another nurse to help her - my doctor was rushing over from the other hospital he works at. They kept telling me not to push, to wait for the doctor. I wasn't pushing!! She was just sliding down, it was amazing feeling her slowly come down. I remember at one point all the pain disappeared, it felt so calm and quiet to me then, just letting her come out like that. Her head came out and at some point the nurses told me I needed to give a good push, that the baby had to come out now. I later found out the cord was wrapped around her head and she came out blue. I do remember wondering why I didn't hear her cry. DH tells me he was so scared but didn't want to frighten me at the time. She was born at 6:36am on November 1st, weighting 7lbs 11oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
They took her to the warming table immediately, I didn't even get to touch her. She had way too much liquid in her lungs or such. I didn't know what was going on, but it was scary. I didn't get to hold my baby for what felt like forever. The nurses sounded so panicked. I was bleeding too much. Scolded for not getting an IV. They gave me a shot of pitocin and something else, I don't even know what. They said they had to or I would bleed too much.
DH got to hold out baby finally, but everytime I asked to hold her they said to wait, they had to make sure I was okay first. I guess I was bleeding a lot - I don't know. All I remember thinking is if I'm going to die, I want to hold my baby first.
Shortly after the two shots they gave me, I went from feeling great to completely nauseous, sweating like crazy, dizzy. Maybe that's just normal. I finally got to hold my baby girl, more than a half hour after she was born. And I haven't let her go except when absolutely necessary. 
My doctor came in around then and yelled at me for not coming to the hospital sooner. Weirdo.
She started breastfeeding at once and she's been a champ. She's so unlike her sister in many ways, it's really cute. Her sister has light brown/reddish hair, and she has black hair. The fact that she actually has hair at all is a big difference! Her sister loves her, though. She's amazingly gentle and always wants to give her kisses. Having two is so much harder than I'd imagined, but at the same time she's seemed to fit into our family from the start.
We're finally home and it's very nice.
She sleeps ALL the time. I don't remember if DD#1 slept this much, but then again I was confined to bed for 2 weeks from a spinal headache and DH cared for her besides breastfeeding. This time it's so different. I felt sick for a few hours w/ diarrhea and vomiting from that shot they gave me, but after that I felt great. I didn't even tear. I felt like I could run a marathon. It's been a week later and I've almost completely stopped bleeding.
Anyway, now I'm just rambling.
Updated w/ pics.
Pics
My contractions began Halloween afternoon. I don't seem to get any contractions, not even BH, before the actual labor. They were very far apart and erratic throughout the day. I tried to take it easy because I really didn't want a Halloween baby!
After taking DD trick or treating, passing out candy, etc., I let DH know I was having contractions about every 15-20 minutes, and went to sleep at around 10pm. Around midnight I woke up because the contractions were too intense, but they kept fluxuating from 3-5 mins apart to over 8 mins apart.
Oh well, forget sleep. I decided to wash some of the baby's clothes considering I hadn't yet! I also did whatever cleaning up I could without waking DH or DD up. My contractions got more intense and I ended up waking DH up around 4ish. Woke MIL up to keep an eye on DD and left for the hospital nearing 5am.
Got to the hospital, my contractions had slowed down. But as soon as I got into bed and they wanted to monitor the baby for a while they picked up again. The nurse was there almost the whole time doing paperwork. I didn't know it would take her so long to do that stuff - I just wanted her to leave so I could focus on relaxing through the contractions. Finally they wanted to check to see if I was dialated and to decide whether to admit me or send me home. She checked me and seemed really shocked, told me I was around 5-6 cm, but wanted another nurse to doublecheck. Okay, so the other nurse says nope, I'm 8 cm. So yeah, obviously they admit me!
Long story short, I labored in bed, slightly sitting up (laying flat is owwwwie!). My contractions were painful, but I only thought "Oh no, I can't do this" for one or two until the pressure down there was sooo intense. My waters still hadn't broken, and I kept saying, "I wish my water would break!" To me it felt like the most pain was from the pressure of it, not the contractions. Not long after, my water DID break, it felt SO good. The nurse kept commenting on how I was doing amazing, that she'd never seen anything like this. Ha! Oh yeah, when I told them I didn't want an epidural, talk about confusion on the nurse's face.
I won't even get into the other nurse yelling at me for not wanting an IV...A couple contractions later and I could feel the baby was ready to come out. "She's coming," I told the nurse. She called for another nurse to help her - my doctor was rushing over from the other hospital he works at. They kept telling me not to push, to wait for the doctor. I wasn't pushing!! She was just sliding down, it was amazing feeling her slowly come down. I remember at one point all the pain disappeared, it felt so calm and quiet to me then, just letting her come out like that. Her head came out and at some point the nurses told me I needed to give a good push, that the baby had to come out now. I later found out the cord was wrapped around her head and she came out blue. I do remember wondering why I didn't hear her cry. DH tells me he was so scared but didn't want to frighten me at the time. She was born at 6:36am on November 1st, weighting 7lbs 11oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
They took her to the warming table immediately, I didn't even get to touch her. She had way too much liquid in her lungs or such. I didn't know what was going on, but it was scary. I didn't get to hold my baby for what felt like forever. The nurses sounded so panicked. I was bleeding too much. Scolded for not getting an IV. They gave me a shot of pitocin and something else, I don't even know what. They said they had to or I would bleed too much.
DH got to hold out baby finally, but everytime I asked to hold her they said to wait, they had to make sure I was okay first. I guess I was bleeding a lot - I don't know. All I remember thinking is if I'm going to die, I want to hold my baby first.
Shortly after the two shots they gave me, I went from feeling great to completely nauseous, sweating like crazy, dizzy. Maybe that's just normal. I finally got to hold my baby girl, more than a half hour after she was born. And I haven't let her go except when absolutely necessary. My doctor came in around then and yelled at me for not coming to the hospital sooner. Weirdo.She started breastfeeding at once and she's been a champ. She's so unlike her sister in many ways, it's really cute. Her sister has light brown/reddish hair, and she has black hair. The fact that she actually has hair at all is a big difference! Her sister loves her, though. She's amazingly gentle and always wants to give her kisses. Having two is so much harder than I'd imagined, but at the same time she's seemed to fit into our family from the start.
We're finally home and it's very nice.
She sleeps ALL the time. I don't remember if DD#1 slept this much, but then again I was confined to bed for 2 weeks from a spinal headache and DH cared for her besides breastfeeding. This time it's so different. I felt sick for a few hours w/ diarrhea and vomiting from that shot they gave me, but after that I felt great. I didn't even tear. I felt like I could run a marathon. It's been a week later and I've almost completely stopped bleeding.Anyway, now I'm just rambling.
Updated w/ pics.
Pics
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Yaaaa! Congrats To you & your Family!!!
