It freaks me out to say this, but I'm beginning my third day of labor.
After months of strong BH contractions, and 10 days of irregular menstrual cramp-type contractions, I started having intense, painful contractions at 1 a.m. on the 20th (between 5 and 20 minutes apart, lasting 2 minutes or so). At night, they space out to 30 or 45 minutes, so I'm getting bits of rest, but not much. I've also been shedding blood-tinged mucous for the past 2 days. My pain threshold is pretty high, but these render me completely useless, and I can't stand to talk or think once they hit.
I've regularly done everything I could to have a shorter, more manageable labor: RRL tea, Bradley classes, walking, chiropractic, sex, yoga, EPO...Baby keeps switching from LOA to posterior, and can't seem to find the right position. Not that I felt "entitled" to an easy go of it, but I really hoped all of that would be helpful.
This morning mid-contraction, I burst into tears and told my husband I didn't think I could do it anymore: "I want to go to the hospital! I want it to be over!" He just held on to me, and said firmly, "No you don't. You can do this, and I'm here with you." And of course he's right; if I went to the hospital now, I'd get loaded with pitocin, and probably need an epidural, and possibly end up with a c-section. I don't want any of that.
I struggle so much with constantly switching between normal functioning and intense labor. Life can't stop (because who knows how long this will go on?), so I've been talking to people on the phone with no mention of it, and trying to put together some kind of Thanksgiving meal...
But this morning, after some time just being still about it, I feel like I need to just allow myself to be in labor. The baby is fine. I'm not going to follow the "typical" labor pattern, and that doesn't mean my body is broken. I need to stop timing contractions, and I'm okay with having a UC if things are so odd my MW doesn't make it. If the baby is posterior, I'll have a posterior birth. I told DH all of this, and he agrees completely.
I just need to know things will be okay, and that my body can still birth if it doesn't follow a pattern...it's been 55 hours now.
After months of strong BH contractions, and 10 days of irregular menstrual cramp-type contractions, I started having intense, painful contractions at 1 a.m. on the 20th (between 5 and 20 minutes apart, lasting 2 minutes or so). At night, they space out to 30 or 45 minutes, so I'm getting bits of rest, but not much. I've also been shedding blood-tinged mucous for the past 2 days. My pain threshold is pretty high, but these render me completely useless, and I can't stand to talk or think once they hit.
I've regularly done everything I could to have a shorter, more manageable labor: RRL tea, Bradley classes, walking, chiropractic, sex, yoga, EPO...Baby keeps switching from LOA to posterior, and can't seem to find the right position. Not that I felt "entitled" to an easy go of it, but I really hoped all of that would be helpful.
This morning mid-contraction, I burst into tears and told my husband I didn't think I could do it anymore: "I want to go to the hospital! I want it to be over!" He just held on to me, and said firmly, "No you don't. You can do this, and I'm here with you." And of course he's right; if I went to the hospital now, I'd get loaded with pitocin, and probably need an epidural, and possibly end up with a c-section. I don't want any of that.
I struggle so much with constantly switching between normal functioning and intense labor. Life can't stop (because who knows how long this will go on?), so I've been talking to people on the phone with no mention of it, and trying to put together some kind of Thanksgiving meal...
But this morning, after some time just being still about it, I feel like I need to just allow myself to be in labor. The baby is fine. I'm not going to follow the "typical" labor pattern, and that doesn't mean my body is broken. I need to stop timing contractions, and I'm okay with having a UC if things are so odd my MW doesn't make it. If the baby is posterior, I'll have a posterior birth. I told DH all of this, and he agrees completely.
I just need to know things will be okay, and that my body can still birth if it doesn't follow a pattern...it's been 55 hours now.
Get through this by thinking of that sweet moment!
