The whole last month of this pregnancy has been highlighted by insomnia, which is new for me and not very fun.
Labor started on Feb. 5 around midnight. I told my husband to sleep on the couch and labored in bed for the next 8 hours. Contractions came every four minutes, but were not painful--just there. My husband tried to leave for work around 7, but I laughed and said "I've been in labor all night, of course you can't go to work". Right after he called in sick, the contractions stopped and I went to take a nap
All day on the 6th I waited for labor to start up, but I think I was too tired for my body to work right! I stayed relatively active, cooked dinner, cleaned the house, etc. but had no signs of labor. My husband was determined to go to work the next day, but once again at midnight the contractions started again, this time only three minutes apart.
This time, I went downstairs so my husband could sleep why I labored. I played on the internet, called my mother and basically just kept busy for the next hour until my contractions started to hurt. I called my girlfriend at 2:30in the morning while laboring in the tub, and she listened to me have another contraction and very kindly said "Why are you not at the clinic yet?"
At that point contractions where only two minutes apart and getting more painful, so I managed to make it back upstairs to wake my husband.
I woke my poor husband by saying "wake up and come downstairs, no time to talk" He was sooooo confused. Then I told him that he needed to do a whole list of chores before we left and I went back to the bathtub. Twenty minutes later I got out of the tub, told my husband to drop everything and take me to the doctors. Again, he was a little confused. His mother had woken up and would be staying with the older kids and she was kind of watching me order her son around while laboring and wondering why I was being so bossy, I think. Until I had a contraction that dropped me to my knees, and they both started to understand that I really was in labor this time.
We called the doctor, got in the car and made the 15 minute drive to the doctors. Of course we hit every light, and at each stop I would have another contraction. I still think that was partly mental.
At some point during the ride I felt the telltale signs of nausea and overheated and said "I am in transition". I was so glad to be able to recognize it this time and not freak out like I did during my last labor. I also knew that meant I only had about 1/2 hour to go and we were still in the car!
We got to the clinic a few minutes later, were buzzed in and made it to the third floor to the delivery room by ourselves. I think they are used to normal Japanese people who actually come into the hospital when labor starts and don't wait until they can hardly walk to go in! We went into the delivery room, took off my pants and hopped up onto the labor chair and the doctor did a quick check and said "Wow, you are at 9 cm.!" While he was saying that I had another contractions and he checked again and said "Ok, you can push now if you want"
I never did get the urge to push, but the doc. just let me labor and didn't really stress until the baby's heart dropped pretty low on the last few contractions and he told me that I did need to push now, so I gave two big pushes and met our new baby BOY!!!!
Overall, this was a wonderful birth. It was my first completely natural, no pitocin labor and I learned two things about my labors, they are fast and they don't really hurt until the very end--so I shouldn't wait for painful contractions if I don't want to risk having a baby in the car.
Labor started on Feb. 5 around midnight. I told my husband to sleep on the couch and labored in bed for the next 8 hours. Contractions came every four minutes, but were not painful--just there. My husband tried to leave for work around 7, but I laughed and said "I've been in labor all night, of course you can't go to work". Right after he called in sick, the contractions stopped and I went to take a nap
All day on the 6th I waited for labor to start up, but I think I was too tired for my body to work right! I stayed relatively active, cooked dinner, cleaned the house, etc. but had no signs of labor. My husband was determined to go to work the next day, but once again at midnight the contractions started again, this time only three minutes apart.
This time, I went downstairs so my husband could sleep why I labored. I played on the internet, called my mother and basically just kept busy for the next hour until my contractions started to hurt. I called my girlfriend at 2:30in the morning while laboring in the tub, and she listened to me have another contraction and very kindly said "Why are you not at the clinic yet?"
I woke my poor husband by saying "wake up and come downstairs, no time to talk" He was sooooo confused. Then I told him that he needed to do a whole list of chores before we left and I went back to the bathtub. Twenty minutes later I got out of the tub, told my husband to drop everything and take me to the doctors. Again, he was a little confused. His mother had woken up and would be staying with the older kids and she was kind of watching me order her son around while laboring and wondering why I was being so bossy, I think. Until I had a contraction that dropped me to my knees, and they both started to understand that I really was in labor this time.
We called the doctor, got in the car and made the 15 minute drive to the doctors. Of course we hit every light, and at each stop I would have another contraction. I still think that was partly mental.
We got to the clinic a few minutes later, were buzzed in and made it to the third floor to the delivery room by ourselves. I think they are used to normal Japanese people who actually come into the hospital when labor starts and don't wait until they can hardly walk to go in! We went into the delivery room, took off my pants and hopped up onto the labor chair and the doctor did a quick check and said "Wow, you are at 9 cm.!" While he was saying that I had another contractions and he checked again and said "Ok, you can push now if you want"
I never did get the urge to push, but the doc. just let me labor and didn't really stress until the baby's heart dropped pretty low on the last few contractions and he told me that I did need to push now, so I gave two big pushes and met our new baby BOY!!!!
Overall, this was a wonderful birth. It was my first completely natural, no pitocin labor and I learned two things about my labors, they are fast and they don't really hurt until the very end--so I shouldn't wait for painful contractions if I don't want to risk having a baby in the car.