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I am thankful that my labor with Lea went the way it did. Once I overcame the fact that my doctor was a complete idiot (seriously, I will never ever see him, again!) and was given the most fabulous nurse ever, things went well. I didn't have an I.V. and I was intermittently monitored which meant I wasn't a prisoner to the completely uncomfortable delivery bed. I spent about 4 hours sitting in an arm chair with my head in my hand... concentrating... breathing... only opening my eyes for seconds at a time. The room was dark and quiet. Kevin was holding my hand the entire time. I was focused on the pain of each contraction and was doing it on my own. Within a period of less than a minute between each contraction, I literally fell into a sort of sleep state until the wave of the next contraction started. Then... I hit the wall. You know... that big, strong wall that slaps you down so hard and you just KNOW that there is no way you can go on. I thought to myself, "Maybe I should have gotten an epidural. Maybe it's not too late!" but I never said those words out loud. Kevin could see it in my eyes... and so could nurse Cheryl. She convinced me to get up... walk across the room... and crawl into the warm, jetted bath tub. Why didn't I do that earlier?! The warm, moving water helped me deal with the pain SO much more. Less than two hours later, I was delivering my beautiful baby Lea. Unfortunately, I had a postpartum hemorrhage (my uterus wouldn't contract back down to normal size) and I was losing a lot of blood. So I wasn't able to hold Lea right away... but that didn't stop my tremendous motherly instincts. I insisted Kevin stay with her (she was just across the room) and I yelled, "Give me my baby!" until they finally did!
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| Finally holding Lea for the first time! |
Watch The Business of Being Born and decide for yourself.
Lovely post. I have a lot of regrets about my birth experience with Mad....although after all this time I've tried to let my sadness about it go....
ReplyDeleteA part of me is scared to do it again and try to do it naturally (I watched my sister deliver two babies with no IV no meds in a tub, one at home and one in a birth center so I KNOW it can be beautiful) but I know if/when the time comes I want to prepare myself for just that. Our bodies WERE made for this. It's a beautiful thing.
An eye-opening movie for sure!!! Every woman should watch it. My best friend is a doula and a labor and delivery nurse. She has spent lots of time in Nicaragua, where the women do not typically have medical interventions that US women encounter. It's very interesting to hear all of the natural birth stories.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I did not have the drug-free birth I had wanted. However, I am proud of myself for laboring without drugs for about 8 hours, little did I know I still had 11 more hours to go! My doula, nurse and hubby were my rocks. That support system is super important!
Great post, Jess!