My Vaginal Birth....
Lasted 24 hours. I pushed only for 30 minutes. No episiotomy (only condone The first
time was much harder then the second, even though both babies were large. Just try to relax & do what the DR says & you'll do fine. Also-don't have an episiotomy if you don't absolutely have to. (fairy9272) i would not have survived
if it weren't for the epidural. again, do what is right for you. don't let anyone tell you that medicated births are bad. you don't have to be a hero! (kristin.g) I did have an epidural, but I think I handled the labor pains up
until I got that epidural pretty well! It's amazing what a woman's body is put through to deliver a baby, but it's even more amazing that we can endure that pain and heal and do it all over again! I pushed for 2 1/2 hours and my doctor was
there the entire time. When I first lay eyes on our first born child, a son, I fell instantly in love and that love has grown more every single day!! (mj68) Get an epidural. I felt no pain during my pregnancy, only a little
pressure pushing her head out. I was able to enjoy the entire labor process. What I wasn't told was about the days after. The pain that the swelling of the breasts caused and the bleeding for weeks. (toto8525) I went into labor
at 8 pm on 1/10/00 but i wasn't sure it was labor so i went to bed and kept waking up with little jabs in my stomach so finally at about 2am we went to the hospital to find out so we knew if my b-friend needed to stay home from work or not.
Well i was in labor but they induced me to speed it along. The contractions increased and became very painfull (they were the worst part of the delivery) my doc told me i could have an epidurial anytime after i was dialated to 4. I was afraid
it would wear off before i needed it so i decided to wait. So they gave me acouple syringes of demerol. Big mistake. The demerol kept making me pass out until i got a contraction. the contractions would wake me up to feel the pain and my
boyfriend had to keep catching me as i kept falling off the table (they had me sitting up to try to keep me awake). When i decided i wanted the epidural the anestigiologist was in O.R. and wasn't available. When she became available they
advised against the epidural saying it would slow down the delivery because the baby would be out in a half hour so i said fine i'd skip the epidural. My daughter was born 2 hours later! I was in labor for more than 23 hours!!!!!!
(heidi_hibbit) was not as bad as I thought (at least not now!!!) do take an epidural. my Mom always said "They don't call it labor for nothing - take whatever drugs they will give you" I totally agree. I will say that I had it easy
though. My labor was only 3.5 hours from start to finish and this was my first. I truly feel for those of you who had long labors (petreece) If you think that your water broke, it probably did. I felt a little "trickle"
that happened mainly when I was lying down. I called the doctor (about a month before my due date), and he said that it was probably just my mucous plug. It still hadn't stopped the next day, so I just drove myself to the doctor's office and
politely demanded to be seen. He tested the fluid and found that, in fact, my water had broken. He had me admitted to Labor and Delivery 10 minutes later. I had my son vaginally, with no epidural, but I had to be put on antibiotics and my son
had to stay in the ICU for three days to be monitored for infection due to the 43 hour period of time between the water breaking and the birth. Just think what could have happened if I had not went to see the doctor. TRUST your instinct.
(jacobsmomee) Trust every instinct you have...and keep yelling until someone listens to you....when I went into labor with my son at 34 weeks (after 2 c-sections), I tried to tell the nurses that I needed to push, but they didn't believe
me. They also didn't believe I was in labor. Imagine their surprise when I went from 0 cent. to fully dialated in 1 1/2 hours, had a VBAC with no drugs whatsoever and two pushes later, out came my baby boy. You know
your body better than anyone else, reguardless if you've had a baby before or not!! Remember that, and find an OB who believes that too!! (cl-mariap) Amazing and overwhelming. Not at all what I expected. This was my first baby
and what I learned the most is....labor doesn't always go like the books say or as they explain in childbirth class. Don't be like me and get yourself wrapped up in whether labor is progressing the way its "supposed" to. Its
different for each mommy. Though mine went a little long, the epidural (heaven) allowed me to save a little energy for the big push at the end! My experience with the epidural was that it didn't hurt going in (compared to the strong
contractions I was having) and it didn't slow me down and I could still feel my legs and feel the contractions. (bailey3)
this if it is necessary...because the healing process is longer and more
uncomfortable if you have one). Once I lost my plug it all seemed to go so
quickly and it hurt a lot...but DH was an awesome coach and he helped me
make it through until I had the epidural. It was a beautiful experience. I
delivered him and nursed almost immediately and I was in heaven (jem0622)