I LOVE hearing gory birth stories, so please participate and tell me if you do!
How long were your labors?
Kid #1, 3 hours.
Kid #2, 2 hours
Kid #3, 55 min.
Kid #4, 2 hours.Now, those are my numbers. Those are the "truly in labor, no doubt about it, this is it" numbers. There were many of hours of totally manageable contractions that I don't think count. But here are those numbers:
Kid #1, water broke at 7:00 a.m. No contractions, I went shopping. Had lunch. Went to hospital. Pitocin started contractions around 3:00 p.m. The, oh, this is what labor feels like contractions started at 7:00 p.m. and Ethan joined us around 10:00. So...what's that? 15 hours?
Kid #2, First contraction was 9:00 a.m. We left church to go off-roading to get them good and started. They stopped. Next set of contractions started around 3:00 p.m. These were 15 minutes apart. So....we went shopping. Had supper at Schlotsky's. Went to hospital. They had me on the table measuring my cervix. Since they knew how long I'd been having contractions and my cervix wasn't showing much notice of the effort, they sent us home. However, my water broke while Chris was arguing with the nurse that we "know what labor looks like!" 2 hours later, Joel was in my arms. So......7 hours?
Kid #3, One week late, we induced. Contractions started with Pitocin around 7:00 a.m. They were there all day, but again, the doctor's didn't think my cervix was noticing. So....around 4:00 p.m., they gave us the option of breaking my water or sending us home. I can't believe I agreed to even the pitocin part of this story, but we agreed to the water breaking. One hour later, Honor was in my arms. So......10 hours?
Kid #4, Around midnight, contractions started. They were steady from the get-go. Straight to hospital. The only store open was a 24 hour Wal-mart and creepy people shop wal-mart at 2:00 a.m. They let us hang out for a while, but then told us we needed to leave. We knew this racket by now and just walked the halls. Around 6:30 a.m., the real thing was there and Sarah surprised us at 8:00 a.m. So....8 hours?
Each child took about 15 minutes of pushing.
How did you know you were in labor?
Kid #1, You'd think it would be water breaking, but without contractions it didn't seem real, so: Contractions.
Kid #2, water breaking.
Kid #3, water breaking.
Kid #4, contractions.
Where did you deliver?
With all of them, at a hospital.
Drugs?
Just with #1. I let a nurse talk me into the smallest dose of stadol, just "to take the edge off." It was awful. The pain was still there in all it's glory, but suddenly, I was too tired to cope with it. I fell asleep for the 1 minute in between each contraction, and through them, I could barely gather my thoughts to focus on what Chris said to me.....relax whaaa? I don't remember telling the nurse I didn't like her, but the video afterwards includes me apologizing for saying it.
The rest were done with the Bradley Method of Husband-coached childbirth. It was wonderful. Yeah, it hurt, but it was still wonderful. It was a team-effort. I was woman, hear me roar and all that. And knowing who to work with my body instead of against it made the labor go so much faster.
C-section?
Nope.
Who delivered?
Doctors. Though, with #3 & 4, I didn't care who caught the kid, they were coming out. With #3, I'm so glad my doctor came in time. Honor's cord was wrapped around her neck. With #4, they were screaming for me to not push because they couldn't find a doctor, but I knew someone would catch and if they didn't, heck, I would. But a doctor in a suit ran in at the last second and caught her. I hope I didn't ruin his nice suit.
Each child took about 15 minutes of pushing.
Please join in the fun! Tell me, so I can go read your stories, but more importantly, visit Rocks in My Dryer and sign her Mr. Linky. 'Cuz it's her idea and all.
9 comments:
Only 15 minutes of pushing with each? Lucky girl - I didn't put it in my meme response but I had one that was 2.5 hours pushing and one that was about 1.25 hours - YUCK!!
Ha! Is it okay if I say this is funny? :-)
I don't mention I want to go to the hospital anymore until the contractions are like 3 or 4 minutes apart, and by the time everybody is where they need to be and we get there, they are only about two minutes apart and I can barely walk. :-) The hospital staff doesn't have enough time to mess with me, though, and I can do most of my laboring on my own terms. Jonny was born a whopping thirty minutes after we arrived at the hospital. It was great. For me, at least. Davey said to never do that to him again. :-)
I wrote one and linked it!
I loved reading yours
Jennifer was 4 1/2 hours and Misty was 5 hours. Both were on their due date. I remember griping at a nurse and telling her I want my husband in here and it was him. I couldn't tell with all the mask and gown.
Awesome stories! :)
When they start me on the Pit, I immediately have horrible body racking contractions. Ok, well not immediately, but after about a half hour....
So I count every minute of pain...since it is always like calmness straight to awfulness.
I only had to push three times with Kela. I only had to push a couple with Cassie. They were yelling at me NOT to push with Faithy, and I was like "I'M NOT PUSHING! THE BABY IS JUST COMING OUT!!" haha
Same with Raechel, she just came right out, without any pushing!!
I did not think to include that in my meme!! I wish I had!
I've really enjoyed my first meme and reading all the linked posts! Sounds like you are very blessed.
Oh, I couldn't pass up this meme...it was fun!
my response will be posted shortly. i must say that i am disgusted by all this "only 3 pushes" and "only 15 minutes of pushing" nonsense. 2.5 hours of pushing and i wanted.to.die. so did my nether regions. :P
i definitely felt the can't-stop-the-pushing part at the very end. the epidural had started to wear off and that feeling was both awful and relieving at the same time. luke never dropped and i'm thinking that was what took so long to get the sucker out. his head was perfectly round, no cone head, and i had the worst heartburn ever, even during labor. (isn't that supposed to subside afte the baby drops?)
anyway, here's hoping that #2 doesn't rip me a new one, literally. :)
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