August 5th 2017 I was induced about 3 days early due to my baby being large and me not being able to go past my due date because I had been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. While pregnant I researched everything I could find about labor and delivery. I had no birth plan minus I wanted my husband in the room and I didn't want an epidural. I felt prepared for labor, but realized after that all the research in the world didn't prepare me for my OWN experience.
The 10 Things I learned during my first baby labor experience.
1. Induction = Bed RestThey tell you when you go into labor that they want you up and walking and moving. THIS does not apply when you are induced. They actually get kind of annoyed if you want to get up and move around away from the monitor depending on your nurse because they have to unplug you each time. We had one nurse who was like, "yea just page me when you get done and I'll hook you back up" and another who was NOT happy each time I had to pee... So try that natural induction stuff at home to get labor going because if they induce you, you're pretty much stuck to the bed...
They aren't joking about that GUSH of water when your water breaks. Mine was broken by my midwife and it just kept coming, and apparently it smelled really bad. My husband informed me of this recently. I was too busy with labor pains to notice the smell. My husband has a very sensitive nose though so I'm not surprised he smelled it.
3. Internal Monitors
If they have difficulty finding your baby's heart beat with an EXTERNAL monitor, they will give you an internal one. Be very careful with this, it is attached to your baby. They drape it around your neck when your go to the bathroom, and my husband would help me in the bathroom each time I went so I wasn't tugging on anything. He also accompanied me to make sure I didn't trip or anything.
4. Talk to your specialty Doctors, not just the pregnancy ones
If you want an epidural, you should probably talk to the anesthesia team BEFORE you go into labor, especially if you bruise easily and are short, and get things in writing from your OWN doctors too. I decided at 3 in the morning to get an epidural after our nurse (who wasn't our favorite person...) kept telling me "the pain will lessen in you get an epidural" and "you'll stop thrashing around in bed if you have an epidural". She called the Anesthesia team, got me all hooked up and turns out I COULDN'T have one. I have Ehlers Danlos and bruise easily. At 4:30 in the morning I was informed by the Anesthesiologist that I had a high probability of being paralyzed if she gave me an epidural due to my EDS and how short I am, which my genetisist had told me wouldnt happen, but they refused to give me one.
5. Ask about pain management and drugs, Even if you don't want them
DISCUSS IT with your midwife or doctor beforehand. I had not wanted drugs and I didn't know my options besides an Epidural, and was dead set on I didn't want anything. I was given an IV med to start, and when I couldn't have the epidural, my midwife called the doctor she is associated with and was given Morphine so that I could sleep because I was having contractions every 2 minutes but wasn't dilating any further. Also, the Demi (I forget the full name) doens't work as well the SECOND time they give it to you, thus why I had morphine..
6. TEAM WORK!
If your baby is in distress, EVERYONE gets on board. My baby's heart rate started dropping because his umbilical cord was going from his belly button up over his one shoulder and down the other. While he was trying to get out of me and I would have a contraction, it would put pressure on his cord and he wouldn't get an oxygen. No joke, 4 people rushed in my room, and my husband noticed it before they were in the room yelling for me to get on my hands and knees and shoving an oxygen mask in my face because he was watching the monitor, even though they told us not to... My midwife in the morning turned it for us saying, "I know you like to watch it"
7. Things go quick
An emergency c-section is the quickest surgery I have ever experienced. Due to my inability to have an Epidural, I had to be unconscious for my cesarean, and my poor husband who had wanted to cut the cord and was excited to do skin to skin while I was recovering, wasn't even allowed in the room because I was unconscious. SO, no cord cutting, no skin to skin. BUT he got to watch his first bath, and hold him before me. My husband claims it felt like 15 minutes from the moment they took me to the moment the doctor said, "you have a son!". I could have sworn it was a half hour... but that may be from the moment they all came running in to his birth time.
8. If your mother wants to be there, let her be there.
My mom asked constantly, "do you want me to come over?" and we were like, "everything is fine, you'd just be sitting here..." and about 20 minutes before I went in for my cesarean, she texts me again, and I said the same thing. Looking back, I wish I had said, "sure, come on over and hang out with us, given hubs a break from rubbing my back" because she would have been there by the time everything happend and hubs wouldn't have been alone when I went into surgery. Everything went so quick, that if the rolls were switched, I wouldn't have known what was going on if I was him... thus I yelled to the nurse to explain it again to him.
9. Stay calm, and breathe
Lots of people try to tell you alot of information at the same time. Try to stay calm because you won't hear any of it. I literally told my midwife, "I don't care what the risks are, lets just get him out", as she tried telling me what was going on half way through me having another contraction and trying to keep an oxygen mask on my face.
10. You need that birth partner
Finally, you don't realize how much you need your spouse, or birthing partner until you are in it. I could not have gone through that alone, and my husband really pushed through it. He doesn't function well on little sleep, and by the time we had the baby, we had that contraction relief down to a science. He'd hear me groan, and immediately sit up and start rubbing my back.
They tell you that you forget the pain when its all over. Frankly I am not forgetting ANY of that first birth experience, but I did learn alot from it. Especially the hour and a half wait to find out I couldn't have an epidural, my new found hatred for pitocin, and a new found love for pain killers in a pinch. That said, it was all completely worth it for my little handsome guy
