Pregnancy and Childbirth - the Great Equalizer

[Red State Rebel]

With little miss Britney preggers, it cracks me up to think of her running to spew in the toilet, looking in the mirror and crying over the stretch marks (no more midriff tops and hip huggers!!!). The great thing about pregnancy and childbirth is it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are - you are going to get what you get from mother nature. Eventually, you will find yourself in a hospital room with your legs in the air and 25 strangers walking around like it's a holiday.

DU parents - how long did you/your spouse labor to bring your little ones into the world. After Brit's bebe' is born, we can go back and compare.

[Red State Rebel]

1. Thank God for epidurals!

It was so nice watching those contractions on the monitor instead of feeling them :)

[MuseRider]

2. 2 children

around 2 hours total for labor. It seems I was built for delivering babies.

[Red State Rebel]

3. Oh lucky you!

Mine wasn't bad - 4 hours, I remember thinking the next year when Pricess Di had Wils that she had worse labor than I did - some things money just can't buy!

[MuseRider]

4. It was pretty darned

exciting. They said relax then they checked me then I had to tell them to relax. Never did get a Doctor in until it was over. Kinda wearing in a frantic sort of way but darn I felt lucky.

[stellanoir]

5. I went about 18 hours

but only about 6 of hard labor. Had a home birth. Didn't anticapate back labor at all. And the sonagram resulted in searing pain and the midwives had no idea why I was in greater discomfort by their efforts to help than anything else. The examination of my dialation was far worse than the contractions as well 'cause I truly was uncomfortable lying down.

I learned later that there was the most active sunspot activity in 25 years and that solar activity effects sonic devices.

Wish I had been forearmed with this info. And should have checked into back labor more before hand. Thought it was a rarity. It's not.

Hope this saga helps someone.

[Amaya]

8. I've had two home births

15 hours for the first and 8 hours of back labor for the second.

Wow, that's cool, i don't know many women who've had home births.

:)

[stellanoir]

17. yeah

people kept commenting that I was courageous 'cause it's technically illegal to do so where I live. I always said, "I would have messed it up far worse in a hospital."

Wish I had a birthing chair instead of a toilet for the back labor though. That would have been a little warmer.

How did you deal?

[Amaya]

23. I had mine in Oregon ... didn't know it was illegal in some states?

Well, I wanted to do it home because I was afraid of getting cut and I didn't like the fact of strangers hovering over me, while in labor. I did a ton of research on it before I decided to do it. Found a great midwife. it was really nice being in the comfort of my own home too.

I spent half of my labor in the bathtub (that helped a lot). I remember being in hard back labor and my midwife told me to get in a certain position, she said it would speed things up. It was the most unbelievable pain ever! I wanted to choke her, but it worked. Physically it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

[stellanoir]

29. I did a ton of research about it too

but had no clue about the high frequency of back labor.

And also had no clue about the solar flare stuff.

The dear sweet midwives tried to make me eat something, underestimating how far along I was..

I said, "okay a slice of watermelon." They said, "and a banana."
I said, "okay and a banana." I barfed shortly thereafter.

They gave up.

But then said, after he was born, "don't you want to play the Grateful Dead or something. . .?"

i was like, "Well I'm a little distracted right now but sure. You deal with it okay?"

Was really quite funny actually.

[fleabert]

35. curious about the illegal part...

I want to stay up to date, I'm a doula in my productive months. As far as I know, it may be illegal for a midwife to professionally attend a home birth in some states, but I don't know of any state that has laws governing a woman's right to give birth at home. Please let me know if I am mistaken! (I'll take a PM if you don't want to reveal your home state to the whole board, if that's better) :-)

Thanks, and congrats on your birth!

[JI7]

39. is a doula and a midwife the same thing ?

or is there a difference.

i haven't had any kids yet. so i never really looked into this stuff.

[fleabert]

41. nope. midwives are trained for all aspects of a womans health

they do blood pressure, dilation checks, vaginal exams, paps, anything related to well woman care. That includes yearly exams, pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and menopause.

doulas are non-medical, support persons. We do all the touchy feely stuff, but are also trained in the birth process. We are woman-centered and are hired by the family, not the hospital or midwife. (usually)

here's some links, better to know before you need to, rather than scramble when you find out you are going to need them!

http://www.dona.org/index.html
http://www.midwife.org/focus/

feel free to PM me if you have more questions, I am happy to assist!

[Bunny]

6. 12 hours for the first one - I cried and begged for death, or at least

another epidural. About four hours for the second one - I didn't even break a sweat!

What a difference between the two!

[4_Legs_Good]

9. Oh please please please

let our 2nd be like yours! :)

david

[Bunny]

15. They say that second and subsequent babies are much easier.

Did your wife have a vaginal delivery the first time? Her second should be shorter, and a little less painful. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

[4_Legs_Good]

20. Thanks!

Yeah, it was vaginal. She had a little help in the end from Mr. Suction, which, thanks be to God, she didn't get to see.

She was ready for a Ceasarian section. The baby was, we think, probably pushing on her spine in some way that made it insanely painful to push (even though she had had an ITN). Not sure, though, if it was actually a special circumstance or if she's just more sensitive to the pain.

I hope this one goes better.

david

[4_Legs_Good]

7. 11 hours for the first and I hated every minute of it

As a husband it is so insanely hard to see your wife going through that. And for myself, I almost puked once or twice and almost passed out once, long before the birthing actually took place. There's just so much pain and tension there in the room.

And starting labor at 10PM sucks because you're beginning at a big sleep disadvantage that you don't actually recover from for many weeks.

Labor #2 impending in 14 days...

david

[Samurai_Writer]

10. Two very different pregnancies and deliveries...

First one was 30 hours, but had an epidural before I got to the hard labor.

Second one was 4 hours with no meds, about an hour of hard labor.

[AlCzervik]

11. 18 hours with no medication, i was promised and epidural

but didn't get one "Oh you're too far along now" also didn't get the episidomy either, he was about to but it was too late.

[CornField]

12. I'm a freak of nature -- each time I labored a bit longer

First daughter was just over 2 hours, less than 30 minutes of hard labor. My last was roughly 9 p.m. at night until 7 p.m. the next day.

Needless to say, the factory is closed. :D

[Book Lover]

13. 26 easy hours

I started feeling as if I had eaten too many onion rings in the last "how to not break your baby" evening class; didn't sleep much that night as the spasms started regularizing to every half hour. Around 1 the next day, by water broke; I was in the hospital at 4 and my child was born about 10:45 that night. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have gone to a hospital to give birth. Sure won't next time unless it's necessary.

[LynzM]

14. I was induced, 28 hours start to finish

Because I'm diabetic... from the time they started the induction (mild contractions, 10 pm, no sleep) until I had her, next morning, 2:44 am, was about 28 hours, 3 of that pushing. Defintely the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Next time (?) I will try much, much harder to avoid a medical induction/pain meds, as my doula suspected the pushing part of my labor would have been more like 20 minutes w/out the pain meds. Ugh.

[LeftyMom]

16. 24 hours, no drugs

I tried an epidural, it didn't work. I was alright, but I think the doctor needed something to relax, she bugged me once an hour trying to get me to agree to pitocin to augment my labor.

I learned my lesson, no more hospital births for me unless something is horribly wrong. :)

Put me down for 'convenience caesarean, aruond 38wks gestation, with a little cosmetic work on the tummy area while under' in the pool.

[fleabert]

18. unless you have a home birth!

:-)

a doula has to give home birth it's props. Great way to avoid the hospital crap. There are hospitals and birthing centers that will try to respect one's wishes, one must be very vocal and demanding, but it does happen occasionally.

[Midlodemocrat]

19. 24 hours plus

all three times. The first one culminated in a C-section. By the time they knocked me out, I was going to use the scalpel myself.

The other two times, epidural took once, not the second. Not that bad though.

[Bouncy Ball]

21. 26 1/2 hours. Nine pound baby. No drugs, the epidural

didn't take. And it was too late to get another.

Army hospital. Her head was delivered in the labor room, I had 4 more minutes until I was a c-section, so the doctors didn't think I would make it and had the OR set up. Meanwhile they were eating fried chicken (lunch time) and watching a football game.

The nurses told them to hurry, she made it, the head's delivered. All they could do was wash up, no gloves.

They forgot to tell me to take my hands off the bed rail when they were taking me from the labor to delivery room and they smashed my fingers in the door frame hard enough to warrant x-rays after she was born.

The doctor caught her. She had inhaled meconium, was purple, they had to do emergency procedures on her for several minutes.

Nothing was set up in the delivery room. So they whisked her out of there. The doctor helped the placenta deliver by landing the heels of his palms on my stomach in one blow and I nearly decked him, that hurt so badly.

But hey, she's cute. That was over 10 years ago.

[SarahB]

22. Labored only twice, but had c-sections.

The first time, it was 31 hours and I never got past 5cm. The last time it took 3 days and I was stalled at 8 cm for 12 hours before the c-section. Belle kids are huge, giant headed beast babies with massive heads that like to get into screwy positions. I'm so into natural stuff (at least I nursed them a long time I suppose), it made me sad too sometimes. :(

[xmas74]

24. 45 hours total.

They induced me w/ citotec(not sure on spelling)-only dilated to a 2. Twelve hours later, they started the pitocin. Dilated to a 5. They broke my water. I had front and back labor-they both suck but back is much worse. The pitocin seems to have caused me not to dilate very well-the contractions were one on top of the other but I was never ready to push. After 44 hours, w/ my water broken for 23 hours, my blood pressure skyrocketed and they couldn't hardly keep me responsive-I actually passed out a few times. I already had toxemia (which is why they induced in the first place-it was getting worse and worse every day) and my blood pressure was at a very dangerous level. They took me in for a c-section. Total of 45 hours of labor, 24 w/ the water broken.

She was 9 pounds, 15 ounces. They told me that they would never let me try to have a baby that big again naturally( they aren't sure if I could have delivered her anyways naturally-they think that her head was way too big even for me). And my family has a history of each birth being larger than the last (I was 7 lbs, 6 oz, my brother was 9 lbs, 2 oz and my mother's sisters all followed similar patterns).

Could be worse-my grandfather was born in a barn during a blizzard in 1925. My great grandmother went out to take care of the cows, went into labor and got stuck in the barn during the blizzard in Northern Wisconsin. He was a 12 lb. baby-and she delivered him completely alone. Makes me re-evaluate ever giving birth again.

[bicentennial_baby]

25. My mom was in labor for 36 hours with my bro

He got in the NE Journal of Medicine, since my mom's ovaries had been removed 3 years before she had him and was supposedly unable to conceive.

I only took a breathlesssly short 4 hours to arrive, but I was 3 weeks late too.

[nini]

26. C-Section after 12 hours of labor

fun all around

:D

[tibbir]

27. I had regular labor all the way to having my son

but then he wouldn't come down the birth canal so I ended up having a c-section anyway. So I got to get a sense of both types of birth

It took a long time to get to the final stage of regular labor and this was back in the day where "natural" childbirth was popular. So I didn't get an epidural or any other pain relief until my epidural I got for the caesarin.

After that I knew that I could pretty much deal with whatever in the manner of pain.

[Lars39]

28. Saddle block, 24+ hours labor.

The doc I went to didn't believe in giving spinal epidurals,
so I had a saddle block only after the 9# 7 1/2oz baby crowned.
:o

[Left Is Write]

30. Three kids. 6-6.5 hours of labor each. No stretch marks.

I wear low rise jeans (I also wear midriff tops when it's not inappropriate).

[nini]

31. BRAT

:D


good for you.. My sister is the same way..

[Left Is Write]

33. Of all the good things I've inherited from my mother...

nice pliable skin is one of the best! It stretched out (quite a few pounds' worth of stretching with #2 and #3!) and snapped back with no stretch marks. Mom had five kids with no stretch marks.

[Ellen Forradalom]

32. 12 hours, start to finish, no drugs

hurt like a bitch, but it felt so good once it was over.

[loudestchick]

34. #1--11 hours from water breaking spontaneously to first cry

#2--2 hours from "hooking the bag" to first cry
#3--3 hours from pitocin drip to first cry

[Dervill Crow]

36. 36 hours of back labor with the first one.

About an hour with the second.

Eight hours with the third.

A full day of Pitocin induction with the fourth and nothing happening, so they pulled the IV and I went to daughter #1's basketball game. Went back to the hospital at 6 a.m. the next morning, another day of Pitocin and #4 was born during double Jeopardy.

Added on edit: I had an epidural for the fourth one; experiencing the joy of natural labor and delivery three times was enough for me.

[Heidi]

37. Our little one is adopted.

But we've known him since the day he was born, and before he was weaned, my husband and I visited him daily, to talk to him, rub his belly and help him become accustomed to our sound, scents and touch.

He's the little blond on the far left in the photo below.

[free_spirit82]

38. With #1

They induced me on a Monday and almost immediately I started having contractions that were constant and less than five minutes apart....for three more days. They weren't painful thankfully, but they were uncomfortable enough that I didn't get any sleep. By the time full painful labor kicked in (which lasted 16 hours) I was so exhausted I was delirious. I had conversations with people that weren't there; every contraction brought me to my knees. They finally gave me an epidural 10 hours into labor because I was still only 2 centimeters dilated. I got to sleep for three hours, the epidural relaxed me enough that I dilated the last eight and then I pushed for three and a half hours.

#2, I went in naturally, got an epidural four hours into it. It last 14 hours, but I didn't feel a thing! Whoever discovered/invented the epidural should be made a saint, an American hero, and have his face on some form of currancy.

[kayleybeth]

40. 30 hours of labor with my son.

My son was a long, difficult delivery. No narcotics but I did have an epidural (which wore off well before he was born). My girls were both C-sections and I was doped out of my head for their births. Oddly enough, I didn't get stretch marks from any of my pregnancies. The most I ever gained while pregnant was 16 lbs.