Joining in again with the barefoot mama, following my first steps to motherhood. I had wanted a natural birth. My husband insisted on everything in the hospital, and I was ok with that, but I wanted to have as little intervention as possible. You know the saying: "When you plan, God laughs?" I am sure he was having a little chuckle. I was overdue and had to be induced as there was some concern due to the pregnancy diabetes that the baby would be overly large. He wasn't. But neither was he coming out. First there was induction. And I still refused that epidural. At least until I was exhausted by nearly 20 hours of labour. I had no complaints about the epidural at first. It helped me relax, I could sleep and regain some strength. However then I had to be redosed and it didn't 'take'. My pelvis and legs were numb so I could not push effectively, but my abdomen wasn't sedated so I felt every single contraction....
I was in the pushing stage for eight hours. There were five doctors around me and three nurses. In the end we had to use forceps to free our little boy, who came out sunny side up and wailing, in the five minutes of the entire process that his father had stepped out because he had been turning green. I later heard that I had been one push away from an emergency cesarian.
I went into shock after the birth and had to wait a few minutes until he was cleaned to hold my son. Luckily though when he was brought a few hours after birth, he latched on like a champion. He never had any problems nursing. He had head control while he was still in the hospital, and he never slept more than twenty minutes.
I became a zombie, literally walking into walls (see posts in this archive with october last year next to the title).
I was luckily not having any signs of post partum depression, but sleep deprivation slowly turned me into a horrible hag... It took nine months for him to stop waking up four times a night and sleep till five am. My brain returned... my manners returned... I returned. And we still want a second one.
Next time... I'm going natural again. My husband thinks I am insane. *warm smile* He loves me.
2 comments:
What a beautiful moment it is when you get to hold your baby. It makes it all worth it; doesn't it?
My epidural didn't work either!! Same thing - I waited 'til hour twenty and they redid it twice and it never took. It was horrible!
What a sweet, sweet photo with this post! I love "new" babies!
Thank you for sharing your story. I know that I'm always encouraged by reading real accounts from real women instead of romanticized versions of childbirth...though easy labors do thrill me, too. I get hope from them, LOL!
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