November 21, 2012 was my estimated due date from the OB/Midwife team I had been seeing, November 22, 2012 was the estimated due date our Reproductive Endocrinologist gave us in the very beginning. Amongst our family and friends nearly every day in November is already claimed, I was certain she would arrive on the 14th in honor of a dear ol' friend who is no longer with us, on 22nd to claim her very own day or the 28th to make the passing date of my g'ma a day to celebrate.
On November 21st my mama had already been here (bored) for a week. H was at work and heading home soon for my 40 week Dr. appt. I woke up around 1000 thinking something wasn't normal, not that something was wrong, just nooooot normal, as normal had been so far. I text H and said that I don't think I'll be coming back from the appointment today. I had my mama start timing contractions. Got my things together and when H got home we headed out the door. About half way there we called the Dr. and they said to just head to L&D. Got to L&D at ----- and they said I was just ----and probably not in labor, but if they sent me home I'd probably just be back later anyway. Alright so we will have lunch. I'm sure my midwife thought we were crazy, well her exact words were "Oh sweet baby Jesus!" so I know she thought I was crazy. I wanted BoJangles chicken and sweet tea if I was about to have a baby. I will never need further proof that I am about as Southern as it gets. She says that probably isn't going to be good later. I say "it's okay I'm not having pain meds, we're doing this COMPLETELY natural." She continues to look at us as if she was saying to herself, "oh please go into active labor AFTER I leave..." My favorite OB arrives and says, "eh you can go walk if you want, get it going a bit." Alright, we will go for a walk. I was pretty excited at this point, and having to stop and hold on to H in the hall during a contraction made me laugh, yup it's a genetic abnormality, many of us tend to laugh at inappropriate times. THIS time just so happened to cause the staff & Dr to say "nope, she is way too chipper to be in labor." Ya, sure. Decided to labor in bed and around ----- they decided to break my water, because guess what? I was in labor. Wow, look I have feet and ankles again! That was pretty crazy. I also got the pain med and epidural speech again and again I said noooope, no thanks! Labored pretty intensely for ----- and they decided that I wasn't progressing fast enough so guess what fantastical drug of torture I get? Pitocin, if you have had a baby with Pitocin you know it amplifies contractions, to, duh, get the baby a out...yep, still no pain meds and no epidural. I eventually asked if I had a point of no return on the epidural, why? Because I was curious, not actually considering it. I think they thought differently though. Around 19---- I decided I was done with texting and social media and I was closing my eyes to find a calm place that I wasn't sure existed. H said I actually snored between contractions, I probably did, I was tired. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Prayed so much that sometimes my prayer became audible. A couple times my mom had to leave the room and H never budged except to get himself coffee and me ice, oh and to take potty breaks, I think. Having been checked several times we finally got to the "oh you are at a ----- and allllmost ready to push." Oh yay, because you know I'm REALLY ready to meet missy! Once we got the "oh hey, you are at a 10 and ready to push let me go get the nurses" I apparently wasn't the only one getting impatient for this meeting. I told H, "go get the Dr." to which he replies with, "she said she'd be right back." Um ya I heard that part, "no, go into the hall and get her now!" Dr & H return, Dr lifts the sheet and says, "oh my she has a full head of hair." I don't blame anyone for not fully listening to me, I mean I already was doubted about being in labor and then of course not having any drugs really can make you VERY aware of EVERYTHING occurring which isn't the norm for most deliveries anyway and it's me, do I do ANYTHING the way it is NORMALLY done? Ya so ya "can I push?" "yep, when you are ready." I was ready obviously because it was 2 pushes and 5 minutes later that I was holding our little mini me. Twenty-one hours of labor, all natural with Pitocin and I was on a new mama high.
So these are the main questions I get:
Q. Are you insane?
A. No, I had a friend many many years ago tell me she did all natural with her daughter and didn't with her son and she would never ever ever do that again, she missed out on so much. So then and there I decided I was not missing anything! Plus I did A LOT of research and I was not going to have my mind changed.
Q. Would you do it again?
A. Absolutely, but it seems God may have other plans.
Q. Pitocin??
A. Yes, I still did a pain med and epidural free birth with Pitocin. See it can be done.
Q. Was your daughter alert and everything that they say are the benefits of natural child birth.
A. You have no idea, she raised up her head while laying on me, shocked us all. She was very happy, very calm, never cried and latched on first try with breastfeeding even before she was cleaned up. Later we found out she was tongue tied so that breastfeeding latch was even more significant!
The birth of our daughter was perfect in every way, I am so glad I chose to have her the way I wanted and stuck to that plan. I was willing to work with the midwife and OB if need be for other measures but only if they were absolutely necessary, like the Pitocin, had I not accepted it I was most likely heading for a c-section.
♥ G
No comments:
Post a Comment