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I prefer my meals all prepared au naturale - no sauces, no real added oils or flavors...just straight-up proteins and veggies in their natural state...I did not know that this philosophy also carried over to my preference for child birth - no medical sauces, just straight-up pain.
I woke up the morning of the 17th, and thought that it was going to be the day. Throughout the night, I had extreme feelings of pressure, and felt like the pangs were more than typical Braxton-Hicks contractions. B had a PT appointment for his knee that morning in Foxboro that he abruptly canceled, so as the day progressed nothing was really happening, I felt like he postponed his therapy for not.
Fast forward to the 18th - all day I was experiencing intermittent labor pains - went to Whole Foods, stopped in my tracks by the baby food while the pain subsided...went to Trader Joe's, paused by the fruit display to see the aches through. The labor started the night before at around 2:30am - strong pressure with tinges of pain - our neighbor EL came by around 3pm to hang out while the cleaners finished up at their place, and as we chatted, I found myself bending over with each contraction. At this point, the pains were about 12 minutes apart - pulling back to when I went into labor with CR, I would have been out the door hours before, not knowing what to do with myself. With her, I felt like 12 minutes was an eternity between contractions...like I had time between each clinch to nearly forget what the former twinge felt like until another one came.
Around 6pm, B walked through the door, and I was feeling pretty bad. The contractions were getting closer together, and their duration was increasing - they got to be about 5 minutes apart lasting thirty seconds each time. I called the hospital, and they advised that I wait until they lasted for at least a minute for each onslaught. I was a bit wary of this advice, as I have had many a friend tell me that your second child shoots out of you a heck of a lot quicker than the first, but nonetheless we held tight at home for another hour or so.
Once my contractions reached the "we need to go to the hospital" threshold, we called in the first tier of troops for CR-care.
EB came to take care of CR - she was a saint to be there while SM finished up work - such a relief to know he was in good hands, with people who he was comfortable with - not to get all religious, but it was truly a blessing to know that our first offspring was fine while we welcomed the second.
We arrived at the Brigham, and walked through the doors, thinking that we knew where we were going - apparently the hospital likes to toy with ladies in labor and they decided to move the check-in to a new location. After staring at the wall where the home of the original office was, we finally located the registration desk. Luckily I actually remembered to send in my pink pre-reg sheet a few weeks back, so they already had all the details on my baby-making history, so I was quickly guided upstairs to triage.
We sat [paced around] the waiting room for about 10 minutes before they called me in. There was a woman who had apparently come in with a friend or her sister who recently welcomed their bundle of joy. We overheard her reporting the news to an anxious listener on the other end of the phone..."yeah, she is out cold now...I would be too if I had a 10+ pound baby..." Daaaamn. This was not something I wanted to hear while my baby was still inside of me...B and I know we breed small, but who knows who our little lady would take after - who knows if there is some gargantuan ancestor on one side of the family who decided to toss their genes in Baby C's direction....
A nurse called me in first, leaving B to himself in the waiting room. The clinician asked me a series of medical questions between contractions, and hooked me up to the baby monitor. The wee-one's heart rate looked great, and my vitals were on point.
After I was cleared as in good shape, B rejoined me, and the doctor came in to check how dilated I was. The labor pains were pretty intense, so I figured I must be at least 2-3 cm...remembering back to the last time I was in this situation, I was crossing my fingers that they wouldn't knock my pain threshold ego by letting me know that I was not yet in "true" labor at 1/2 cm. Much to my surprise (and the doctor's, based on how my demeanor was pretty relaxed at this point), I was 7cm. Wow. This was going to go fast from here on out.
I was immediately brought up to my own delivery room, and reattached to the monitors to ensure Baby C was okay. My delivery nurse was amazing. She did not hover over me, but simply automatically did things to help me deal with my pain. She kept asking if I wanted to do it without drugs...I struggled, fearing all that could happen without a buffer between me and the passage of our little girl through my body. I remembered back to how CR did a number on me as he entered the world, and did not want that to happen again while I could feel it. As my labor progressed, I continued to refuse to give in to an epidural.
My groans became drawn-out moans...like a wild animal. Embarrassing, as I look back, but it was the only thing that I could do to stifle the pain. I swear B thought he was in a Nat'l Geographic movie - I was just short of needing a leather strap to bite on. Now on all fours on the hospital bed, I kept feeling the urge to push - I never thought it would be a feeling that I could not resist - I had to push - but they had to first manually break my water...it was so much easier with CR when my body did it for me.
I kept looking around for a trashcan - I felt like I was going to get sick due to the pain, but the nurses around me did not see any need for grabbing a boot-bucket - I am sure they have witnessed much worse things hit the delivery room floor. At this point I was in so much pain that I screamed out "I want my f&cking epidural!!" Apparently Baby C's head was making it's initial appearance, so it was too late - SOL for a pain reliever...no hot anesthesiologist to tap my back and take away the ouchies.
"How much longer?!?!" I groaned. The nurses said it all depended on me, so I pushed and I pushed 'til Baby C popped into the world.
As soon as she arrived, B and I did not feel the immediate bond and elation we felt when CR joined us, but as soon as she opened her little peepers, we felt a little more connected - she was a little puffy and squishy from the fast delivery. One eye was droopy, and she had so much dark, long hair (that's why I had such horrible heartburn!!). It's just so crazy to add another little member of our family.
Baby C followed her brother's lead and gave me a second degree tear - what thoughtful children I have. After the whole delivery and stitching episode was over, I crazily felt great. After having CR, the epidural left me paralyzed from the waist down. I had to have a catheter to pee, and couldn't get out of bed. After Baby C? I seriously wanted to go out for a walk. I was nearly pain-free, and after a day I was able to literally go out for a stroll (illegally...B and I walked outside around the Fenway area unbenounced to my nurses). The only thing that ailed me was my throat from all the groaning during birth - I had the feeling that I went to a concert the night before...
All in all, despite the real intense pain of active labor, I would do it all over again without the drugs. I feel lucky to have had the chance to experience childbirth both ways.
Baby C is home, and is fast becoming a part of our family - we feel like she's always been here.
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