So that's why they call it labor.

My Labor Experience

Day 1 - I thought my water broke Friday morning.  I got up out of bed and there was this huge gush.  My contractions were the same as they had been all week though.  So, I called my Dr. and he said to get to the hospital.  My husband was working so my mom came and drove me.  When I got there the nurse hooked me up to monitors and checked me.  She said my contractions were 2 to 5 minutes apart, but that the bag was still intact and I was only 1 cm dilated and sent me home. 

When my husband got home that night my contractions were really bad so he took me back to the hospital.  The nurse that was there this time was SO not gentle.  She said I was still 1 cm and that my contractions were most likely from not drinking enough water. So she made me drink a ton of water and monitored me for like 2 more hours before sending me home again.  During the night and whole next day my contractions had me close to tears! 

Day 2 - So, we waited till I couldn't stand it anymore and went back around 5ish the next night.  I kept thinking they'd probably just send me home again, but this time when they checked I was dilated enough to be admitted.  Yay!  So, they hooked me up to an IV and drew a ton of blood.  Then, I got moved to a L&D room.  My mom got there right about then.  She was pretty excited.  During the labor and delivery my husband, mom and sister were there.  The epidural took a while to put in, but once it was there and took effect I was pretty happy.  I almost fell asleep a couple of times. ( My contractions stayed nice and strong though so I didn't need pitocin or anything like that until after Aria was here and they started it to help deliver the placenta.)  They kept having me lay on one side and then they'd check me and have me turn to the other side.  I guess it helps the baby move down faster naturally.  After turning and being checked one of those times though is when everything got bad.  It was like I could all of a sudden feel the catheter (or however you spell it) and that grew until I could feel the contractions really bad in that whole area.  So, the anesthesia guy came back and gave me another dose which really helped, but in no time the feeling was back again!  So, I kind of freaked out because it was in such an uncomfortable area.  The anesthesiologist said we could try another drug in my epidural and if that didn't work he'd have to try taking the whole thing out and starting over.  :(  Well, the other drug didn't help for very long.  So, they had to redo my epidural while I was having full on contraction pain.  It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced.  I was scared it wouldn't help and I'd have to deliver like that.  In the end it did help a lot. 

Day 3 ~ 2am - After all that though, when it was time to push, I got Aria down pretty quick.  Then she just kind of got stuck and wouldn't decend anymore.  I pushed for 3 more hours with no progress really so they had my Dr come in and he helped me with the vacuum.  With his help it only took like 2 or 3 more pushes and she was out.  It was so cool!  The only bad thing is that I ended up with a "second degree laceration" aka yucky hurty tear in a sensitive place! :)~ 

When the baby came out and they put her on my chest all I could do was stare.  It was like all this effort and pain and pushing and exhaustion...and then she was there on my chest and everything else was gone.  I kept thinking "I'm done?"  "It's over?"  "That's my baby?"  They whisked her away to dry her off and check her vitals and everything.  I was just kind of laying there in shock.  I didn't even know my husband had cut the cord until like 2 days ago when I was going through pictures on my mom's camera.  I remember seeing the baby nurse put a footprint on a little foam star and sticking it to my husband's shirt with some tape.  I remember the Dr.  saying something about placenta and massaging my lower tummy.  I remember him stitching and thinking it seemed like a lot of blood and a lot of stitching.  I know the nurse had me try and breastfeed right away and her instructions on how to care for my tear.  Besides all that, my biggest memory was when they had taken the baby away to dry her and she started to cry.  That's when I finally started to cry too.  I was a mommy and that little cry was coming from MY baby!

Looking back, I don't know how I did it all (even WITH the epidural).  I certainly can't imagine doing it again, even though my husband and I want to try for a boy too.  But I also can't imagine life without my baby.  It's like now my life has been split into all the time before she came and now.  Now is pretty great guys.  It's not easy, but it's definitely worth it. 

~Jessy