I really wanted somewhere to share the labor and delivery of my daughter so here goes! Warning though, this may end up a lot longer than I intend. Hehe.

I found out I was pregnant sometime either late February or early March, and found out that I was having a girl at about 15 or 16 weeks...Which is great because that is exactly what my husband and I wanted. Of course I immediately read any article about pregnancy and parenting that I could find. I really suggest the my pregnancy app for anyone expecting, it goes week by week and shows you so much about the baby and milestones etc.

I was pretty adamant the whole time about not receiving any pitocin during the delivery. That's just a synthetic version of Oxytocin which your body makes naturally. It's used to induce labor, or speed it up. The problem with it though is a lot of the time the pitocin makes labor pains much worse, and can sometimes cause a snowball effect of drugs which could eventually lead to needing a C-section (I won't go too far into it.)

Well at my 39 week checkup, which was the Friday before the 20th, he said he would induce my on Monday if I was alright with it. He was worried the baby would be too large if I waited until my due date because my ultrasounds were showing her to be a very big girl. I of course was so impatient to meet my daughter that I agreed! The first available date to be induced was that Tuesday though, which was the 21st.

I was told to not eat anything after midnight and to call the hospital at 5:30am to see when they wanted me to come in. They told me to be there at 6:45. I was so excited, and finished getting my bag together before my husband and I headed up. It wasn't until about 8 or 8:30 that they actually got all of my prepping finished and started the pitocin.

My mother in law came up about an hour later. I was very surprised at how quickly the contractions came. I assumed that the pain would be mild for a few hours, then gradually get more painful over a long period of time...nope. The first one or two I barely felt. Then I had one or two about as bad as a period cramp. The next one or two were BAD period cramps. Then the next was so bad I had to breath through and didn't want to move, then they just kept getting worse and worse!

It also sucked that I was so uncomfortable in the bed, I just could not find a position that worked. Finally they came to give me the epidural. My husband had to push against me in front so I would be still enough for them to get it in. This part really sucked because they had to stick me twice. The first time she had it too far to the left, and I could feel her poking the needle around, ugh. She kept asking me if I felt any pain, and after about 3 times asking she said "Are you sure it's pain, or is it just pressure?" So I yelled "I feel PAIN. PAIN!" and the man with her started laughing lol...

I really didn't like being numb, but was glad to not be in so much pain. At about 5:30 the nurse came in and we did some practice pushes and then we just had to wait for the doctor to come in. The only people I decided to have in the room with me was my mother in law, my stepmother, and of course my husband.

My epidural ran out a little before the doctor came in so I was starting to feel pain again from the contractions, so they had to give me a boost lol. FINALLY at 6:00 I started to push. There were so many people in the room, and it was almost like a dream. I had some nurse directly to my left, who kept pushing my damn head down and kept saying "You need to keep your neck tucked in!!" Every time I went to go push, I would take a breath and they would start a ten second count, and thiiisss bitchhh would push my neck in and immediately I would lose the breath and lose the pushing momentum. Finally I had to tell this lady if she would stop pushing my fucking neck in I could push lol. Up until that point I really felt like I couldn't do it. They decided to let me just push on my own instead of counting for me and that really really helped. She was almost out but I believe her shoulders got stuck so I had to get an episiotomy (Where they cut my vajayjay.)

Finally my daughter came out and I was SO relieved, and as soon as I heard her start to cry I started too lol. They put her on the table and the little stinker peed and pooed immediately! They got the placenta out (Which by the look on my husbands face...It was pretty gruesome.) My baby was born at 6:13pm

I would love to hear any other birth stories if anyone wants to share. Was it a long delivery? Did you get an epidural? Let me know (: Thanks for anyone who took the time to read. I needed to write it all before I forgot!

I also had an epidural, and I had to be cut. I didn't feel the stitches but I felt when the doctor wiped it with a sponge (lol). I did go in wanting an epidural. It worked for me. I was worried I wouldn't know when to push, but when the time came I just knew. "I've got to push." Haha. She was out with just a few pushes because she was so damn low. I had worked at my job up until like, a week before I had her, and my job included a lot of walking and that had gotten her so low which was awesome. The one bad thing that happened was that the lady had to stick the needle in my back twice. The first time I moaned because it felt so weird and she thought she was hurting me, so she took it out. The second time was a charm. Unfortunately it left a tiny hole in my spinal chord membrane (something like that) and for a week and a half after delivery, when I would sit up, spinal fluid would rush up to the top of my brain and give me the worst headache you could imagine, immediately. It was awful. I ate lots of eggs though and it DID heal up. I would still get the epidural again lol. Anyhow.

I gave birth to my daughter a little over 4 years ago.

My pregnancy was completely normal. I did get very bad morning sickness during the first trimester. I had to throw up in a plastic bag (gross, I know, but toilets made it so much worse) every morning but then I would feel better.

A week before I was due, my father passed away. He and I hadn't spoken much over the year previous. His wife and I had had a falling out of sorts, and they both had a bad prescription drug addiction. I distanced myself from them. Anyway, so, I knew he was bad off with his addiction, and I had a feeling some day that call would come. Unfortunately, it came a week before I delivered my daughter. It was really devastating. But being so far along, I had something positive to focus on and I feel like that really saved me.

The Thursday night before my father's viewing, I went into labor. I was terrified and so sad. I did not want to miss saying goodbye to my dad. I went to the hospital and had contractions through the night, but my water did not break. I begged the nurses to let me leave the next day to attend the viewing. And... I was able to! I do not know how it happened but I guess the universe was smiling on me that day. I am so glad I got to say goodbye.

You know how the family lines up against the wall so that the people coming in can hug them? Well, my grandmother (his mother) was beside me and she would tell every single person, "This was his daughter... she's in labor!" I was like Grandma please. Lol.

That night I went back into the hospital around 11pm and I had my daughter early the next morning.

That's my story. :)

Edit: Oh, I forgot another funny thing from my delivery. When the actual doctor came in, close to the end of my labor, he introduced himself. I hadn't met him through my women's center when I was having my prenatal checkups, which I thought was weird because I tried to meet all of the 4-ish doctors because I would have any one of them that was on call when I delivered. He said, "Hi. I'm Doctor Zimmerman. You're my first delivery!" I said, "NO I'M NOT." He laughed so hard. I was his first delivery in that hospital. He had delivered many babies, but he had just transferred to the local hospital LOL. He was actually very very nice, and very gentle. I had heard horror stories about some of the other doctors ripping out the placenta, but I didn't even feel it!

First off...I'm so sorry to hear about your father. I can't imagine the pain of losing a parent. I'm glad giving birth could add a little sunshine into such a sad time!

I have been getting headaches off and on, I wonder if that could have anything to do with my epidural? Probably not because they aren't TOO unbearable, I've just never really experienced headaches before. I did spit up blood though a few days after I came home. Woke up and felt something squishy come up my throat and into my mouth and ended up spitting out a blood clot. Still not really sure what caused it, but I haven't had any pains or anything...

It's very cool they let you go to the viewing! I would have been so afraid to leave the hospital though! I would have had to punch that doctor in the face lol. Don't scare me like that!! The worst part for me was healing from the stitches. I REALLY underestimated how painful it would be to do...anything, for the the first few days. I felt like I could barely take care of my daughter while I was there, considering I could barely get out of bed with how heavy I bled and just the sheer pain down there. It's the one thing I never even thought about ahead of time but ended up being the worst part of my whole pregnancy.

That sucks you had morning sickness during your pregnancy. I was very lucky and only got sick one time, the day I found out I was pregnant..so it probably had a lot to do with nerves and excitement. (Other than a stomach bug I ended up getting but that was separate.)

Here I am writing a novel again haha.

First off...I'm so sorry to hear about your father. I can't imagine the pain of losing a parent. I'm glad giving birth could add a little sunshine into such a sad time!

I have been getting headaches off and on, I wonder if that could have anything to do with my epidural? Probably not because they aren't TOO unbearable, I've just never really experienced headaches before. I did spit up blood though a few days after I came home. Woke up and felt something squishy come up my throat and into my mouth and ended up spitting out a blood clot. Still not really sure what caused it, but I haven't had any pains or anything...

It's very cool they let you go to the viewing! I would have been so afraid to leave the hospital though! I would have had to punch that doctor in the face lol. Don't scare me like that!! The worst part for me was healing from the stitches. I REALLY underestimated how painful it would be to do...anything, for the the first few days. I felt like I could barely take care of my daughter while I was there, considering I could barely get out of bed with how heavy I bled and just the sheer pain down there. It's the one thing I never even thought about ahead of time but ended up being the worst part of my whole pregnancy.

That sucks you had morning sickness during your pregnancy. I was very lucky and only got sick one time, the day I found out I was pregnant..so it probably had a lot to do with nerves and excitement. (Other than a stomach bug I ended up getting but that was separate.)

Here I am writing a novel again haha.

Thank you for the story! I love reading people's experiences regarding pregnancy, childbirth and young children. I want to make sure I'm extremely informed by the time it's my turn. Hopefully I'll be sharing my own story someday, like you. I say hopefully because for the past two years I've been unable to conceive, but I'm heading in next month to start fertility treatments, so... fingers crossed, eh? :)

-in-sand Oh that sounds exciting! I really hope it works out for you. It actually took me over a year to get pregnant and I know a lot of people who took years and years to conceive. Best of luck, and please let me know how it goes if you remember to!