No one can truly prepare you for the roller coaster ride of giving birth. No matter what kind of classes you take beforehand, you will be in for some surprises; the sheer pain, complications, the aftermath. Here are some first hand accounts of our Mama’s d-days:
“All that preregistering you do – it’s bull shit, you’ll do it all over again while on all fours because you can’t take the pain and it doesn’t matter how much you scream and swear, the anesthesiologist comes when they’re ready – especially at 2am…
It’s not the birth that sucks, it’s the contractions – the epidural birth is downright pleasant – TV, ice chips, everyone cheering you on… I supposedly had a back that “didn’t take well to epidurals” so they literally poked and prodded for two hours while my contractions came every 2 minutes – it was sheer hell…I had track marks up and down my spine and there probably wasn’t one person on that floor that didn’t hear me scream. Plus, husbands aren’t allowed in with you when you’re getting an epidural, so I didn’t have mine…
I asked a million times if I pooped but everyone said no – even though it felt like it the entire time. My advice: USE STOOL SOFTENER… I opted for the stool softener over Percocet everytime.” MAMA M
“You get over the fact very quickly that everyone is either looking at or touching your ladyland. Not everyone poops – but they’re totally on top of the situation. The placenta is the absolute grossest – husbands should look away. We still can’t eat pork loin because it reminds my husband of the placenta.” MAMA E
“It is important to know that any clothing that you bring for yourself with likely be bloody (it is amazing how much you bleed and for how long after vaginal delivery) and you will probably want to throw it away when you are done, so don’t bring any expensive frilly things unless you are willing to trash them.” MAMA S
“If you have a c-section you cannot get up for two days or so and it makes breastfeeding that much harder because you are in pain. You definitely need someone with you to help you shower, etc. There is no pooping with a c section J” MAMA L
“C-Section. Emergency. After my water broke...and I was laboring 28 hours it was decided I needed an emergency c. Then I had all sorts of complications after! They thought I had a heart attack!?! IT was an infection. Baby went to NICU for 48 hours for observation. During labor I vomited like crazy!! I had numbness in my shoulders. OH, the internal exams while in labor hurt like a bitch!!!!! It was like having a huge open womb be made larger. I drifted in and out of consciousness during labor after hour 18. You can't eat in labor, not that you are hungry, but you can't even have water. I begged for water in the recovery room. I said my heart was racing because I needed water, lol.” MAMA R
“It was a busy day when we were there and I believe someone was having more trouble delivering than I was so there were many times during active (pushing) labor that it was just me and my husband in the room –scary! But if it was me having the more difficult labor I would have been happy to see that I was getting the constant attention. We were fine, it was just not how we pictured it. My epidural wore off on one side twice, which was not fun because it made for more starts and stops in the labor process – guess it happens more often than you think
Had a c-section after many hours of labor. I was told to not try vaginal delivery again because my birth canal is too narrow – that was a bit disappointing because it was very unexpected. Next time the one thing I will ask for is to see the baby right when it is delivered – I never got to see that naked, yucky screaming baby that you envision yourself getting to see. I also had a terrible reaction after the c-section was done, uncontrollable whole body shaking, teeth chattering (more like hammering), nausea, dizziness, shivering – they gave me many drugs to try to stop it but in the end the only thing that worked was putting my new baby’s cheek against my own --- oddly everything stopped instantly, very weird and I wouldn’t believe it myself if there were not others there to witness it.” MAMA C
“The epidural is THAT good. But try to hold out just 1 contraction longer than you think you can before getting it to keep everything moving along. If you do get the epidural – DON’T push as hard as you possibly can. Try more like 60% (they tell you this in the class, but it is easy to forget). Relax for the contractions – don’t tense up. Obvious in advance, forgettable in the moment. “ MAMA A
“Don't bother bringing pajamas to the hospital. I bought several (cheap, nonetheless, from Target) but never wore them. You will be back and forth to the bathroom so many times in the 48 hours afterwards, that it is a nice little treat to have the hospital gown with the open back that you literally just have to sit down on the toilet and that's it. No messing with pulling the pants down or untying anything! I wasn't prepared for how sore my whole body would be, literally just moving my legs over to get out of the bed and walk 3 feet to the bathroom was painful. You will also be sore down there, so going to the bathroom (just peeing) is a big deal! Plus the fact that you are bleeding a huge amount (it is the worst those first few days afterwards) so you have these huge pads that you have to wear which are really gross and big and bulky. So, scrap the whole idea of having cute pj's to wear at the hospital. I bought my own (cheap ones) because I figured I didn't care if they got "messy" or anything, and that I would just throw them away afterwards, but honestly the ease of the hospital gown being open was just so much easier I didn't even use the pajamas I bought. One thing to definitely bring lots of is SOCKS. You don't want to walk around barefoot, so make sure to have lots of socks with you at the hospital.” MAMA P
“Make sure that you TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE of the nurses at the hospital. That is what they are there for! Ask them a million questions, and after you get a new nurse on duty, ask her all the same questions again! There is so much they can offer you, make sure you get all the information you can....because once you go home from the hospital, you are all on your own! You can't just pick up the phone next to your bed and dial 9. Ask them everything from tips on feeding the baby, how to burp them, how to diaper them, swaddling, bathing them, everything and anything you can think of! Take notes if you have to (you will be so overwhelmed with information off the bat, don't worry about feeling silly if you have a notebook and pen!) But definitely make use of having 24-hour "help" at your beck and call :)” MAMA P
No comments:
Post a Comment