LABOR

(Warning- potential for TMI)

The month leading up to my due date, I started tivoing birthing shows on TLC. People say you can't really prepare for your labor experience, need to be flexible b/c things change quickly, but I thought if I watched others go through it I would at least have a sense of what to expect.

The thing is, most everyone featured is doing childbirth naturally, and there are 15 people in the room. Coaches, midwives, doulas, family members - helping support the mother.

So when my nurse and doctor gathered at the end of my bed and told me it was time to start pushing, I really didn't get that it was 'game-on.'

I had been put on a pitocin drip, in partnership with my epidural. I had been very fearful of the pitocin b/c I'd heard it was extremely painful. In my case it was necessary to help speed up the frequency of the contractions, and get the little puppy out. It wasn't really that painful, relatively speaking.

The day went by pretty quickly. The nurse was switching me from side to side periodically b/c the baby's heartrate was fluctuating, and going a bit lower than they liked to see. Turning helps shift the baby, and they thought maybe relieve stress on his cord.

Hubby and I both took a nap. I'd heard women say this and never really understood how it was possible. But the epidural makes you so sleepy and numb (seriously, it is the BEST thing I've EVER experienced, college years included), and it takes awhile for the contractions to speed up to a productive place.

Anywho, I had been 2cm at admission; 4cm by the time I had gotten upstairs. Suddenly, mid-nap, about eight people rushed into the room and there was a flurry of activity. The baby's heartrate had dipped significantly.

They propped me up on my hands and knees, strapped an oxygen mask to my face and started rubbing my belly (meanwhile all I could think about is my naked butt flailing in the air - labor is so not pretty).

The doctor checked me in a 9cm. I had progressed from 4cm to 9cm in about 30 minutes.

Once the baby's heartrate regulated, everyone left. It was just hubby, me, my sis, the nurse and the doctor again, and they said it was time to get started. They turned down the epidural so I could better feel the contractions (not that bad), and we got down to business.

It is hard to explain how it all goes down but really it is pretty simple. You feel the contraction coming, you push (really, really hard) for 10 seconds/three times in a row, and then wait for the next one. You need the contractions coming quickly enough that you don't lose progress or momentum in between each set. You are literally pushing the baby down the birth canal.

It didn't seem like I was making any headway with my efforts (because I couldn't feel anything - again, xo epidural) but then the doctor asked hubby if he could see the head coming. The head?! And soon she said, "we have eyebrows"...and then there was more pushing, and breathing and contracting and pushing.

And then there was a baby.

Hubby shouted "Balls!" -- and thus, we had a boy :)

He didn't cry right away, which also contradicts what you see on TV. But no one seemed concerned. The doctor made some comment about a 'triple necklace' or something, his cord was wrapped around his neck three times. Again no one seemed concerned and I was still processing the enormity of the whole experience. She unwrapped him and I remember being struck by how long the cord was.

And then baby Ben was on my chest. Slippery and bloody and even more confused than I was.

There is really no way to explain the emotions other than to state the obvious - it is a miracle.