Ladies, will you describe your labor & delivery Story

Tanya - posted on 01/25/2010

i had my son jayden on the 22nd august 2007. When i found out i was pregnant i went to the docs who then transferred me to the hospital for a scan to see how far gone i was as i was not sure.

My hospital date come thru so went for scan and at the scan they told me the baby was due the 18th august 07 then when i had my second scan they told me the 1st sept 07.

On the 20th august 07 about 9 i was lying on the sofa then i felt all wet well i thought i had wet myself at first but not that much lol so told my partner and he said your water has broke well i didnt know this as jayden was my 1st.

I went to the hospital for check up that night everything was fine and my water did break the midwife told me to go home and if i was not in labour within the next to days they would have had to induce me which i didnt really want.

On the wednesday the 22nd august i finally went into labour at 2 in the morning yippeee lol.

So my partner drove me to the hospital and at 7 in the more jayden was born i loved every mintue of pregnancy and giving birth. xx

Lara - posted on 01/25/2010

dont do it. i swear i will never have another baby again !!!!!! the pain is so fresh in memory u will always remember it !!!!!! OUCH

Crystal - posted on 01/25/2010

I was due between November 18 and the 30th 2005, but my son James Michael decided to come on November 17th instead. When i was at home resting and waiting for my boyfriend at the time to come home from work, 2 hours later we were on our way to the hospital cause the cramps wouldn't stop. Then the nurses told me that i was in labor and should walk to see what would happen. A few hours later they decided to break my water since nothing would happen. When I couldn't handle the pain anymore I got a epideral. While I was waiting for something to happen with in those 17 hours of labor they had given me some medication to increase the labor prosses which then dropped my son's heart rate. Then I had to be put on oxygen to make sure nothing else would happen to him. When my parents, sisters, brother, and boyfriends family had come to visit a hour later I was in so much pain my mom knew something was wrong cause of the expression on my face. I told her that i needed to push and she told me not to until the nurses and doctor were in the room but I told her i need to push now. I finally had my son on November 17th 2005 at 9:35 p.m. he was a precious baby. While in the hospital a few days he ended up with bellierubin. Then 2 weeks later we had to have surgry on his stomach and small intestines cause he couldn't digest food or keep it down. I was so worried about loosing my little man, but now he is such a active little guy you wouldn't know that he had surgry at 2 weeks old, cause the scar he has is barely showing

Kirsty - posted on 01/25/2010

At 10;30pm 15/12/07 i really needed to go to the restroom and i had my show, So after about 2 hours i went to bed and got woke @3am in pain as the contractions where about 15 mins apart, i went to my mums @7;30am she then took me to the hospital @about 12;30pm, i got told i was not ready so they gave me some tablets and told me to call if they get any stronger, so went to my mums as she was the only way of me getting to the hospital. At 3;30am 16/12/07 the contractions where about 5mins apart and got told to go to the hospital, I got examined and i was only 2cm so i got put on a drip to hurry me a long. the pain was so bad i was given an epidural and they put on a monitor on my belly as i could not feel the contractions anymore i got checked and they told me baby was facing the wrong way spine to spine and i was 10cm they all so told me baby was in distress so i tried pushing for about 2hrs but nothing happened i got told they was going to try venthose and if that didnt work then it wound be c-section so they tried the hose but instead of waiting for a contraction and pulling when i pushed they just pulled and when i said i could feel it all the lady told me i didnt no what i was talking about. so they gave me a spianal and i had a crash c-section @12;38am 18/12/07. After all the drama i dint think it could get any worse but i ended up with post natal depression. but on the 4/6/09 i went in hospital and had a planned c-section and had a little girl. and now all is well,

Kelly - posted on 01/25/2010

with my last child i was 4 days over due so i drank a bottle of caster oil then i woke up with really bad stomach cramps at about 1 in the morning thinking it was coz of the caster oil i tryed to get back to sleep about an hour later i woke my husband coz ic ouldnt take the pain anymore still not thinking it was labour then i went to the loo and as i was sitting on the loo my waters broke i shout out to my husband i think my waters have gone he said are you sure i said yes the the pian got really bad my husband rang my stepmum and went to pick her up to look after my other 2 kids we left for the hospital wich is 1/2 hour away when we arived i ask for some drugs but was told there wasnt time and my baby was bourn 21 mins after ariving at the hospital all the midwifes were saying they wish all there births were that easy we went home 4 hours later it just to show you never know what to expect my first i only laboured for 3 hours so thought my 2nd would be fast but he was 191/2 hours so thought my 3rd would be long but we only just made to the hospial

Justine - posted on 01/24/2010

mine is kinda a horror story and kinda an amazing story. terrible pregnancy, i had morning sickness the whole time, no stretch marks but i had carpal tunnel syndrom and edema in my hands and feet. i went into labour at noon on the 27th of jan. i had my son at 2:46pm on the 28th jan. thats almost 27hrs for those of you who are counting. i stayed at home as long as i could and finally went in to the hospital at 2 in the morning. i was in hard labour from just after midnight. they broke my water at 8 in the morning so after that i couldnt go in the tub any more but once they broke my water the contractions started getting so bad i thought i couldnt take it anymore. i asked for an epidural in the throws of pain but it wasnt part of my birth plan so my midwife worked really hard to get me through without it and she was amazing. i finally conceded to nitrous oxide which was my back up and it worked really well, i could actually get a couple hours sleep. i could still feel the contractions but i could get through them better. i started pushing around 1 and broke my tailbone just about half an hour after i started pushing. after an hour and a half with very little progress they started talking about a c-section because my uterus was getting tired, if id had the epidural i wouldnt have been able to push him out. he was posterior, which at first they said he would turn as the labour progressed, then they said he would turn once i started pushing. he never turned and after 27 hours of back labour and 2 hours of pushing i delivered a posterior baby naturally, 2nd degree tear. they said i was a hero for doing that lol. he had his umbellical cord wrapped around his neck so at first he was a deep purple but they unwound it and he pinked right up within seconds, he was 8lbs 4oz, 22in long, and his APGAR scores were 9 at 1 min, 10 at 5 mins and 10 at 10 mins. he is breastfed and huge, now he is 27 lbs and turns a year on thursday. its amazing how when you hold your newborn baby for the first time, everything leading up to that, all the difficulties, all the pain, endurance, every challenge seems to fade away and all you care about is the little face looking up at you, trusting you to face all of the difficulties, all the pain, endurance and every challenge that are ahead of you and get through it more or less intact. every day my son amazes me and opens my eyes to everything that the world is and everything that i can be, he pushes me to be more and to do more, to be everything he deserves in a mother, and i know that, given the chance, knowing how difficult it is to be a single mommy from pregnancy, have a baby all on my own, put myself through school, endure a society that looks down on young single moms (even though 21 is not that young), i would do it all again without a second thought.



sorry this is so long, i got on a roll :)

Melanie - posted on 01/24/2010

i had my labor 10am. i felt like im having a pms..and once in a way i felt it during pregnancy si i just ignored.iwent to farmville(facebook) but lower abdomen pain went unusual so i went to the bathroom and think for awhiile if its time or not yet time.i told my husband and said this is it..at 11am we went to the hospital about 20 mins from our apartment and at 1:35 our baby aidan was born..it was not that long but grrr sooo painful...but hmmm all the pain was gone when i saw him on my husband.s arms...so cute!!!

Amy - posted on 01/24/2010

my last day of work was monday and i had her wendsday. she weighed 7lb 10oz. i was in labor 28hours. i went in to the hospital for a migrain (ended up being preclampsia) and my contractions were 3 minutes apart, but i couldnt really feel them so i was sent home, i came back to the hospital and my contractions were around 5minutes apart. i was given pitosin (haha yah i mis spelled it) to make my contactions more steady. i had my blood checked every 4 hours because i have factor five leidens (a blood disorder) i was given potassium in an iv. it took me forever to fully dialate. finally when it came time to push, my little girl didnt copoerate. i pushed for 3 hours (very exhausting) and then had to have a c-section. i had an epidural when i was dialated 3. i ended up getting mercers and a small staff innfection in my incision. my blood pressure still has never gone down and i now have to take 2 blood pressure pills a day (im 24) i had her on a monday and wasnt allowed to be released from the hospital until friday. and i had to take 8 diffrent pills aday after my labor and delivery. but my little baby girl is worth it all! miss brooklyn rose, 7lb 10oz born september 21st, 2009. i only gained 20lbs and not one stretch mark!

Sorina - posted on 01/24/2010

My due date was October 29th, 2009. My mom lived 1000 miles away and was planning on flying in on October 23rd. I definitely did not want to go through my first labor without her!! I made my last day of work October 22nd thinking that my mom and I could spend some quality time together before my little boy arrived. She came in at 6pm on October 23rd, and my water broke just 4 hours later while I was making her bed. I went into an instant shock - I started crying and than laughing. How lucky we were that she had made it just in time! I had told her to come early 2 weeks ahead because I had a weird feeling about my son coming early. She thought that he would be a week late! I even called her after work the day before and made a back up plan for her pick up just in case. During the last month of my pregnancy I had been leaking amniotic fluid, but not enough to harm my baby. When I went to the hospital after my water broke, I realized that I was having no contractions what so ever. The nurses hooked me to the machines and we waited...nothing....I was so embarrassed! They told me to go home and to wear a pad to collect any water that may be leaking out and if it happened again to bring in the pad. At 4:30 in the morning I awoke to a puddle that had saturated my pjs and sheets. We all loaded back into the truck and headed toward the hospital once again. When I brought in the pad, they tested the liquid and admitted me right away. It had been my water that broke earlier in the evening, but for some reason I was not contracting so they started me on ptocin. By the time they got me all hooked up (it took three separate people just to get my IV hooked up!), the sun had already come out. Unfortunately, my doctor was hosting a wedding reception and was unable to come to the hospital. She had told me at my last appointment (39 weeks) not to go into labor on the 24th, but I guess that is how it works ha-ha! After a few hours of being on the drug, I began to have mild contractions (I thought hey, this is not so bad, if I only knew what was to come!! Ha!). My nurse checked to see how far I was dilated, and I was extremely surprised when I found out I was only dilated to a little over 1cm! So far, nothing seemed to be going the way I had thought lol. More ptocin leaded to more contractions, yet I was dilating so slowly. By the afternoon I was having horrible contractions that and still I had only dilated another cm. My on call doctor was attending the wedding which my doctor was hosting. Therefore, he was making all the decisions over the telephone. He told the nurses to try an epidural, which I had been begging for the last two hours, to see if it would relax me. After a difficult, almost unsuccessful epidural - I finally felt so much better. Maybe now I would dilate enough to go into labor. Nope, I had only dilated to 3.5cm and I was beginning to approach the 24hr mark (24hrs after your water breaks - you and your baby are more at risk for infection) One hour later my nurse informed me that my doctor had ordered a c-section. Between my doctor being unavailable, not beginning labor on my own, having complications with my epidural, and now this...I was devastated!!! I knew labor would be painful, but I definitely did not think it would be this complicated. The nurses began to prep me and asked who would be joining me in the operating room. Oh no, I thought...I knew how much both my fiancé and my mother wanted to be there to witness the birth of my son, Wyatt, but the operation protocol allowed only one person. Thankfully, the nurse asked the doctor if he could make an exception, and he did :) ! Maybe he felt sorry for me, either way, I was glad to have some part of my birth plan work out!! The c-section wasn't as dreadful as I thought it would be but I think that was because they had me at full labor contractions with no medication to try to get me dilated enough for birth for 6 hours straight before hand!! Wyatt's dad was very lucky because as soon as he was born, he was able to spend every second with him ( I wont lie, I was jealous lol!). Surprisingly, it only took 8 minutes from the incision to the doctors pulling Wyatt out of my tummy! I was astonished! The rest of the procedure took 40 minutes (sewing me back up!!). After going back to my room I was required to "recover" for about 30min and soon after, my fiancé brought me my little baby boy. I tried breast feeding him immediately and he latched right on! Finally, something was going right!! Gosh, c-section recovery was extremely painful to me...but the scar is much smaller than I expected and my baby is healthy. A few hours when the doctor came in to check on us, he explained to me that Wyatt was too big to engage in my pelvis and was practically just floating around having a party while I was trying to push him out. He even came out with a red ring around his head lol! He was a pretty large baby (8lbs 10oz) considering both I and my fiancé weighed about 6lbs at birth. I gained 28lbs during pregnancy, delivered 5 days early, and haven't been happier since! :)

Natalie - posted on 01/24/2010

My due date was December 12, 2008. On December 9th I went to the doctor so they could put the fetal monitor on me and see how things were going. I was having very small contractions. My doctor said she was a bit worried because they had a hard time getting the baby to move and she might want to induce me but they would do an ultrasound to see how the baby looked. Everything checked out so the doctor sent me home and told me to start writing down my contractions if they got a little more noticeable. The next day my boyfriend stayed home from work because during the night I was having a hard time sleeping. All day we wrote down my contractions. They would stay steady at 5 minutes apart for almost an hour and then they would be like 15 minutes apart. So at about 9:00pm that night we took a walk around our apartment building to see if that helped any. Then we sat in bed and watched tv. Then all of the sudden around 11:30pm I got really sick to my stomach and vomited, so we decided to go to the hospital and see where we were at.



We were in a room waiting for a nurse to come in and check me, and all I could think about was "is it time?" She said I was only dialated to 2cm, and wanted us to wait an hour and see after that. After an hour she came back in and I was at 3 so they decided to admit me to the hospital. At around 3 am a doctor came in to check me and said I was at almost 5, so they gave me an epidural and the fun began. I called my family and told them what was going on. At about 6am my aunt came, during the entire time I was contracting a lot but couldn't feel it. At 8:30am they said I was at 8. By 10:15am I was at almost a complete 10. I had an overwhelming urge to push so they said ok, you can push through the last bit. So I started to push. It took probably about 7 or 8 good pushes.



At 11:03am my daughter was born. She was 7lbs 7oz and 20in. tall. I had some medium to severe tearing. It was a painful first couple of days afterward. I spent 2 days in the hospital so they could make sure my bleeding was under control.



Oh the joys of having a baby! lol.

Erin - posted on 01/24/2010

Mine started at 8:00 PM on a Tuesday went in two weeks early. I got to the hospital at 11 and they kept me. They observed me all night and my Gyno came in first thing the next morn to induce me. I asked for the epidural at 11 am a few times I complained about all the pain I was in they tried to tell me it was just pressure. They flushed it a couple times and I was relieved for an hour each time. My boyfriend found out the cord was pinched in the box they keep the meds for the epidural. So Before they found that out I was checked and was at 8-9 cen well an hour later I was at 7. So needless to say I went through the C section. My son was born at 5:43 PM on Wednesday he was completely healthy! I was wanting a C section due to fear of the natural child birth. I started to do things on my own right away as much as I could. When they wanted me to move I would do it alone. When I had to go to the bathroom I would try it alone. This made things much easier in the long run! When I got home it wasn't that bad. I will tell you vacuuming and sweeping hurt badly! 4 months later all is well! I wish you luck!

Lacey - posted on 01/24/2010

well my story is some what crazy..i was due April 26th 2008 well at around my 5th month i was put on medication to stop contraction..i stayed on these meds..until my 37th week.after i was taken off i started walking to try induce labor..well it worked..lol..on April 13th.2008 i went into the hospital with light pain.well after i was examined i was given a shot of meds in my butt(to help me sleep) and sent home..i was told it was false labor..(bare in mind i had walked from that friday to earlier that day) b/c i could walk and talk..(yeah the nurses and doctor's at the hospital are retarded)so i went home and tried to go to bed..i didn't sleep at all just tossed and turned..i got up around 5 the next morning and i was contracting so bad by this point i really couldn't walk or talk...i was hell bent on waiting it out b/c i had my 38 week check up that day at 10..i am very stubborn and the staff at the hospital had pissed me off the night before..well my moms friend was visiting with us and my mom was at work and the hubby was asleep..my moms friend kept calling her at work so she finally came home i got dressed and woke the hubby up (around 9:00) my mom got there we got to the car and went to my doctor's office (after my mom had called her on the way home)where we were told to go..we got there myself and the hubby sat in the car while my mom went in to see my doctor...next thing i know my mom is running to the car and we are off to the hospital..by the time we got to my doctor's office my contractions were about a minute apart..they rushed me in and got me set up..might i add they were taking their time all the while..when they came in to see how far i dilated they started running..turns out i was 10 cm and ready to push only problem my water hadn't broke..so i was wheeled in to the delivery room were i was told to push (it hurt like hell) after about 5 minutes of pushing i vroke my water..after about 15 minutes my doctor arrived 10 minutes after that my son was born..7lbs 6ozs..and it was all done naturally..i just want to say god bless the woman who do that shit everyday and over and over again..but i will say our next one will be natural too..if you can do it once you can do it again and again

Jamie - posted on 01/24/2010

My first labor began when my water broke at 6am. It wasn't a gush, like I had been expecting, only a leakage. I was contracting, but not dilating for hours. I was scared to get an epidural. However, one was needed so my petocin could be increased. after several more hours, and the threat of a c-section, my daughter came along at 11:17pm. She weighed 3lbs 14oz. 17 1/2 in long full term!!

We knew this baby was going to be small as well, so I was scheduled to be induced at 5am Sunday morning, 38 weeks exactly. Having faced my epidural fear, I opted to have one for my second delivery. My labor pains began at 4:30pm Saturday afternoon. I held off going to the hospital until 6:30pm. My epidural did not work as well. My chest was numb down to the middle of my thigh. Everything was numb, except for my genitals!! The doctor had to break my water. After nearly giving up from pain and exhaustion, my son arrived at 2:48am, just two hours before I was scheduled to be induced. He weighed 4lbs 11oz and was 17 3/4 in long

Ashley - posted on 01/24/2010

My little girl, Isla, was born on October 26, 2009 at 2:38 a.m and weighed 8 lbs 3 oz.



I was scheduled to go in to be induced Oct 26 at 7 a.m. but little miss Isla must have thought that it would have been too simple to wait until then….she wanted a little more of an interesting birth story! I knew that something was different when I woke up Sunday morning. I didn’t feel good and really didn’t want to wander far from home, but we still had a few things that we needed to get done before my induction the next day. So we went out to my DH's parents’ place in the afternoon and got ready to deliver a last load of firewood so that we wouldn’t have to find time to do it after peanut arrived. I still wasn’t feeling good, but we hurried and left my in-laws place around 4:30 with their truck and a trailer full of wood. By the time we made it to our destination I was feeling absolutely horrible and just couldn’t wait to get home and relax. As I got out of the truck to say hi, I felt a “pop” and a gush of warm fluid…then the contractions started to be painful. I told DH that we needed to go to the hospital right away…but of course we couldn’t go there with a load of wood and the chainsaws and such in the back!! So DH started unloading the wood as fast as he possibly could while I called my friend to come and bring me to the hospital. So she took me to the hospital and DH would come as soon as he could unload the wood and get our vehicle. He called parents to meet him with our truck and made it to the hospital a little over a half hour after I did.



When I got off the elevator on the maternity floor there was a security guard sitting there and he wouldn’t let me go by and wanted to know if I had an appointment!! I was having a contraction while he was asking me this and I was thinking “Do I look like I have an appointment!?!?!?” I think he got the hint by the look on my face and told me that I could go because I looked like I was pain. No really?!?! When they checked me I was 3 cm and my contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart so they went ahead and got me into my room. As soon as the nurse said that I could get into a tub...I jumped in it and for a while it really helped me deal with the pain. But after a while I was getting too hot and tried using the ball instead. That was okay for a while too, but then I started throwing up after every contraction and just felt absolutely horrible and didn’t think I could make it much farther. Around 10 p.m. I was 6, almost 7 cm dilated but I just couldn’t do it anymore and got an epidural. I wasn’t going to get it, but after I passed out for 5 minutes, the nurse strongly suggested that I get it because my body wasn’t handling the pain at all. After the epidural, I got to relax for a couple hours and when they checked me at midnight, I was fully dilated. They made me wait another hour and a half before pushing because Isla was still pretty high. So at around 1:30 a.m. I started pushing and an hour later she was born!! She probably would have been born faster, but she was trying to come with her head sideways so they had to turn her by hand. When she came out they put her on me right away…but they forgot to tell us whether she was a boy or a girl!! But the way that they laid her on me I could see right away that our dream had come true…we had our little girl!! I ended up tearing and needed a few stitches, but other than that everything went great.

Brianna - posted on 01/24/2010

My Pregnancy was SUPER easy, no morning sickness no problems, I got a few stretch marks at the very end but that's it. At around 7am on October 23rd I woke up and went to the kitchen to get a drink, and my water broke! I was 39 weeks along. I woke my hubby up and we got ready and went to the hospital. I was only 1 cm dilated and wasn't having any contractions so they had to put me on pitocin. It took me forever to get to 3cm finally around 5pm I got an epidural because I was in to much pain I didn't want to deal with it anymore as soon as I got it I was in no pain at all and was happy as could be. Once I got to 4cm I went from 4 - 9cm in just one hour and then started pushing. I pushed for about and hour and a half and my precious little boy was born at 1:33am on October 24th 2009. He was 7lbs 8oz and 19inches long. Everything went great! No rips or anything! :-D To this day he is an amazing baby he already sleeps through the night and is very patient and only cries if he really needs something. :-D

Marketta - posted on 01/24/2010

I had my daughter, KJ, 1 day after her due date on 30 December 2009. I was asleep and woke up at 0600 in a "puddle". I was scared and started calling everyone to ask if my water had broke. I wasn't in any pain and I thought I was supposed to be. I took a shower, put some last minute things in a bag and went to Darnell Army Medical Center, Ft Hood. I walked around a lot until the pain just got too bad and I had to ask for an epidural. My doctor tried massaging me to keep my mind off the pain. He didnt want me to get the epidural too early because I hadnt dialated yet. But I waited for about a hour and a half and told him I was ready to push. He said I wasnt but I said oh yeah we going to do this now before my epidural wears off!!!! :) After that, everything was quick and easy. I only pushed for 15 mins and my daughter came at 1736hrs. It was crazy and surreal to actually see her. She laid on my belly and I knew then that she would be my world and I would do any and everything in my power to make her happy and provide her with a wonderful life. I love my daughter so much. I never wanted kids, but after seeing her, I fell in love and I wouldnt trade her for anything in the world. Mommy loves you KJ.

Ashley - posted on 01/24/2010

I went into the hospital at 2:30 a.m. for my induction and wasn't started on cervadil until 5 a.m. I was 3cm and 100% effaced at 1:30 p.m. (was supposed to go 12 hours with cervadil) and they told me I could get a shower and they would start pitocin at 2 p.m. Once my pitocin was started my contractions quickly got to 1 min apart and I changed to 4 cm by 4 p.m. At this time the doctor broke my water. At 7 p.m. I still hadn't progressed past 4 cm so I was warned that I might have to have a C-section. I was also complaining of extreme hip and back pain and discovered that she was sunny-side up. My nurse worked with me and helped get her turned. Once she was turned, I couldn't take the pain anymore and got an epidural. I did eventually start progressing and when I was checked at 5 a.m., the doctor said it was time to start pushing. I pushed for 26 min and she was born. It only took that long due to the fact the doctor wasnt ready and we had to take a break so he could get the cord unwrapped from her neck. I did end up with an episiotomy but other than that we had no other delivery issues. After the epidural, it was a piece of cake!

Katt - posted on 01/24/2010

Hi, I'm Katt!

I started feeling just off around 1:00pm on the 25th of January, so I laid in bed all afternoon..then around 5 I started feeling more and more uncomfortable so I went for a walk to see if it eased it a bit and it didn't so I went for a bath to see if that eased it and nothing..it wasn't super uncomfortable so I just laid in bed some more. Then around 8 it was really uncomfortable so I decided to go to the hospital I live 45 mins from one..I got there and they checked me and I was 2cm and 50% effaced, so they made me walk around for 2 hours to see if I changed so I did, when I got back around 10 I was 2cm but 100% effaced so they kept me. Two hours later (midnight) I was 4 cm so they broke my water...thats when it really started hurting!!! (so thats where I count from lol) about 2am they checked me and I was about 4 1/2 cm..I kept tensing up so much with every contraction I wasn't dilating so I got an epidural. Two and a half hours after getting the epidural I was 10 cm about 6:30am I pushed for 2 1/2 hours and had my baby girl at 9:13 am on January 26th, 2009. She weighed 8lbs 5oz 20inches and luckily I had no rips and no problems through out the pregnancy or delivery!! The doctors kept joking I was meant to have babies since on my first baby who was 8lbs with no tears or rips and it went so smoothly!! :) Hopefully my next baby will be good too lol

Kristen - posted on 01/24/2010

I had my daughter 5 days late, My due date was 12.1.00 I didn't have her until 12.7.00. I was a finger tip dilated from my due date up until I had her. The doctor sent me to the hopsital on the 6th to get induced, 13 hrs later I still didn't dilate any further so they decided to give me a C-Section. My contractions felt like period cramps and after my daughter was born she was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches long, I never developed stretch marks and only have morning sickness the first few weeks of the pregnancy.

Kristen - posted on 01/24/2010

I had my daughter 5 days late, My due date was 12.1.00 I didn't have her until 12.7.00. I was a finger tip dilated from my due date up until I had her. The doctor sent me to the hopsital on the 6th to get induced, 13 hrs later I still didn't dilate any further so they decided to give me a C-Section. My contractions felt like period cramps and after my daughter was born she was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches long, I never developed stretch marks and only have morning sickness the first few weeks of the pregnancy.

Chelsea - posted on 01/24/2010

I went for my 36 weeks appointment at 11 am. My doctor did the strep test and checked my cervix which had dilated to a 4 with inconsistent contractions. I had never had consistent contractions but started getting them around 24 weeks. She mentioned my water was bulging and that she thought the baby was breech. She did an ultrasound and sure enough he was. I got sent to the hospital for a non-stress test to make sure he was okay if my water broke. I had absolutely no pain or discomfort with the few contraction I had that day. The monitor showed he was fine and the nurse checked me before I got ready to leave. I was now dilated to a 6 and she felt his foot was pushing my water out. By 1 pm she told me she was admitting me, calling my doctor, and scheduling the or for my emergency c-section. I have a very high pain tolerance and wanted to go natural. My mom told the nurse no c-section and asked that we try to turn the baby. The nurse then proceeded to threaten me, that if I dont have the c-section my baby's umbilical cord could slip through my cervix if my water broke and kill my child. She said regardless I was going to have to have the c-section and was putting my baby in danger by requesting a 2nd opinion to try an cephalic eversion but agreed to ask my doc if he thought it was possible. I was admitted, forced to have an epidural, the nurse cited hospital policy for having an eversion. My doctor showed up at 5, did an ultrasound to see if the eversion was possible. He felt that with the baby's foot being in the birth canal was to dangerous to try it. I was then immediately take to surgery and he was born at 6:08 pm at 5 lbs 13 oz, 17 inches long, 4 weeks early with absolutely no health issues. I had no pain at all up to the point of the epidural. I felt very cheated by my doctor and nurse but am very happy my son was perfectly fine. With the odd things that happened during my pregnancy I shouldn't have been surprised by how my delivery happened.

Celia - posted on 01/24/2010

Mine was induced at 2pm Dec 8(my first wedding anniversary) an at about 515pm my water broke. Around 1230 am that night I felt the urge to pee but what I was feeling was the urge to push. It took an hour an a half to push my son through an they still had to cut down there a little bit. I never will for get it took my dad 15min to get from there house to the hospitle which usually takes about 45min

Nichole - posted on 01/24/2010

I woke up about 3 am...wnet back to sleep...wore up again with back pain...went back to sleep...at about 5 am reallized I was waking up about every 15 mins and remembered doc saying you will know when its true labor because it will wake you up. So got up and showered...gave all parents heads up. Had contractions that were just annoying through the day...told Dad better head this way from IA. About 10pm he called and said he was in town. Then labor hit! Every couple mins. Went from one chair to next trying to get to car..lol Got to hospital and doc said to have me sit on labor ball for two hours then maybe admit me. Didnt think I was in labor. Ha Ha was she wrong. Two hours later was at 6 cent and cruzen. Got me admit, iv, was at 9. Doc said give epi and labor down. Slept for 4 hours...doc came about 6 am said push and had her at 6:57 am. Loved my labor ball! Circles on it relaxed me and did not like anyone to touch me. Nurse tried and I think she will remember that look for the rest of her life. Was not happy with first and loved my new doc on second! Should have never had epi and should have had daughter at 2 am. My son was more painful but loved my treatment! Doc was on the ball :-)

Kilani - posted on 01/24/2010

I was states over from my husband who had just gotten to his duty station and he was up there getting a house and things ready for me to come up. Well he gave me a call on Friday and said I deploy Wednesday. So my friends and I gathered up and went on a road trip. I was due that Wednesday. So we get there and we are hanging out and Monday night we were in the barricks and my friends had me laughing soooo hard. And then I felt like I used the restroom on myself lol. So I go and my mucus plug had come out and my water had broke. I wasnt in pain or anything, but yet, my husband still drove as if the baby was coming in seconds lol! So I get there and I was in labor for 13 hours. Easiest thing ever haha! The only bad thing about the whole thing was my daughters head was so big and I had to get stitches so the recovery was painful.....but my second was just as easy. The bad thing about him was the epidural started wearing off as I was gettin ready to push but it wasnt to bad! O and because I had my baby within 30 days of my husband deploying he was able to stay and whatnot. But he wasnt here to see my son be born who is now 3 months. Hubby gets home in 8 more months!

Kelly - posted on 01/24/2010

my first labour wasnt what i expected after hereing every one elses story but i ended up havin diemophine coz could cope with the pain i was in labour 10hrs and was 2wks over.then had 9 misscareges in between n then my second child well there was so many problems durin pregnancy i nearly lost her i had her 4wks early and i was in slow labour wen they took me for a scan n she was breach so had t have an emergancy c section n it is the worst experance of my life the pain after was horrible for weeks later i woul rather have a week labour i ended up havin my second blood tranfusion n my baby only weighed 4lb.im now pregnant with my third n hope i have normal delivery

Yadaira - posted on 01/24/2010

Hey well I was due Sept 17 but ended up being induced Sept 29th. They started the process at 6pm that night and it continued on and on but I wasnt dialating! around 12 pm the next day I had only dialated 4 cm! by 3 that afternoon I asked for a epidural sense i honestly couldnt take the pain anymore! to my surprise the epidural never kicked in and my blood pressure was extremely high! thank God at this point the baby was doing great but my bp was so high that around 4 pm my Dr decided to go with a C-section. For some odd reason I was not numb when my doc had to open and I felt everything! the pain was so bad that i passed out =( hours later I got to see my beautiful baby boy!!!! I was in ICU for a couple of days but thankfully everything came out ok and best of all I had a very healthy baby =)

Katie - posted on 01/24/2010

I was due January 19th 2010 but I had to have a stint put in and it caused me so much pain my doctor agreed to induce me a week early. They started with the gel at 8:30 am and I got up and started walking. My sister and mom drug me around the maternity floor walking fast because I had the worst pressure between my legs. After walking for about an hour I went back in and watched the Ellen Degeneras show so they could monitor the baby. After the Ellen show I walked for another hour. After that hour my doctor came in and checked me and i was 2 cm dilated. He decided to break my water and get me my epidural then. I only had to wait like an hour for the epidural after he broke my water. I slept for a while until I started feeling the urge to push. The nurse checked me and I was still only 6 and a half centimeters. Soon after it started getting worse so I called her in to check me again and i was 10 cm. That was at 8:30 p.m. So they turned off my epidural and I started pushing. I was pushing for 2 and a half hours before I had my son. They had to use forceps and cut me very badly to get him out. He was born at 10:50 p.m. on the 13th. He weighed 9 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. Which is a pretty big baby for how little I am. I am 5 foot 1 and was 120 before pregnancy.

Tara - posted on 01/24/2010

omg lol, and best of luck on this baby hope everything goes well for you all

Elizabeth - posted on 01/24/2010

I have has 3 children and it is true every experience is compleatly different. Ihad back labor with the 1st. with the secound i needed to be enduced becase my water broke and i had no contractions. With the third i was throwin clots and in alot of pain turned out the cord was wrapped around her neck slowly pulling my placenta away with every contraction and causing her heart rate and oxygen levels to do very scary things.

Jennifer - posted on 01/24/2010

I am currently pregnant with my second child but I had an easy labor and delivery with my first. At about 2-3am i started having diarrhea(sorry I know it's gross lol) and actually threw up a couple of times, by 5am I started having contractions. Well since I'd had false labor like twice before then, I went around and told my husband to go ahead and go to work which was 2hrs from the hospital where I would deliver. I laid on the couch dozing on and off with the contractions and finally called my husband's stepmom around 6 or so and we got to the hospital around 7 or shortly after. They broke my water around 9am right after my husband got there,which when he walked in the room I was kinda out of it because of the shot of pain medication they'd given me in my IV. Which was the only medication I had because of how quick I went. Our son was born at 12:03 lunchtime that same day:) I hope our second one will be just as easy:)

Donna - posted on 01/24/2010

i was due 10th July but went to 42 weeks.

I went to be induced on 21st july 2009... had the first pesteral pill.. that didnt work..

had the pesteral gel... on the 22nd july... that didn't work.. only slight back cramps... on the 23rd july i had a sweep and was told i was only 2cm diluted.. was really fed up at this time... the hospital wanted to leave me another 24 hours but i wanted too have a second opinion from another doctor.. they said i could have my waters broken.. so at 8pm i went up to the delievery suite.. the broke my waters .. i went to 3cm and asked for an epidural.. then the placed me on a hormone drip... for the next five hours i slept through my contractions.. i woke up at 5am and said i needed to push.. the didnt believe me and did a observation and was shocked that i was fully dilatued... i delievered my beautiful baby girl on friday 24th july 2009 at 06.23am

Melissa - posted on 01/24/2010

I was due on Sept 26, 2009, but ended up having an induction on Sept 23rd. They started me on pitocin around 8:30am. I was already 4 cm dilated and 50% effaced, so I thought it wouldn't take that long. Little did I know! I didn't feel any of the contractions until late afternoon, and they weren't even that bad. My doctor broke my water at 5:15pm, and the contractions were really strong. I originally didn't want to have an epidural, so I received some Stadol about 6pm. That didn't last too long and at 7pm, I was asking for an epidural. I was completely dilated and effaced around 9pm. I was hoping to start pushing, but my son had turned around, so we had to work on getting him back in position. After a few hours of tossing and turning, I started pushing around midnight. By 3am, I was tired and there wasn't much progress. My doctor suggested that I have a C-section. He thought that if i continued to push, my son's shoulders would get stuck and it wouldn't be good. So we had a C-section and at 4:31am, my son was born. He was a healthy 8lbs 14oz and 21 inches long.

Teresa - posted on 01/24/2010

I was so ready by last month, I wanted everyday to be the day. A week before I wasdue my Dr did an exam and I was dialated to a 3 I was so excited. My Dr said I have a couple hours right now, you want to induce today. So I thought I was ready until someone actually says "let's go right now" I realized Im not ready and there still so much to do. So I replied let's wait and if he doesn't come on his by his due date, we'll induce the day after. So I went in on Jan 19, 2009 and induced at 9am. The whole day I was progressing perfectly, my dr came around 2 and said he wanted to break my water, I got scared and called for the epidural. Unfortunatly they didn't get there in time before the breaking of waters. My Dr couldn't reach it, so I continued with the epidural, I wasn't in a lot of pain but I felt obligated since they were already ordered. Anyway that went fine, and my water broke shortly after on it's own. Then at 6:30 I stared to feel the urge, and they did an exam and the nurse was confused she was not feeling a crown. She thought a nose, maybe a chin wait could be scrotum. She called for other nurses 2 other were boggles as well. So I said can we do a sono I'm getting worried. So they called they dr in and he did an exam and said move to the OR he's facial presentaion. So here I am getting a c-section. I was confident with my dr, I little in shock but was ready to do this. At 7:30 Ashton Zade Tautfest was born 7 lbs 12 oz, 19.5 in long. He was so swollen from my cervix pounding on his face. But the joy is indescribable of holding my son. I was in the hospital for 5 days with fever but it was all so worth it.

Tasha - posted on 01/24/2010

i was 39 weeks + 6 days it was 4am and i had woken up needing a pee.. 2 hours i was constantly getting up and going to pee then got stomach cramps before i realised i was in labour.. started getting strong contractions so had a shower (well wasnt really a shower was more holding the shower head arond my bump lol) contractions kept getting stronger and by 10.30am i jumped in the taxi to get to the hospital everything was set up by 11 i was 8cm dilated i had 2 puffs of gas an air n passed out with my heart rate dropping... come round on next big contaction and was hooked up to all these machine things.. had the heart moniter thing around my bump aswell... wasnt aloud anymore gas and air :( and didnt have any other pain relief... my son ended up being bk on bk with me (very painful) but he had twisted around and was getting very distressed and had the ambilical cord wrapped round his neck and heart rate was dropping.... coz he got stuck from moving around i had to be cut open and stitched bk up...i gave birth to a healthy baby boy at 1.50pm weighing 7 lb 15oz. so 9 hours altogether for my first which i fort werent to bad lol

Amanda - posted on 01/24/2010

my water broke at 4am, I went to the hospital, around the corner from my house. she came 3 days after the original due date that i was given. based on the day of my last period, she was estimated due by aug 25th 09 and she was born aug 28th. they changed her due date at 16wks because they said her size wasn't large enough for her to be as far along as they originally estimated. lo and behold, the original date was more accurate.



i went in at 4am, was admitted right away and checked. i was 2cm so they decided to see how I'd progress. they re-checked me at 9am and i was still 2cm so they put me on petocin at that time. by 12, my contractions had become absolutely unbearable so i asked to be checked again so I could get an epidural and I was just about 4cm, so I got the epidural at 12:30. Everything from there was easssssy streets. I was re-checked at 6pm and was told that it was almost time to push so they called in my obstetrician. I started pushing at 6:12 and Gabriella was born at 6:47pm on Friday Aug. 28th, About 14hrs of labor. I had medium tears, needed 3 stitches and was released on Sunday

Katrina - posted on 01/24/2010

i was due on 17 dec 07 and went over 4 days, my pains started at 6am and bearable, i sat with a neighbor while my husband took the boys to their nans, i tolerated the pain till 2.15 pm i got to the hospital at 2.45 and had my son alfie at 3.15 pm, i was supposed to have a water birth but there was no time. i had a smooth pregnancy and smooth labour, with no pain relief as like i said there was no time.

Tiffany - posted on 01/24/2010

Mine was awful. I was due on 03/11/08, but went into labor on 3/7/09. I had terrible back pain, couldn't sit up or lay down. I went to the hospital ( which is 45 minutes away ), and they admitted me into labor and delivery, check me and I was dilated to 1.5. They kept me over night til Saturday afternoon, I never dilated anymore that night, but was still having consistent, strong contractions. We were in the middle of the biggest snow storm in 10 years, so we stayed in a hotel just in case my water broke or something. I went to the hotel Saturday and walked and swam to not think about the pain. I went through this til Monday morning @ 6:30 A.M. I was in so much pain by then I was going to the hospital and having this baby. I checked back into the hospital Monday and they checked my cervix again, still @ 1.5- they said they watch me all day and if no change they will insert cervidel to start induction on Tuesday morning (March 11). They started pitocin at 6 a.m Tuesday morning.... all day long strong hard contractions, with no pain meds. The contractions were coming so frequent that my sons heart rate began because of lack of oxygen. About 5 p.m Tuesday the doctor came in and told me he was just going to send me home, it doesn't look like he's ready. I refused, told him to get a surgery team.. i'm having this baby I have had it with the back labor. My son was born at 6:06 p.m, Tuesday March 11, 2008. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz and was 20 inches long. BTW.. I was having so much pressure on my tailbone because he was sunny side up, with the largest part of his head trying to come through.

Clare - posted on 01/24/2010

hi,



well my first labour was horrid, contractions startedon wed nesday at 11.00am and continued for about 4 hours, had a bath they stopped, went to bed around 2.00am thursday mornig, woke up with contractions again, called hospital who said to go in, went in the checked me over told me i was only 3cm dialated, was given the choice to stay in or go home, so i had a bath at the hospital and they stopped again, so we went home, home by 3.00pm feeling dejected, home for 6 hours they started again, didn't call hospital though as i didnt want to be sent home again, friday morning came and i decided to go for a walk into town, see if that could get things moving on, got home contractions getting much stronger by now, feeling abit happier by midnight i couldnt wait any more, we get to the hospital by 1.00am sat morn, i get settled in to my room, where i am checked to be told i am only 4cm, dejected again, by 4am the are so strong im given a shot of pethidine to help me sleep, it works for about 1 1/2 hours then im awake to find hubby gone home, they call him back also brings mother in law, by 9am im begging them for and epidrual lol, epidrual was finially give at 2pm, amazingly i managed to fall asleep inbetween contraction and slept though the whole epidrual process with my mother in law holding me up on the bed, my son was eventually born at 17.44pm on the 27th may 2006 with a little bit of assistance.



my second baby was a dream, labour was so easy, funnily it was a wed that they started, was dropping my son off at nursery when the first one came, fairly strong poor nursey staff almost had a heartattck, decided to just carry on as normal, everything seemed to progress quiet nicely, by 11.00pm i called my best friend to get her to come over as she was one of my birthing partners, called the in laws to sit with my son, went to hospital at around 2.00am had a bath at around 4.00am and they stopped, fears started coming back from first labour, by 10.00am thursday they had started agin, so was checked over by the midwife but was only 2cm, dejection again, so by 2.00pm i went home, best friend went to bed whilst i spent time with Archie, who was very confused, by 6.00pm i was having contractions every 4 mins went back to the hospital a 7.15pm got in the birthing pool, but got out, for the loo, turned out i didnt need the loo but my baby was ready to be born, 2 midwives helped me off the loo and got me on the bed on all fours when within 10 mins my beautiful little girl was born, i was very proud of myself as i did it all with out any pain relief,



Archie came in at 7.lb 6oz with no tears but all pain relief, but very good pregnancy with him, Molly came in at 5lb 12oz again no tears or rips but hard pregnancy was sick every day til she was born

Lindsay - posted on 01/24/2010

I had some false labor about a week before I actually gave birth to my daughter, but she finally came at 11:45am on Monday, Sept. 29th, 2008. My labor was long and hard. It started the Sunday before I gave birth, I started having contractions that were 5 minutes apart. My boyfriend and I got in the truck, drove to my mom's to pick her up, then drove to the hospital. They set me up with a HUGE room, I got into a gown, and laid on the bed until the nurse came in to evaluate me. My water hadn't broken yet, so I slipped on a robe and started walking the halls of the maternity ward, thinking that might help everything go faster. My contractions kept getting worse and worse, but I was able to bear them while walking around. It took about 2 hours of walking the halls before my water actually broke. It felt like I peed my pants. Haha! So, I went to the desk and told the nurse, then went back to my room and she tested to see if the liquid was amniotic fluid, which it was. So, I walked the halls some more to see if my labor would progress. Well, it went SO INCREDIBLY SLOW!!! To make a really long story short, my labor lasted for 29 hours before I gave birth. Around 10pm Sunday night I had an epidural because I was just so exhausted and the pain became too unbearable for just IV drugs to handle. I will say, I'd do it all over again just to have another baby.

Julie - posted on 01/24/2010

My first child i was on bedrest for a month so 2 weeks early my doctor decided to induce me with pitocin. At 9 am i started pitocin and i didn't have my daughter until 1:58 am the next day. They had to up the pitocin a few times throughout the day, break my water and cut me so i didn't tear. 4 hours of just pushing was very rough and i couldn't feel anything barely from waist down. She was very jaundice as well so we had to put her under lights. My second daughter i started feeling funny around 2 am 2 weeks early so i got up and walked around. After an hour of it the what i thought was contractions didn't stop i woke my husband up and went to the E.R. after we got a neighbor to watch our little girl. I was 4cm when i got there. They gave me a epidural. my doctor was in the room 5 minutes total from the time i pushed to the time she was out. 2 pushes and she was out. Very nice instead of 4 hours like the first one. If anyone knows where Lake delton by wisconsin dells is that is the day that it flooded. June 9, 2008. Very Big news in Wisconsin that day!

Lara - posted on 01/24/2010

hi my names lara, i started getting pains at 5am, managed to sleep till 8am. Wriggled all over the bed till 10am untill finally not able to take it anymore made our way to hospital. arrived at 11.10am, got checked over and was told i was 7cm so was whisked up to delivery.on the way my waters began to tricke. got put on my knees in delivery and the midwife broke my waters which i was not even aware of the big knitting needle !! they then burst all over her tunic as she was a bit close. i began begging for pain relief and was handed gas and air. fat lot of use that was. the pain was unbelievable excrutiating. was told i was too far gone for any other pain relief so was to be "brave" and "strong". my midwife clare was checking the head when she noticed something odd. " oh thats not a head it a bum". lots of people came rushing into the room. a doctor began talking to me and i was not really aware of what he was saying. My little girl mya was born at 12.42pm weighing 6lb14oz. she was the most beautifull baby ever, so clean and perfect. of course her bum had made plenty of room for her to get out. my midwife said she was her 3rd breech baby in 17yrs of nursing.

Anneke - posted on 01/24/2010

Mine wasnt how I wanted it to go or how I thought, it was much worse than what I expected and I always assume the worst. I was induced as I was over due by 11 days and I had high bp and swelling from week 30 onwards so just incase they induced. I was in early labour and 1cm gone when I went for my induction so I know William was coming anyway on the date he did.

Sat there for hours hooked waiting to go, 8am I went and down to the labour ward at 3. So I had a long wait and was feeling sore anyway.

Had an epidural as I was advised to with the position William was in, I was having back labour william was facing outwards. I was so scared getting the epi as I had read really scary things about it and hate chemicals going into my body and was worried for william. The epi made me shake. few hours later I was in agony and the epi wasnt working at all! they upped the dose and no effect. William was 10cm and coming only he wasnt as he was stuck. I never felt pain like it, my other half was so upset and crying he had to leave. He was shouting for a sugion as I suspected with the way WIlliam was lying I would need a c sectoion. I was grabbing anyone and there was about 10 midwifes in the room. I was throwiung up green stuff and the anti sickness tabs they gave me more than once earlier didnt work. So I was wheeled off screaming. I never thought I would be a screamer ,I heard no one else screaming but me. I head babies coming out screaming from other rooms. Into the theatre, still in the most dreadful pain I ever imagined and prayed and asked people just to kill me. It felt like william was trying to come out of my ass! the gas was useless. So the anestisologist came and done a spinal, oh sweet joy! I then threw up for the last time in my whole pregnancy which made me sick right up toi the end. Got my other hald back in crying his eyes out . Within minutes william was out. I wasnt liking someone cut into me but I couldnt feel it and it was welomed after the hours of hell I had been through. After that I do remember not being able to walk for a long time, no coughing, peed myself as no one would help me in hospital to the loo. He was worth it though.



Sorry I dont have a nice labour story, I wish I did.

Jessie - posted on 01/24/2010

I was induced during the afternoon around 38 weeks b/c if I was going to give birth vaginally they needed her out b/c the doctor told me "your not a big person" lol. and was given two drugs to get my cervix "ripe" as they called it, then at 9:00 that night I was given petocin. Later that night they took me off of it b/c my babies heart rate started dropping, the next morning they broke my water after giving me an ephideral and around 5:00 her heart rate really dropped and my contractions were seconds apart and I was only 3 and 1/2 cm. So they gave me a shot to get her heart rate back up and took me to get prepped for my c-section. She was born at 5:45, and I got to feed her an hour later. Hearing her cry for the first time after everything was the most emotional thing i've ever felt. I was so happy and she was so beautiful and is now 2months old!

Rachel - posted on 01/24/2010

My daughter angelina was due september 14,2007 i went a few days earlier to get a check up & well they said i would be induced on my due date so i went in at around 7am & they didnt induce me until 8am...I came in when i was 2cm my mid-wife had to break my water she did that at noon & well i started getting contractions a couple hours later i got the epidural by 4pm i was ready to push & she came out at 4:30 all in all it wasnt as bad as i thought when you see your baby for the first time the pain it doesnt matter anymore....

Laura - posted on 01/24/2010

My daughter was due October 16 2008. By this point I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for 2 months and was getting kinda fed up. I'd already been to the hospital once on September 25 because I was having contractions every 4 minutes at work, they stopped when I was at the hospital. I was stuck at 2cm and 80% effaced for 3 weeks! My doctor scheduled me for induction on the 23rd, I was to be called that morning if I hadn't had her yet.



Well, sure enough, 3am on October 23rd I wake up feeling like I have to go to the bathroom. Get there, nothing. Look down, oh blood and mucus plug. More pressure. Spend 3 minutes calling out to my husband, who at this point used to sleep like a log. He finally responded when I yelled "Numnuts! I need to call mom and get to the hospital". He's instantly out of bed and running around our apartment getting clothes and the bag, I'm still stuck on the toilet. He finally helps me up and hands me the phone. I call mom who says "Finally! I woke up about 20 minutes ago with a pain in my back. I've been waiting for you to call ever since, I'll meet you at the hospital". For most people that probably sounds odd, but my mother had been having all my symptoms the entire way through my pregnancy.



Get to the hospital at 5, still at 2cm but contractions steady at 3 minutes. I'm told to talk around the floor for an hour and come back, if I've progressed I get admitted. Little after 6am, I go back, 3 cm! It takes an hour for the paperwork. By the time I'm in a room hubby calls work to left them know he won't be in. The poor lady at the switchboard took a minute to realize what was happening. Unfortunately, while my daughters head is down she's lying on my spine. I get moved into the shower to calm the pain while they try to turn her. Next check I'm at 6cm, still not completely turned and it's sometime around 11. I get asked by the nurse-midwife if its ok if a student is there for the delivery. Go back into the room and do the fun side-to-side thing to try and turn her. I don't get an epidural because I'm actually deathly allergic to it, though I do get some laughing gas. Relaxes the muscles so the rolling is easier. Nurse sees my stomach spasm, lies me on my back. 9.5cm, water hasn't broken. My husband is on my left side, mother on the right. Nurse breaks my water... calls out to the student "Get the NICU team on standby NOW". Meconium staining and my mother is starting to worry (she works in the NICU at that hospital...)



Start pushing even though she not turned completely. Well, she turns on the way out. Apparently both my husband and my mother were wide-eyed at the gush of blood. 1:45pm little Ray is born 7lbs 8ozs and 19 inches, and promptly wisked to the NICU team for assessment. I'm now in the hands of the doctor who has to stitch the second degree tearing I experienced. It took a half hour. By which point Ray was cleared to be held by me, but not to go to the ward upstairs. She still has a temperature, they used 3 thermometers to check. Finally, 3pm, 12 hours after I woke up, we go upstairs.

Emily - posted on 01/24/2010

glad everything turned out good for you!



my whole pregnancy was pretty easy too, i didnt have any morning sickness, no complications but i started getting stretch marks once i hit nine months =/ but as far as my labor and delivery i ended up being induced bc i was two days late and my baby was measureing big! so i went to the hospital at 6 am and they said i was already 2 cm and having regular contractions [i had no idea!] so around 7am they started me on pitocin and i started to feel the contractions not long after, they started getting stronger and stronger and i had back labor, it was very painful, i got my epidural at 4 cm and even when it kicked in i could still feel pain every now and then. and the poor nurses had to keep coming in bc my baby kept moving around and they would lose his heartbeat, but then around 7cm i started feeling a lot of pain again and called in the nurse and to my surprise my epidural had worn off.... are you kidding! ha so they redosed me and as soon as it kicked in i felt a lot of pressure and it was time for me to push! i couldnt feel a thing, my legs were completely numb! so ppl were holding my legs during the delivery and i only pushed for maybe 20 minutes and he was here! 8lb 2.5 oz 22in long! i had some riping and i have some stretch marks still =/ but everything healed fine and i have a healthy baby boy!

Chasity - posted on 01/24/2010

Congrads to you, and glad you had a much better pregnancy then myself. Good luck with your child and self wish you the best!!

Jessica - posted on 01/24/2010

I went to my 36 week check up and (having been suffering from hypertension through the whole pregnancy) they first checked my blood pressure. It was the highest it had ever been at 160/100. They decided to induce me that night. I had to go into the hospital on a Friday (2/6/09) at about ten o clock to have cefodil placed before I could be induced (it was basically to soften my cervix and make it easier for it to stretch or something). It was a twelve hour procedure so at ten am the next morning, they didn't think it had softened enough so did it again, but only for six or seven hours. At four thirty or five on Saturday, they started the pitocin. I ended up getting the epidural after they broke my water at around midnight (I was at three centimeters). They woke me up at seven thirty Sunday morning by fitting an oxygen mask around my face because my blood pressure dropped and my baby's spiked. I had Robbie at eight o nine that morning. I had a small tear (only three stitches) but let me tell you, I would have preferred to just go through the labor rather then the pregnancy because I had a horrible pregnancy. Way too many problems the whole time. Labor was the easiest part of it for me.

M. - posted on 01/24/2010

For first pregnancy - I was one day over and wanted to give birth on my own. My doctor was talking induction if I didn't go within that week. So I did all the old wives tales things and headed to bed at midnight. I woke up at 1:30 with something that felt like a real contraction. Suddenly I had to pee really bad. I ran in and when I looked everything was tinged in pink. My water hadn't broke, but something was starting. That's when my contractions started coming 3-5 minutes apart and I KNOW that it's real labor. I wake my husband up and we call the OB unit. They tell us to keep tracking the frequency and call when they are consistently 3-4 minutes apart or so. We go in around 5:30, are almost dilated to 4 cm, and walk for a half hour to see if they can admit us (they only do that around 4 cm or 5 cm...can't remember). Sure enough, we jump quickly to a 5 and are admitted. They say that my bag of waters looks fragile and may break soon. It was estimated I would give birth around noon. Well, it didn't work that way. I progressed to a certain point and stopped! I made the bad decision to relax in the tub and it stopped my dilation! It took me a couple hours to bring my contractions back up (unassisted). I was checked at one point, around 5 p.m., and was finally at a 9. That's when my water broke! After that, I went from being able to laugh and joke my way through labor (which didn't hurt bad at all!), to needing to push and being incredibly uncomfortable. They set me up, the doctor came in, and I ended up pushing for 3 hours or more! in the end, I had a 3rd degree tear, but it was worth it when I held my angel for the first time. I did the whole thing med free and labored/delivered in 18-19 hours...

Kimberly - posted on 01/24/2010

I was on week 41, 6 days late. My due date was November 25th. I *thought* I broke my water about 4:30pm on Sunday November 29th, but nothing else came out again so I figured it probably wasn’t my water, just discharge. Then when I got out of bed Mon morning at 9:30 a lot more came out (cat was in the way and got wet!). So then I sat and watched TV. for about 45 minutes until I had 3 contractions. Called the doctor’s office and got to the hospital at about 10:30.



I tested negative for my water breaking, but I was still having contractions and they were getting harder. They hooked me up to the baby heart rate monitor and my contraction monitor. The baby heart rate monitor was working just fine, but the contraction monitor wasn’t picking up my contractions at all. But they were getting really strong, but were not super regular. They were basically skipping between 8 to 15 minutes apart. On the monitor it was showing up a tiny little blurps. They tested my cervix right when I came in and it was barely dilated enough to fit Nurse Amy’s pinky finger, which was exactly how it was at the Doctor’s office the Monday before, and about 50% effaced. So about 3 hours and 3 checks later it was still at barely a centimeter and 50% effaced. I however, KNEW I was in labor, the contractions were getting stronger and longer, even though they were still around 8-15 minutes apart, but because they weren’t showing up on the monitor as more than little blurps they didn’t think I was in *real* labor. They had checked my fluid levels at about noon, so they got a reaffirmation that my water hadn’t broke.



I had scheduled a doctor’s appointment for 4:30 Monday to go over stress and water level tests anyway, so we went to Target to walk around for an hour and a half. Getting to Target I had a HUGE contraction it was so bad I had trouble breathing through it. After that, the contractions started coming pretty normally at 5 minute intervals and lasting for about 50 seconds each. Dew was a very good contraction counter.



At 4 pm, we had clearance to go to my Doctor’s Appointment early. We got there at 4:08, and they saw me at 4:15. When Dr. Dries checked my progress I was 80% effaced, and had 3 centimeters. Of course I had already *known* that I was in labor! So back to the hospital we went. At 5pm, we checked again and I was fully effaced with just less than 5 centimeters. So, Doctor Manning broke my water at 5:30. By 6 pm I needed the epidural because the pain was getting unbearable. We didn’t realize it yet, but she was facing the wrong way and causing severe back labor pains. The epidural was WONDERFUL J Made things a whole lot better. Till about 7pm the epidural worked without me feeling any of the contractions. At 7pm Dr. Manning checked my progress again with the help of the new nurse who was also named Amy. As before there was still no progress. Her head hadn’t dropped at all, although he could feel it. The contractions at this point were getting hard enough again that even with the epidural I had to breathe through them. He decided to start me on Pitocin to get things started. At 11:30 we checked the progress again. As before there was no real progress at all, so the Pitocin level was increased quite a bit.



This was the moment I realized she wasn’t coming till the next day which was super exciting because my dad was born on December 1st as well. He was super excited, and somehow managed to get through the phone into the delivery room….go figure. They still couldn’t see what was up with my contractions. They knew I was having them, but the machine still couldn’t accurately monitor them. So at this time they inserted a contraction monitor that was inside my cervix and resting between the baby and the uterine wall. This time they could see exactly how hard and close my contractions had been. At 1:30 am Dr. Manning checked my progress again. She still hadn’t dropped into my pelvis and he was starting to get worried that she would not fit. So he increased the Pitocin again, and this time when he checked my progress at 3am I had progressed to just about 7cm dilated. So he figured that by 5 or 6 am I would be ready to push. I managed to take a nap until Dr. Manning came back at 5pm to check my progress. Yet again I hadn’t progress past the 7 cm and she still hadn’t dropped.



During the whole process her heart rate was great, so they weren’t overly worried about it being such a long labor. Although I was getting REALLY tired by that point, for obvious reasons! So at 5am we decided it wouldn’t matter how long we waited, she wasn’t going to fit through my cervix. So they prepped me and we went off to get a C-Section.



I had developed quite a bit of nausea and an intense head ache by this point that I could not get rid of. They discontinued the Pitocin at 5am and within a few minutes my headache went away, and most of my nausea. Of course for the C-Section they did a spinal block for my boobs down. It was the weirdest sensation with the tugging and pulling and such. They were a few seconds from taking her out when I started to feel the cut being tugged on, and the pain was starting to seep through the spinal block. Then she was out and crying. They pain was steadily getting worse. So I told Dew I am starting to feel it. He said the pressure? And I said no the Pain. They had handed him Kyra and ushered him out of the room quickly and knocked me out for the rest of the operation.



When I woke up I could feel every ounce of the pain. It was excruciating. I couldn’t help but sob hysterically. It was the worst pain I had ever felt. Apparently they couldn’t give me pain meds till I woke up because they had used so much meds with the epidural, spinal block, and anti nausea meds that they needed to know verbally how high the pain was, and adjust the dosage to my needs. Finally they got me into my new bed, and started giving me doses of morphine, once every 35 seconds or so until the pain was at a barely level of say 3 of 10. It was horrible....and then two weeks later I had to go back in to the ER to have my gallbladder removed blechk!



So, to make a very long story short, my little Duette, Kyra Hayden DuEst was born at 6:33 am on December 1, 2009. She weighed 7lbs 5 ounce and was 20 ½ inches long.