No epidural.
That’s the only thing that went “according to plan”.
9am(4 days late): Water broke while Nick and I were on a walk. No contractions. No pain. We continued our coffee date.
1pm: Midwife said I had until 3am to go into labor naturally or be induced. I chugged an induction concoction and started bouncing on my birthing ball.
3:15pm: I began timing my tightening (45 seconds long, every 2-3 minutes), but wasn’t sure if it was contractions since I wasn’t in pain.
4:30pm: I called the midwife. She said that if I was able to talk, it wasn’t time.
5:30pm: Nick called. Contractions were back to back and so painful, I couldn’t talk.
6pm: Headed to hospital. Got to triage measuring 4cm. By the time we got our room, Nick parked the car and returned with our bag, I was measuring 6cm. Nurse began filling up the tub for water birth.
8pm: The uncontrollable urge to push.
10pm-12am: Still in the tub, pushing. So, midwife had me move to the bed, checked me, pushed a tiny piece of cervix aside, then began all sorts of “tricks” to try to get things moving. The Rebozo. The Peanut. Trying to hook Ivy’s chin. On my back, legs up, pushing by command. Ivy was crowning for almost an hour (that “ring of fire” is a real thing). I began to say, “I’m so discouraged, I don’t think I can go on” and crying in between pushing. The out of control feeling was terrifying.
12:08am: The midwife suggested an episiotomy and I practically begged for it. Ivy immediately FLEW out on the next contraction.
Less than 8 hours of painful labor, but almost 4 hours of pushing. Short and intense. I was so utterly exhausted, I felt disconnected. And instead of feeling triumphant after a natural birth, I felt traumatized. Books, YouTube videos and friends’ birth stories hadn’t prepared me. Low lights, warm water, soft music and essential oils didn’t work like magic.
It was simply survival, Nick beside me and me silently praying, “Please God help me” a million times over.
***Order your Young Living essential oils and products HERE and use my code SHAREYL for 10% off
No comments:
Post a Comment