Stories of Labour? Please share with me

[EmmaLouiseYoung]

I am Emma, 28 years old and I am now 5 weeks pregnant, this is the first time for me n my husband and I would like to know your stories of giving birth and labour

[EEmommy]

My first baby I was induced at 36+5 because I had no fluid I had to have servidil because I wasn't even softened at all that was at 330 pm pitocine started at 630. I gave in and got an epidural at 930 it only worked on my right side and numbed clear up to my boob. They couldn't figure out why it was doing that so I had really intense contractions just on one side. Finally about 430 my water broke a few min later I got intense pain in my buttox I called them but they wouldn't check me since they had just before my water breaking I finally convinced them and they checked.... I was a 10! They had me do one practice push and my daughter started coming down. They said don't push we will call your doc and they all left. At this point my contractions are 1 min apart and lasting about a min. I had the hardest time not pushing and just shook during contractions. Finally my doc got there and my daughter was born half an hour later at 36+6 at 630 am.
My second my doc told me at my appointment at 38+5 I was 3 cm my contractions were a consistent 10 min apart he said the hospital wouldn't admit me until I was 4 cm or contractions were 5 min apart. But he would induce me on Mon this was Wed if I made it till then. Since I knew I was so close we stopped by wal mart on the way home and walked up and down every isle be fore heading for some jumping jacks and basketball. When I went to bed I had a pretty restless sleep and they were about 7 min apartment and my so had sex to see if that would help that mad them about 5 min apart but they weren't strong. It rained then snowed so we had slush on the drive way so I decided to shovel that and see if it would help I came back in to play more basketball and decided to try monitoring them while we played more basketball ( just a kids hoop on the living room) by this time they were 3 min apart but didn't seem as strong as I remembered my husband had to be to work at 1245 and it was noon he said he was gonna go get ready i figured it was work he was talking about he came up with my hospital bag and said lets go get checked out. On the way I had a few really good ones then they stopped for about 10 Min but once I got out of the car they were strong and close when we got to L and D they didn't have clean ready rooms so they got me registered as I breathed thru contractions now Right on top of another they put me in a triage room and chacked me 4+ and monitored my contractions I Had 3 off the charts in 5 min so the immediately admited me and called my doc. I got my room and they said I could have an epidural right away as the doc was currently available. I said sure and he came in to do it he had to adjust it so it would work on both sides right then my doc walked in and said you didn't want to wait till Mon huh? I said nope. He asked if I wanted my water broken but I had to wait awhile. And my doc had to take his sick kid to the doc. He came back at about 6 and broke my water at 730 my second daughter was born after 5 pushes. I'm excited and scared to see how this one goes. I'm 16 weeks.

[shellysmith89]

The day before I had my son I lost my mucus plug at 3 am. Had light contractions all morning.  Went into the hospital around noon was only 1 cm, they sent me home. Went back in around 6 to see if I was progressing at all. Went in they said I was 3 cm and I could stay a while to see how fast I was dilating. While I was waiting I heard another lady with strong contractions come in and was in the room right next to mine, Then a nurse said her water broke and a few mins later she had the baby, it was pretty awesome to hear her babies first cries. They check me after a few hours of waiting and was only 3 1/2 cm. Went home to sleep, woke up at 4 am to my water breaking.  Went back in, got put in a room. 19 hours later and no epidural, I wanted to see if I could have my son without one I was fully dilated. I pushed for 20 or so minutes and had my son Otto at 11:24pm. He was 7 lbs 14oz.

[sorenr]

I've had 4 babies, 3 fantastic experiences and 1 not quite so good. My first was induced (doctors convenience) and I ended up tearing badly due to a forceps delivery. It wasn't nice and needless to say I'm not a fan of induction! My second I had a sweep at 40+3 woke up at 6am next morning with small contractions, waited an hour to be sure before calling for childcare and midwife, got to hospital at 9am and had delivered by 9.30am! My third I had at home as I was full of confidence from my second, again a sweep at 40+5 woke at 1.30am and delivered at 4.20am. My fourth a few weeks ago I was nervous about, having seen the darker side of labour I wasn't so sure I'd be lucky enough to have yet another easy birth. I had a sweep at 40+1 but it didn't work (adding to my nerves) however I did over the following days lose my mucus plug (which I'd never seen before). At 41 wks I had another sweep and at 12.30pm woke up, went to the toilet and there was blood when I wiped (new again, I panicked) phoned the labour suite and was told it was perfectly normal and to keep an eye on it as I wasn't contracting and to call back if it got bad. By the time I went to waken my partner and explain what was happening I'd had 3 contractions! Phoned the hospital again and said I was on my way. When I got there at just after 1am I was shocked to find out I was only at 3cm as the contractions were thick and fast by then. However, my boy was delivered just before 3am! So I went from 3-10cm in about an hour and a half. 10 mins pushing and he had arrived. I've never had any stitches since my first baby and I think it has a lot to do with being mobile, being on all fours for delivery and probably mainly the experience of my midwives who took great care of my perineum! Only my daughter (my second child) was under 8lb and she was 7lb14oz so not exactly small. I'm only 5ft3 on a good day lol so I'm not the biggest or widest person! Birth is great, I've been very lucky for the most part, hope you are too! :)

[jen0221]

Continued! (Accidentally posted, lol). I went back to bed and grabbed my phone to look up labor signs. My husband woke up and said 'are you ever going to sleep?'. I told him what I was doing and he started doing the same. I had one good contraction and he looked at me and said he was getting up. I told him to come back to bed, it was probably false. A few minutes later I had another contraction. He said 'no I'm getting up'. At that point I realized it was most likely true labor. We got up loaded everything in the car and left. We got about an hour into our 2 hour drive and contractions slowed way down. I had a couple good contractions but mostly small ones. We finally arrived at the birth center where I had one more contraction and they stopped. I decided to get checked to see if I was dilating at all. I was about a 3. Around 9 we decided to take our kids to the park so I could walk around to try and get things going. We stayed there a couple hours while I walked, did squats, stair climbed and everything I could think of. I had a couple good bouts of contractions but still nothing consistent. We went back and I got checked again and was about a 3 1/2 and only about 40% effaced. At that point we were trying to decide what to do if we should try breaking my water, wait it out, or go home. I knew going home was not a good choice. So while I contemplated what to do, I went outside and curb walked. After I went back inside, everyone was in the birth room. On my way in there I had one good contraction, got into the room and had another one. They picked up at 1-2 minutes apart and that went on for about 50 minutes. At that point, since I was planning a water birth, I got in the tub. 40 minutes later my baby girl was born. My water didn't end up breaking until my very last pushing contraction. It was intense because I went from 3 1/2cm dilated to holding my baby in an hour and a half! She was perfect weighing 6lbs 10oz and 19" long.

[jen0221]

I just had my third 2 1/2 weeks ago so it is still fresh in my mind...

The day before I went into labor I was getting contractions that were pretty consistent at 6-8 minutes apart. I was timing them for an hour while we drove to the grocery store. I stopped timing them while we shopped and picked up again once we were in the car. At that time they were 4 minutes apart. We headed home and by the time we were about 30 minutes away from home they were 1-2 minutes apart. Although they were consistent, they were not getting stronger. So after stopping to call my midwife I decided it wasn't true labor and we went the rest of the way home. That night I was really upset with myself and the situation because I was like if that wasn't labor, how in the heck am I going to know what is? That night, since I was still upset and breaking down into tears every little bit, I was getting up a lot so I didn't disturb my hubby. I finally had fallen asleep when I started dreaming about being in labor and woke up; it was about 2:30. I got up again and went to the bathroom and realized I had lost my mucus plug

[sgulia1987]

My husband was scheduled to go underway (Navy) on my due so I was trying to move things along. I did acupuncture and the baby dropped. I did it again and had been walking a lot and had my first contraction 24 hours after the acupuncture. We were on our way to dinner reservations so I didn't say anything till we got there. I think I knew it was coming because I demanded we put the car seat and hospital bag in the car before we left.  Had very irregular contractions through dinner. Went home and debated about walking around to see what happened or going to bed. I picked bed and was the best decision I made. I slept through the night waking occasionally with contractions Woke up at 7 with strong contractions timed them for an hour they were about 2.5-3 min apart. Took a shower got my husband up and we walked to the corner store to pick up snacks and see what would happen with my contractions. They quickly got stronger and were 1.5 min apart while walking. Decided to go to the hospital it was 9 by then. By the time I got there they got much stronger and I was 4 cm. They kept me to be honest I was in horrible pain from then on until the epidural an hour later. DON'T DAY IN THE BED GET UP SIT UP SOMETHING DON’T LAY DONW. It makes it soooo much worse. When they sat me up for the epidural all I could say was oh my god this is so much belter. Once the epidural was fully working I couldn't feel anything. I had my son about 6 hours after getting to the hospital. I pushed for 10 mins and he was 8 pounds 6 ounces. Now I know sleep if you can when you start feeling contractions because I slept through at least a third of my labor and was very rested and ready to go for the worst of it, also don't day down. O I went into labor the weekend before my husband was supposed to leave so he got to stay.