labor stories for a ftm?

[julybaby1587]

My friend had her baby last week and had complications, also said she rent everything WITH the epidural. Im a little over 20 weeks now. I know child labor is no party or bed of roses but after hearing these stories its freaking me out! I obviously cant turn back now, and wouldnt want to, but idk how Im supposed to get through it. Ill have the support or my boyfriend and mom in the room with me. I know our bodies are made for this but i cant help but be terrified.

[Farah_Remo]

I understand the fear of "not knowing" what to expect. I had my son on 9/20/14 and i was in fear since the beginning of that pregnancy because i didnt know how bad the pain would be and didnt know if anything would go wrong. My mucus plug came out in the toilet when i was 39 weeks and an hour later i felt the contractions coming on. It first felt like bad period cramps and then as the day progressed, it felt like bad period cramps x10. Its amazing the pain that your body can bare, you just go through it hour by hour. I wasnt dilating so i ended up getting pitocin to speed it up and epidural for the pain. I withstood the contractions for 16 hours without the epidural until i couldnt take it anymore since i wasnt dilating. An hoir after or so after the pitocin, i finally started dilating alot and i was ready to push. The pushing with the epidural wasnt bad, it felt like alot of pressure down there not pain. Everything turned out perfect, my baby was healthy and i didnt tear. Theres a possibility that things may go wrong but there is so much high tech equipment for that. Babys born as soon as 23 weeks can be saved and thats a miracle! So dont you worry. Its all in gods hands. Good luck and you will get through this

[julybaby1587]

Bump

[sweetvegetable]

My first labor was tough because I was in prelabor for 48 hours before I started active labor. That sounds bad, but actually, the contractions weren't really painful. They were easy to breathe through and didn't really affect my day's activities. The tough part was that they were regular enough to keep me awake at night, so I was exhausted by the time active labor started. But other than that, labor wasn't that bad. I had a bit of phentonol, to give me a chance to rest, once I was admitted, and after 12 hours of active labor, I was holding my daughter. Afterwards I realized that if I hadn't taken the phentonol, she probably could have been born even sooner. So I decided if at all possible, I would go drug free the next time.

Fast forward to my son's birthday. He was two weeks overdue, so I was heading to the hospital for my induction. I was scared, because you always hear that induction is harder labor. But I realized that fear wasn't going to help me have a positive experience, so I took some time to relax and get into a better frame of mind. I got there fresh, as I had not experienced any contractions to that point, and I had had a full night of sleep. They put in a gel (cervidil, I think), monitored me for an hour, and sent me home. I had begun contractions almost immediately, and was in active labor within fifteen minutes of the insertion. I labored at home for three hours, and felt it was time to go back in. Six and a half hours after my first contraction, I was holding my son, and I was clear headed from doing it drug free. As soon as they finished all the post labor stuff, and I had nursed my son for the first time, I was up and having a shower. It was a great experience.

Labor is hard work. But fear and stress are what will ruin the experience for you. If you can relax, you will look back on labor and be like, it was no big deal! I hope my story is an encouragement to you.