Labor and Delivery

Maki and I got to the hospital around 8:00am; my wonderful mom got CJ up and ready for school. We didn't see the OB and midwife around 9:30am because of paperwork, getting dressed, waiting for a delivery room and waiting around.

The OB wanted to put me on pitocin right away, but pitocin scares the life out of me. Pitocin causes very strong, continuous contractions and women on pitocin are more likely to have a c-section. I always maintained that it didn't matter how the baby was delivered, but if I could have a natural delivery, I knew I was going to be happier and it would be better for the baby.

Thanks to Dr. Sears' The Birth Book, I knew that I had to be an active participant in this delivery, so after some discussion, the midwife and I convinced the doctor to start me off with some prostaglandin gel. The gel is put on the cervix and get things going. The midwife suspected that the gel was all I needed to kickstart the labor. Most importantly, with the gel, I could walk around and not have to be attached to an IV.

So in went the gel and Maki and I started walking around the maternity ward. The gel definitely got me going. I was at 6 centimeters a couple of hours later when the midwife broke my water around 11:30am.

That's when active labor really started. Maki and I kept walking around, but I had to stop every minute or so to catch my breath because the pain was getting stronger.

Around 1:00pm, the doctor checked me again and I was dilated to 8 centimeters. The pain was getting stronger, but still bearable. Between walking around, I was listening to my iPod and Maki and I watched "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. Good movie, definitely got my mind off the labor for a few minutes at a time.

Close to 1:30pm, the midwife came to see how I was doing. By this time, I was in a lot of pain and starting to doubt my resolve to delivery the baby without any drugs. The nurse, Theresa, was wonderful. She reminded me to breathe, breathe, breathe. At one point, when the contractions were growing more intense, I asked for some Tylenol to take the edge off the pain. Theresa, the nurse, looked at me like I was nuts. She said, "Tylenol is not going to do anything." Maki said, "just humor her, give her some Tylenol." So I got 2 Tylenols and they probably didn't do anything, but in my mind, they did and that kept me going.

I had to pee, so I asked if I could get up. Theresa asked me to wait a few minutes so she could finish up some prep and then it all started to happen really fast. Theresa later said she was glad I didn't make it to the bathroom because she would have had to deliver a baby on the bathroom floor. Ew.

I felt a great deal of pressure, the pain was unbearable, I was sweating, I was hot and I had to push NOW. I was gripping Maki's hand like there was no tomorrow and telling him I couldn't do it. Maki said, "oh, the baby must be coming, this happened last time."

The midwife heard me screaming from down the hall. She came running in and said, "why didn't you call me?" I said, "I did. I was screaming for you."

The nurse and midwife were scrambling to get everything ready, I pushed a few times, the pain was crazy and unbearable and then the baby came. And then I delivered the placenta and it was all over. Great relief and a baby crying.

I definitely had more of my wits about me than I did when CJ was delivered because I asked for Marcus John to be given to me and wouldn't let them whisk him away so fast for weighing, measuring and checking. I felt a great rush of emotion when they put MJ in my arms because we had tried so long to have another baby, I had so many miscarriages, and now he was here, and he was healthy and crying.

Ladies, if you can bear the pain, I am convinced that delivering a baby without drugs is worth it. You are able to push harder because you can feel the baby. Plus, the pain is so ridiculously unbearable that you want to push and get it over with. And immediately after the baby is born, there is very little pain and you're not groggy from the meds. Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge anyone pain management. Friends tell me I have a superhuman pain threshold and perhaps they're right. At the end of the day, what matters is that mom and baby are fine.