dampscribbler | Slow LJ

You're viewing

dampscribbler's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

Current Mood: kinda excited

Looks like Livejournal is slow again today. Grr.

That's not why I'm posting, however. I'm posting because I think I had my first "practice" contractions this morning! I was asleep, so it's hard to tell, but four times I felt a muscle grip, sort of like (sorry about this) the spasm you get when you throw up, but not the same.

The kid is kicking up a storm this morning. Actually, she has been since Tuesday evening. What's that about, I wonder?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

melanie.livejournal.com

ah, braxton-hicks. that brings back memories. :)

despite all the practice contractions i had, i never did go into labor on my own. both times, they had to induce me.

From:

dampscribbler.livejournal.com

That's not exactly what I wanted to hear. :-)
I take it they induced because you were past due date, not because the babies were getting too big beforehand?

From:

melanie.livejournal.com

oh, no, i wasn't meaning to worry you, sweetie. the braxton-hicks had nothing to do with the induction at all. some women have braxton-hicks, some women don't. well, *most* women have them, but not all of them feel it enough to realize it's happening.

i happened to have fairly strong braxton-hicks with both of my girls, but that was apparently no indicator that my body would know what to do when it came time for real labor. i don't know if i was resistant to the birthing hormones or what, but Lorelei was induced when she was almost two weeks late and we failed a stress test. I had started labor, was obviously having "purge" hormones due to my vomiting and such, but I would have a few contractions and then my body would quit, forget what it was doing. They pumped me full of pitocin and it *still* kept stopping. I walked the halls for hours and nothing. Finally, after 28 hours of labor (and 16 hours after they had broken my waters) they were prepping me for an emergency C-section when the doctor was finally able to get hold of Lorelei's head and drag her out. She was basically dead when she was born, almost black from oxygen deprivation and completely unresponsive, not taking a breath. They had to really rough her up to get her to breathe. She had inhaled a lot of meconium in the womb.

Storm's birth wasn't nearly as rough, but they still had to really give me a lot of pitocin. And it still took about 12 hours of labor. My body's just stupid about birthing, that's all.

From:

dampscribbler.livejournal.com

I know you weren't trying to scare me. :-) I've just heard so many awful things about pitocin that I had decided to take this morning's conractions as a sign that I wouldn't need it. Jumping the gun, of course!

What a scary experience you had with Lorelei! I know you were quite young then, too. How many years are between she and Storm?

It's nice to have LJ back, I hope it keeps working!

From:

melanie.livejournal.com

there's six years between lorelei and storm, and i was still 19 when lorelei was born. i was scared shitless, really not ready at all, and i honestly believe that the whole experience was more painful and stressful just because i was so nervous. with storm, i didn't even need any pain medicine, despite the pitocin, because i was so much more calm and ready.

but if ever there was a situation wehre the phrase "everyone is different" was true, childbirth would be it. there just ain't no way to know how it will really go, when it comes down to it. all the reading and self-educating in the world will be useful, but you will still have to have a very roll-with-the-punches attitude when it gets there.

a friend of mine had her first baby after three measly hours of natural labor, with no painkillers at all, and her after-birthing picture looks like some sort of radiant superstar, holding her little boy up with the cord still attached. this same woman had another boy five years later, and it stretch to eighteen hours of labor and her lamaze training and her swimming pool birth didn't negate her need for pain relief in the end. you just can't know, hon. just read everythign you can, for to best arm yourself with the widest array of possibilities. that's really the best thing, i think.

and don't feel like you've somehow "failed" if you take pain medicine. the new stuff, you can feel and participate in every single aspect of labor and it just marks out the pain portion. the new epidurals, when they go well, are like that. you feel everything, you still have muscle control and can push, the pain is just gone.

From:

dampscribbler.livejournal.com

Let's see if I actually get to post this reply. :-)

I'm definitely trying to go into this with a "sense of adventure." The main reason I want to avoid medications is that my body and meds don't like each other much -- I sometimes get nasty side effects like hallucinations, paranoia, depression. One of the worst experiences of my whole life so far was waking up from the one surgery I've had, a tonsillectomy. I'm still pretty scared of having to go through anything like that again. Last night's class where we talked about c-sections didn't help, but knock on wood I won't need one.

I really have no idea what to expect as far as my body is concerned, but I do feel better knowing some of what will be going on around me. I feel like I have some understanding of the hospital, how it works, who I can expect to see there, etc.

I'm doing my best to be as informed as possible. Let me know if you have any reading or website recommendations. I'm reading The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger right now, and scrounging for resources. I'm kind of interested in reading more about Hypnobirthing, but the book will take 3 weeks to get here, and I'm not sure it will be worth it at that point.