Technically, I had decided to end my bloggy break tomorrow, but I snuck on here tonight and saw this meme at Rocks in My Dryer and had to play along.
In honor of Labor Day, it’s about labor, so any male readers may now choose to close their browser windows. There’s nothing gross or too detailed here, but still… I know this might not be your cup of tea.
Here we go:
How long were your labors?
C. (now age 9): 6 hours
L. (now age 2): 4 hoursDon’t hate me because I have short labors.
For both, I’m counting labor as starting when it became clear that this was indeed going to be it. I fear if I had another one, I’d end up giving birth at home, since if the pattern continued, we’d be looking at a 2-hour labor. Yikes!
How did you know you were in labor?
For C. — I’d had a weird feeling all day, but that evening, contractions got “serious” and then my water broke and everything became incredibly painful. There was no longer any doubt; off to the hospital we went.
For L. — sharp pains woke me up around 11 p.m. I wasn’t sure if they were really contractions (they felt very different from the ones I’d had with C.) until I realized they were coming every 5 minutes. Yep, this was labor.
Where did you deliver?
A hospital with a very nice Maternity Floor. Large, comfy rooms, wonderful nurses, and epidurals on hand.
Drugs?
Oh yes. Definitely.
In fact, if they made a “home epidural kit,” I would have started the drug flow myself before leaving home. There was never any question that I’d be an Epidural Girl. My tolerance for pain is what I would call, “Low.”
With L., things were happening so quickly that I was afraid we wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time to get things started. In fact, by the time I made it up to the Labor/Delivery area, I’m pretty sure all I was
babblingsaying was: “I’m in labor. I need an epidural. I’m in labor. I need an epidural. Excuse me, did you hear me? I need an epidural now.”Fortunately, we made it, but we really were just in time. Whew!
C-section?
No, not for either. We did have some scary moments with L., though. His heart rate was dropping during labor and we found out later the cord had been wrapped around his neck twice. But in the end, a c-section wasn’t needed.
Who delivered?
My wonderful doctor. The same doctor delivered both of my boys, and he really is great. He has this ability to keep things light-hearted throughout the process while still bossing me around (“C’mon, Katrina. You need to push for real this time.” As if I was just practicing the other times.)
We also had fantastic nurses for both deliveries. I firmly believe that supportive, helpful, compassionate nurses make all the difference in a labor experience, and we were blessed to be surrounded by those kinds of nurses both times.
Want to play along? Click over to Shannon’s blog to either read about others’ labor experiences or link up your own post.
You people that deliver without missing a meal just slay me. Both my kids were more than 24 hours.
Though not up for posting a meme of my own, I have to add that my longest labor (of the daughters) was 3.5 hours long, from start (my water broke and then contractions started hard and fast) to finish!! I don’t hate anybody for having short labors — I wish them on each and every one of us!!
It’s so much fun to remember this time in our lives and I’m glad Shannon’s challenge encouraged you to do the same.
I agree the nurses can make a lot of difference in how our labor and birthing experience goes.
Mine weren’t short but weren’t terribly long — my younger brother was born at home unexpectedly, so I hoped mine wouldn’t be that short!!
This was fun. Interesting to hear. It’s also funny how the stories are a bit different 9 and 2 years after the fact — much briefer versions peppered with perspective.
Katrina, The night you were born, I had been in the hospital since 3PM,although there had been no labor.For some reason the Dr. made that call. At 8:30 he broke the water whatever, and you were born at 11:47 or there about. With Boyd,I worked ’till 2PM, decorating cakes, then we picked you up at school, went home for my suitcase, and in to the hospital. He was born at 6:08PM without even an aspirin. I was 44 by this time and my tolerance was high. Same Dr., same hospital. The most wonderful experience in the world. Love Mom
I think the general concensus is that somebody needs to market a “home epidural kit”. LOL I loved how the doctor told you to push for real. ROFLOL Thanks for sharing Katrina. Can’t wait to Fall Into Reading!
Neat meme. I think that “home epidural kit” would be a best seller if they would ever release one.
I should probably do something like this at sidetrack’d since I seem to be too lazy to write my birth stories.
Thanks for sharing!
Awww.. how sweet is it that your mom posted? I LOVE THAT!