Luckily I had what I considered to be a picture perfect pregnancy.  No complications, no morning sickness.  The worst I had was fatigue.  I never took any child birth classes because I was having an epidural and really didn’t feel like sitting through two long classes. 

I had an appointment on my due date, which was November 30^th.  Rita-Marie said that I was still on 1cm dilated and 75% effaced – the same that I was the week before.  She said that if I didn’t have the baby by next week, we would need to start talking induction.  She told me to take some sort of pills (I don’t remember what – I wasn’t really listening), walk a lot and have lots of sex.  Well I was in no hurry to have the baby because I wasn’t uncomfortable, so I did nothing that she recommended.  She said she would be on-call the next day in case I happened to go into labor.  Well, I wasn’t planning on it, but my son had his own ideas.

My husband and I were playing video games until I went to bed around 3am because I was exhausted.  He came to bed at 8am and I thought about making a joke asking him what he would do if I went into labor today.  I decided that wouldn’t be funny.  Well 1 hour later, I woke up to a cramping sensation and then another feeling like I was being popped.  Luckily I made it to the bathroom before the gush.  It was just like I had read.  I surprisingly didn’t freak out, but then realized that I wasn’t done packing my bag, I had no cat food, no cat litter and my husband only had 1 hour of sleep.  I called my mom and friend to let them know.  Luckily my contractions hadn’t started yet.  I called the Adler Center and was told to head up to the hospital.  Well, I took a quick shower and then my contractions started. WOW.  I don’t deal with pain well and didn’t think they would be strong so soon, but the beginning ones are nothing compared to the later ones.  I also didn’t realize that once your water breaks, it continues to flush with every contraction.  I had to change my pants 3 times before we left!

We finally got to the hospital 3.5 hours after my water broke and me being lazy hadn’t pre-registered.  That was lots of run giving my information in between contractions!!!  When I finally got into the room and hooked up, I was 4cm dilated and was able to get the epidural.  Rita asked me if that was my long-term goal and I explained that I wanted it about 3 hours ago, so anytime would be perfect.  They gave me some Stadol to ease the pain until I could get it.  Wow – that was my best friend.  I wish I could buy that in pill form.  It made me very sleepy and relaxed.  I was hallucinating and thinking I had brought my cats to the delivery room – it was a nice distraction from the pain.

When they finally came to give me the epidural, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  A quick prick for the numbing and then just pressure.  However, it just didn’t feel right going in.  I could feel the pressure in my hip, not my back.  Once the Stadol wore off, I was in a lot of pain.  Not only in my hip but also with every contraction.  They tried giving me more medicine through the epidural, but it just wasn’t working.  The contractions were so bad all I could do is cry.  There is NO way I would try childbirth without medicine.  They gave me an option of a new
epidural, which I agreed to immediately.  The 2^nd one felt right going in and it helped so much.  Granted, I wasn’t PAIN free, but I mostly just felt pressure, which was definitely doable over what I was previously feeling. 

Well, by 8pm (11 hours after my water broke), my baby boy was ready to be born. I pushed for about 20 minutes and out he came.  I will not lie, it hurt having him come out, but I can only imagine what it would have felt like without the drugs.  I also tore pretty badly, which was one of my biggest fears.  It took a good 4 – 6 weeks for all the discomfort from the stitches to go away – but I have to think it didn’t feel as bad as a C-Section. I do have to admit that childbirth wasn’t as awful as I was expecting, but still not fun.

Rita-Marie and the nurses were awesome.  I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.  Initially before going to the Adler Center, I was hesitant about using a midwife, but wow, I recommend everyone I know to do it that way – especially with my buddies at the Adler Center.

People keep telling me that I will forget the pain and about 2 months later I will want a 2^nd child.  Well maybe I am strange because I remember the pain vividly and have no desire to go through this again, but I am so thankful for my son, who came out absolutely perfect.