My labor experience !!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone,

I am so happy that our bundle of joy is finally here on June 29th and am very glad that we both are doing great.
Here is my birth story:
Though my due date had to be July 12th, i always knew that i would for sure give birth even before that date itself.
On June 28th (sunday) early morning at 4 am, i woke up with some mild menstrual cramps in my lower abdomen. I thought since i had a dinner get-together last night at my friend's place, i thought the food might caused some cramping and took it light. After about half an hour, the intensity increased and i woke up again with the pain at 4.30 am. It was vry difficult for me to control my tears on/off ...Since then the pain was for every 10-15 mnts lasting for abt 30 secs with each cramp and i still managed to sleep till 6 in the morning waking up with every contration every 10 mnts. Then at 6.30 am, my instinct told me that i had started labor and decided to call up my Dr who was on call that day. She said those were not the menstrual cramps but none other than the contractions and asked me to wait for some more time and see if they come every 5 mnts apart lasting for 1 mnt. I was sure that i started going into labor and told my dh and my mom the same thing. My dh said it might not be the labor since my due date was on july 12th...
The contrations continued and i was told to make a note of timings. So started timing them which were 15 mnts apart. Had lunch and later in the afnoon at 2 pm, we three went for groceries just to divert my mind from that pain. I was still in horrible pain so much that i couldnt even able to sit, stand, talk, walk or move around with ease...
I even had a small fight/argument with my dh for silly and small reason in the grocery store. Can u imagine the reason? I asked for samosas which my dh refused to buy because they r frozen and not healthy at that moment. I immediately started crying (ofcourse just to myself) and argued with him for not getting what i wanted.(now was'nt it silly?) He then bought samosas for me after a much hue.. There also i was not able to stand and walk to pick veggies or anything of that matter. Wherever i found the privacy, i sat on the floor. My mom was worried and wanted us to go home as soon as possible..
Ok, we reached home at around 4 in the evening and i had mouth full of samosas. { now we realize that day baby wanted to have samosas as her last but one craving being in my tummy } . But the pain still continued, but with more and more intensity and severity... Then during the dinner time at around 7 pm, i started moaning and crying with every contration and still with that pain, i asked my mom if she could prepare brinjal fry for me. She made the curry and i asked her to feed me with her hands for the first time ever since she came here.. She fed food to me and i ate almost all the entire rice and was still moaning and crying in between.
Then the time came for me to burst and started screaming at 8.30 pm. I told my dh to call up the Dr if she could give me to permission/green light to go to the hospital. When he called up, the Dr immediately told him to take me to the hospital as she was on call that day. Here, i always wanted to go to the hospital with a smile on my face. So with much difficulty, i put a smile on my face and started driving to the hospital. During the drive, i hardly could sit stable. My dh played vishnu sahasranamas and my mom too joined chanting them. I too tried to add my voice, but really couldnt and instead started praying that i should return home with my baby happily. I wanted the hospital trip to be a real one, not the one with false contractions and be sent home.
Ok, entered into the labor admitting counter where the guy wanted me to fill up some forms. I was so horrible in pain that i couldnt even put my signature properly but still managed to maintain smile. (ofcourse that guy was so impressed that he said he never saw a smiling patient being in labor) All that made me feel more confident and i was much more determined that i could manage the pain.
Got admitted at 9.30 pm (sunday june 28th) and the techie put me for monitoring where i could see the graph of my contractions coming every 5-8 mnts apart. I wanted my mom and my dh to be my side during that entire phase. Though my dh was strong to handle the situation, my mom was somewht tensed and started worrying with my each contraction followed by my scream/tears.
Then the Dr came in and checked how far i was dialated and it was 1 cm. I was very upset that they might send me home with that just 1 cm even though the contractions were 5 mnts apart. Then she said she would come again after couple of hrs to see how i was progressing. The phase i was in at that moment was unforgettable since the pain was increasing with every contraction. At around 2 pm, i requested the techie to call up Dr to see how much i dialated, and the Dr checked and said i was 3-4 cm dialated within 2-3 hrs and said they were admitting me. Phew!!! I was relieved atleast that i was officially declared to be in labor.
In the meantime, the nurse asked me multiple times whether i wanted epidural since i was in much terrific pain. I said no then and wanted to wait for some more time although i was crying. I spent the night with screams and my mom's worry increased time by time. The next morning at exactly 8 am, i requested/begged my Dr if they could do C-Section since i totally lost patience tolerating the pain. She laughed and said it was not possible and suggested me to go for epidural. I immediately said Ok and the anasthesiest (sp??) came in and gave me the epidural asking my dh and mom to leave the room. Agh!! not to mention how amazing the episode of epidural was. I irritated him and the nurse with my questions and they answered them with more patience and said i should need some rest to handle the 2nd phase of labor. As soon as i was given epidural, i tried sleeping, but couldnt.
When i observed the graph, the contractions were 1 mnt apart with high intensity. Atleast i thanked god that i took the epidural at the right time just 4 hrs before i delivered the baby.
Ok, at 10 am, i got to see my one of the gynos who was on call that day. i liked her during my regular visits and always wanted her to be for my delivery and the same happend. She came in to check and said i was 9 cms dialated. We were so excited to know that the baby would be in our arms within no time. At 11 am, the nurse said i was totally dialated and can start pushing. By that time my mom was totally in shiver and she neither wanted to stay in the room, nor wanted to leave the room. Totally confused.
My dh was vry excited and started counting 1-10, sometimes hillariously to keep me active. The nurse wanted me to see the baby's head thru the mirror. Though initially i was a bit afraid, i wanted to look. When i saw the baby's head, i was more and more determined and confident that i could do it. During the final stages of pusing, my gyno came in at 12 pm and after few pushes the baby came out at 12:12 pm. So the total number of labor hours were nearly 32 hrs.
But, our happiness knew no boundaries as soon as we saw our baby and we all burst in to tears.

Ofcourse, i had a natural 3rd degree tear which took more than 40 mnts for the Dr to put on the stitches. But glad that all went fine and the baby is healthy and cute.

I know, that was a long story i wrote. But wanted to share it with all u ladies who would have their own labor experiences at any point of time in lives.
Though here and there i might scared u with my experience, i hope u would also find some encouraging situations over all.

All the very best to u all

 

Shwetha, they said the amount of epidural which was given had the lasting power for 2 hrs. But for me with the pain of contractions, it lasted just for an hour. So they again had to add more to cope up with the pain till the delivery.