Thursday, July 10, 2008

Drugs?

So I guess it's time that I shared the birth story with you guys. I honestly didn't think I'd have a very interesting one to offer, but since my birth plan more or less went out the window, I can entertain you with it somewhat. If you recall from a previous post, my only requests were to get an epidural, and to get the baby out. Although the baby is in fact out, it didn't happen in the almost pain-free method that I had so been looking forward to.

When Pumpkin was born, there was plenty of time to prepare. My water broke the day before, so they had to induce me about 15 hours later. The happy-epidural-woman took care of my pain, and the nurse who was looking after me kept bringing me Jell-o, and talking to me like I was four, which I quite liked under the circumstances. I was in the delivery room for a few hours before it was time to push, and when Pumpkin finally came out, there was a whole team of doctors and nurses waiting to take care of both mom and baby. This is how I imagined that the birth of baby #2 would be.

Last Thursday, which happened to be Pumpkin's birthday, I started having contractions. By mid day they stopped, and then resumed in the evening, which sucked since they were going to screw up the good night's sleep that I had planned to have before delivering. I was supposed to be induced on the Friday morning. The contractions went on through the night, although they weren't strong or frequent enough to keep me completely awake. I woke up a lot, but still managed to get some sleep. I was supposed to get a call between 6 and 8 in the morning to come in to be induced, but by 7:15, I left for the hospital, even though I hadn't received my call, and even though the contractions were still not consistently five minutes apart. Some were only two minutes apart while others were as far apart as twelve minutes. I was actually concerned that they would send me home if my doctor wasn't ready for my induction, but I wanted to try, and my mother was practically pushing me out the door to ensure that I didn't deliver in the car on Leslie Street. The two contractions that I had in the car were seven minutes apart, and only medium on the severity scale.

In the assessment room, I was ignored for about half an hour. The pain was still controllable with deep breathing, so no one was overly concerned. Finally I was asked to go lie down so they could determine how dilated I was, and as soon as I lay down, the pain intensified. My moaning and groaning could be heard by the other people in the assessment room, but I couldn't control it. I even yelped out, "Help!" at one point. Finally someone came to check me out, and called another nurse over for a second opinion. I hate when a medical practitioner calls a colleague over to check me out. It wasn't the first time that this has happened to me and it has never been a good thing. "Yup, she's ready to go! You're fully dilated", she said to me. I immediately started begging for an epidural for the pain but was told that the happy-epidural-lady was in surgery and that the baby would be out long before she could tend to me. I begged for something else. They said that they could get me some laughing gas, but then never found anyone who could give it to me. They rushed me to the delivery room while I continued to groan very loudly, as everyone in the assessment room looked on. The doctor on call came in after about 10 minutes of intense screaming, broke my water, and had me push. I pushed for maybe five minutes before the baby was born. I had only been in the hospital for just over an hour at this point. That doesn't beat HBM's 11 minutes, but I wasn't all that interested in competing.

So I accidentally had a natural childbirth. In hindsight, I'm glad I had the experience of it, only to say that I did, and to discover how intensely I can actually scream, but I still wouldn't recommend it to my friends. It may have been a better experience if I hadn't been anticipating the drugs for the past nine months, or even if I had read the "irrelevant" chapter on drug-free births. At least it was quick, and the end result is still miraculous.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

A drug free birth would only work in my case if it snuck up on me just like it happened to you!!

Congrats for such a beautiful baby again and for doing it without the drugs ;)

Suzanne said...

This sounds just like the birth of my second child. I had fully expected an epidural and wound up giving birth naturally because there was no time for that. I also pushed for five minutes and was surprised at the screaming -- wow.

Congratulations again!

Run ANC said...

Wow. I would have loved to try for a natural childbirth, but I begged for the drugs when it got bad. As it was, I didn't get the epidural till 9cm and I was screaming enough without the pushing part. I'm impressed by you!

Hope all is going well.

Chantal said...

Wow, I find all birth stories so interesting. They are all so different. I am particularly enamored with the pushing for 5 minutes part. With my oldest I pushed for 2 and a half f'ing hours. It was brutal.

karengreeners said...

Good for you! Sounds awesome. I personally think drug free births are the way to go... but I know what some people think about me.

b*babbler said...

Wow - that's pretty crazy. You have good reason to be impressed with yourself - getting to 10cm without any drugs!

And as you say, the end result is still miraculous.

moplans said...

YAY CONGRATS!

Like kgirl I got a drug free birth with my first but unlike her it surprised me that I did though it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I don't remember screaming though I don't think I was all that quiet either...

MLL said...

That's exactly what happened to me --- I never did get one of those wonderful epidurals I'd heard about.

motherbumper said...

These darn kids, always throwing us for a loop right from the get go. She couldn't be like her sister, could she ;)

Way to go au natural!

kittenpie said...

The birth plan ALWAYS goes out the window, doesn't it? I don't know why they tell us to write one. I would hav eskipped the terrifying birth prep classes if I had known what was coming.

But! Wow, I'm thinking you did terrifically, and that it sounds like it actually went really well. And I'm so glad for you - congratulations, lady!

Nora said...

I love a good birth story! And that is exciting, though sorry you didn't get the drugs you wanted.

accidental irish said...

Wow - I finally found it. Happy to hear the full story now. I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing your on-line pics :)

You definitely did better than I on the birthing part.

accidental irish said...

Wow - I finally found it. Happy to hear the full story now. I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing your on-line pics :)

You definitely did better than I on the birthing part.

Melissa said...

OMG. OW!

Did they give you the drugs afterwards? You know... like as a reward? I would have taken the epidural, and the laughing gas, and whatever those little pills in the cabinet over there were... ;)