I cannot believe it but I delivered a baby! ME! I did that! There were so many things that no one tells you when you deliver a baby. Here are the top ten things I wish I had known prior to labor.
1. The pain. They say it is going to be painful. But honestly... you will not know the pain until you are having contractions. AND those contractions are 3 minutes apart.
2. Contractions. First off... your contractions will NOT be the same as the woman across the hall. It won't. I kept reading that my contractions should harden my belly and I will feel pain all across my stomach. EH WRONG! I felt pain where you would have cramps. My pain was like knives stabbing me every 3 minutes. My awesome husband downloaded an app for me that tracked my contractions. Luckily it was then that we realized that they were only a few minutes apart and that started the thoughts of- I NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL.
3. Modesty. Everyone kept saying that your modesty just goes right out the window. Honestly... I was like are you nuts?!?! There is no way that I am going to have my legs open for everyone to see what's going on down there. But sure enough... I didn't care who was walking in and out of the room. All I cared about was getting this child out of me. By the time I left the hospital... I think I had every nurse look at my private parts and they ALL heard about my delivery. So yeah... Nothing is private anymore when you are in the hospital.
4. Poop. One of my biggest fears was that I was going to poop in front of my doctor or worse...my husband!!! Guess what...to this day- I have no idea if I did. My husband and I had a pact...if I poop...don't tell me! I didn't want him to see and I didn't want to know. However, during labor I didn't give a s*** [no pun intended].
5. Epidural. The epidural may work a little too well. For me, they pumped so much of it into me that I ended up not being able to push AT ALL. There is a chance that if they give you too much pain killers that you will have to get it completely flushed out of your system because you can't push. Then you will feel things again and you will be screaming again.
6. Shaking. Oh my gosh. You are going to shake. I don't mean like get the wiggles... I mean you will shake so much that you won't be able to talk. This actually was one of the scariest things that happened to me. I was shaking so much that I couldn't communicate- apparently it's because your body is going through a traumatic experience.
7. Gray baby. I knew that baby W would look weird but I didn't know he was going to be gray! I knew when baby W came out and within ten seconds he was on my chest. He was completely gray. I didn't freak out because I was knew I had to push the placenta still and I was told I was torn up really bad. However, babies come out gray. Tell your husband, boyfriend, fiancee, or whoever is in the room with you. That way they don't panic when they see a gray baby. [The reason why they're gray is because they don't have oxygen yet.]
8. Slow down. Everything in the hospital is slow. I mean everything. I walked into the hospital and said "I'm here to be admitted. When will I get my epidural?" I was admitted at 5 and didn't get my epidural until close to 7:30. I was screaming so loud that my parents could hear me in the waiting room. Just be prepared that everything will be slow.
9. Cervix exam. The cervix exam hurts. I don't want to scare you...but it hurts so bad that I was practically crawling to get away from the doctor.
10. It's all worth it. My little baby W is perfect in every way. He came out healthy, 10 fingers, 10 toes and I wouldn't have it any other way. I thought people were crazy when they said it's all worth it. They weren't crazy. They were absolutely correct. He is worth every pound I gained, every ache I had, every tear I cried, every dollar I spent, every stranger rubbing my belly, and every bit of my heart.
My labor story is painful. But as I sit here and cuddle with Baby W...I know that it was worth it. I can't imagine a day without him. Hopefully this eased some thoughts that you had about labor. Do you have any things you would tell new moms? Leave in the comments below!!
