Giving Birth.

In Newfoundland nobody is offered the epidural. That is a sissy thing lol. Babies are better when they are naturally born.

Sigmund said:

Hi!

I refused the epidural 'cause I'm afraid of needles. I would never not offer epidural. If it's available and the mother wants it..I would more than be willing to give it to her.

No need to have a person go through unneeded pain. JMO.

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Some places do not do it though...unless it is necessary for some reason.

My daughters each weighed around seven pounds at birth but my son weighed 9½ pounds. I wanted to have the total birthing experience like I had done with my other kids, so I chose natural childbirth with no drugs whatsoever. I kept my cool and did my lamaze breathing throughout every stage of labor; I was, in fact, a model of composure. My mood changed real fast, however, when it came time to push. That's when my voice started ringing down the halls of the maternity ward. I kept screaming, "WHY WON'T IT COME OUT??" Finally, he exploded from my body (that really is the correct verb), drenching the doctor with fluids. Episiotomy… stitches… afterbirth… nothing fazed me after his exit-- I was just relieved he was out! (My son's twenty-two now and stands six feet eight inches tall.)

My daughter was not a good experience. She was nearly two weeks overdue, and I hadn't made any progress towards labor. I wanted a natural birth, but had to be induced. It meant a very long hospital stay, and constant pressure to accept more interventions. The people who took my blood left me with massive bruising, my doc thought I would need a c-section, and nurse ratchet made me want to die after checking my stubborn cervix.
I made it all the way to transition before I caved and accepted an epidural. It was the only other intervention I accepted. Once the pain went away and I was able to relax, my labor shot forward and I had my 8lbs, 13oz daughter in my arms in just over an hour. I needed some stitching up, and that was it. Proved the whole lot of 'em wrong!

My son was extremely easy. He was a week late, but I went into labor on my own. We didn't get to the hospital until I'd hit transition. I'd wanted to try again for a drug free labor, but didn't have it in me. I was starting to lose my calm, and the hour or so it took for them to get me set up seemed like forever. I have a very high pain tolerance, but childbirth is nothing to laugh at.
Once I wasn't hurting anymore, I was able to relax, talk to my parents who had come by to say hi, hold my husband's hand, even joke around. Very much nicer than wanting to crawl out of my own skin. And, like with my daughter, once the pain went away my labor hit warp speed. I'd barely been pain free for ten minutes before my water broke, and the nurse had to tell me NOT to push until the doctor got there. Once I was given the go-ahead though, my 8lbs, 3.7oz son was born after twenty minutes of pushing. The only complication was meconium, which meant my husband got to touch him before I could. I didn't even need stitches! If only all births were that easy.

My Karen was so easy. I had those little nagging pains all day, but went around my daily chores. I had a doctor appointment that morning, and went to the bank, and when I told the girl at the bank that the baby would probably be born that day, she couldn't get me out of the bank fast enough!
I then stopped to a small diner, and had some breakfast, then went home. I called Karen's dad at work, and told him what was going on, and he came home at lunch time.
By 630 that night, I told him it was time to get to the hospital. Almost as soon as I got there, my water broke, and the only med I took was something to take the edge off the pain. At 5 minutes to 11, on 5/11, she was born. Very easy labor, and delivery for me.

When Karen had Kat, she came in less than 3 hours! Karen had no time to even get any meds to ease the pain, so she had natural childbirth.

Autumn Gust said:

My daughters each weighed around seven pounds at birth but my son weighed 9½ pounds. I wanted to have the total birthing experience like I had done with my other kids, so I chose natural childbirth with no drugs whatsoever. I kept my cool and did my lamaze breathing throughout every stage of labor; I was, in fact, a model of composure. My mood changed real fast, however, when it came time to push. That's when my voice started ringing down the halls of the maternity ward. I kept screaming, "WHY WON'T IT COME OUT??" Finally, he exploded from my body (that really is the correct verb), drenching the doctor with fluids. Episiotomy… stitches… afterbirth… nothing fazed me after his exit-- I was just relieved he was out! (My son's twenty-two now and stands six feet eight inches tall.)

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Your vivid telling makes it sound like he was 3 feet four inches at birth!!

My contractions are 3 minutes apart...........

For our first my wife was in labour for 25 hours. By the time we got to the fourth she wasn't going in until it was absolutely necessary and by the time we got there the nurse had to deliver it.

Out of Order said:

My contractions are 3 minutes apart...........

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Will you need an epibeeril??

EMARX said:

Will you need an epibeeril??

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Very well may.........I'm extremely worried about that episiotomy I've heard about..........

EMARX said:

Your vivid telling makes it sound like he was 3 feet four inches at birth!!

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He was 22" long-- his big noggin was the problem!

My last daughter came in on a weekend. Skeleton staff at the hospital. Full moon and about 12 women came in for deliveries. Staff were crazed trying to deal with all the deliveries and trying to find additional staff and doctors to come in. Hardly saw a doctor or nurses up to the delivery except for short visits and the epidural, with them giving me instructions on what I had to do to help out. When the time came we got a resident who was deaf and had never delivered a baby before. It was the doctor, a nurse and me, and my wife during the delivery. Problems occurred during the birth and the doctor couldn’t get my daughter breathing. Emergency crew had to come in, and they got her breathing, then immediately took her to the neonatal ICU where she spent two days. Everything eventually turned out fine.

What ever happened to the good old days of my first child’s birth when the father stayed in the waiting room, the doctor came in and said congrats, and you handed out cigars?

My first baby was my biggest, at 8 1/2 pounds. He is now 22, 6'4 and 250 lbs. He is still the biggest. Had high blood pressure problems, and was induced. All went well, his was the birth I wanted to kick the Dr. in the face after scolding me for screaming. "Don't. DO. that." he said.

Second one, had high blood pressure again. Missed a lot of work and was pulled in by Asst Mgr to tell me I had my priorities screwed up. I told her my only priority was the health of my baby and myself, and at next Dr. visit, got a note allowing me to take a leave of absence. He came 2 weeks early, and spent a couple days in ICU, because of meconium.

Third one, only girl, she was the smallest, at just an ounce under 6 lbs. I was a stay at home mom by now, and the bp issue stayed mostly at bay until the last 3 months. She was the one who made me the sickest, morning sickness never really went away with her. Just constant nausea, the whole pregnancy.

Last boy was pretty easy, other than the stress of being pregnant so quickly again after the last one. BP a little high again, but not until the very end of the pregnancy. Only "bad" thing with him was the problem giving me the epidural I spoke about in the back thread.

I was not in labor longer than 9 or 10 hours with any of them, so I had it pretty easy that way. 3 out of the 4 were induced labors, so that probably had something to do with how fast it all went for me.

All in all, pretty easy, routine births, with only one of them needing extra medical attention afterwards, and even he bounced back pretty quickly. Thankful for each one of them.

2 minutes apart...............

staropeace said:

In Newfoundland nobody is offered the epidural. That is a sissy thing lol. Babies are better when they are naturally born.

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My first, if there had not been intervention would have died or been born with severe brain damage. I don't think either would have made him better.

And you have absolutely NO clue how much pain I was in. Imagine your leg was caught in a machine that was slowly twisting and ripping your leg off. That's what his birth felt like to me. I do not consider I was a sissy for getting an epidural. I did not realize it was possible to feel so much pain and not pass out...or die. I accepted that I was going to die to give him life. Btw, the ripping off leg pain....that's what it was reduced to after I got the epidural. When I finally asked for it, the anesthiologist was standing right outside my door. He practically ran in, he had been waiting right there for me. Hooked me up and then finally got to go have his dinner. (He did not want me to have to wait because he knew how bad my pain was.)

Gave birth in 1966 and 68. Both home births, no meds. Both weighted in at 8 lbs. 3oz. Labor was short- thankfully.