L&D... my experience... your gain

After FINALLY hearing the triage nurse say," yep... your in labor!", getting wheeled back past the swinging doors to the mystical place where little lives were first introduced to the world, and realizing THIS IS IT, I knew I was in love. I loved the whole experience... even from the false calls (or high hopes) and being sent home because it was not time yet, to the cutting of the wristbands, clearing the way to embark on the scariest car ride of my life. It was a mix of emotions with thoughts flooding my head.

Am I ready? 

Are WE ready? 

Am I going to be a good mom? 

Is this totally going to gross out my husband? 

What if she gets stuck? 

Only one way to find out... Let's GO! 

Here's a couple of things that truly made a difference and my best pieces of advice.

There are a lot of people that I know that are pregnant for the first time, and a few that are for the second time. I had three, and they were all completely different. With Brooklyn, my water "leaked" but they had to start active labor with Pitocin. With Maddox, I had contractions and went in... it was the "normal" labor. With London, I was induced. This being said, I don't think you can be a pro at this, per se, but I hope my experiences help. 

With ALL THREE, I went in "thinking" I was in labor, just to be sent home. When people say "it happens to almost everyone", they're not just saying that to make you feel better... it's the truth. It is better to be safe than sorry. And you're obviously no better than me if you do! 

I realized something SUPER important after having Brooklyn that paid off with the other two... I realized I needed to be REALLY nosy and voice my opinion. Before I had Brooklyn, I knew something was going on because I had soaked through pants after pants. My doctor's nurse told me when I called that it definitely was not my water breaking. If it was, it would have gushed, and I quote, "like in the movies".

 My doctor is lucky that he is Ah-mazing! I started googling, and luckily I realized that I was right, and she was not. Brooklyn was "Sunny side up" so her head was acting as a plug, only letting my water out in little bits. When it hurts, tell the nurses. When you want the epidural, if you choose to have one, tell the nurse. If you feel the urge to push, tell the nurse. When you want more epidural juice, tell them. They are here to help YOU be as comfortable and healthy as possible through this whole process, and so they need to know what's going on. When I was in labor with London, my last, the doc asked the nurse over the walkie-talkie thing if he had time to finish up a surgery. I screamed, "HELL NO!", and good thing he heard me because if not, that nurse would have delivered her!

My plan is to follow this up with a couple more blogs on the topic, since obviously nap time has concluded for the day here at the Gaithers... so stay tuned!