Allana's Hospital Birth Story

I read a lot of books and attended a wonderful childbirth class. I considered myself fairly educated on my birth. I wrote a birth plan, asked not to be given an option for pain meds, no episiotomy , and gave copies to the staff when I was admitted. We went into the hospital about 10 pm and I was only 2-3 cm. I opted to stay because I didn't feel like getting back in the car. They told me and allowed me to do whatever I wanted to make myself comfortable. I was able to walk and walk and walk. About 2 am I took a shower and breathed through the contractions. As soon as I got out of the shower I threw-up. My labor nurse who was wonderful, said I needed an IV because she was afraid of me becoming dehydrated. I consented. They checked me again and I was a 7 and 100% effaced so they started getting everyone together.

I went through hard labor for one hour and started pushing. But my baby wasn't coming down. She was turned to the side instead of up so I kept having to flip in different labor positions to get her to turn. After 3 hours of nonstop pushing I was extremely exhausted and my cervix was beginning to swell. They were beginning to look worried and I overheard something about a c-section. They wanted me to rest so I could continue to push so I consented to a small dose of meds. They also wanted to start some pitocin to help the contraction to last longer. I rested for a half an hour then the pitocin kicked in.

After about another hour of hard pushing she turned and was born at 8:12 am. Even though I needed some help at the end I feel that it was a wonderful experience. The hospital staff helped me with achieving close to the birth I wanted, natural, no episiotomy, to tears and a happy little girl.

~Alana
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