Labor of Love

- December 06, 2012

It all began on December 6th, at 12:30pm. Adam and I had just gone to bed around 10pm and I awoke with one little cramp 2 hours later. I got up to go to the bathroom when I felt my water break. My water did not break with Charlie, so I wasn't sure what this experience would feel like. I then told Adam what happened and I think he exclaimed "It's go time."

We called the hospital and they asked about contractions. I wasn't really having any, so they said to take our time and come in at our leisure. We called Barb and she came to our house to sleep so we wouldn't have to wake up Charlie.

We got to the hospital around 1:15 or 2 and of course they do the millions of checks on me. The contractions were still not hard or regular, so they had me walk and walk and walk and walk some more. Around 4am they started appearing regularily. If they hadn't, the on-call OBGYN (not my normal dr.) wanted to start the Pitocin at 4am. Ha! No chance in hell I was letting that happen. You can let me labor for more than a few hours before drugs are necessary. I think this is part of the evils of hospitals, to tell you the truth. Needless to say, by 7:30, the contractions were becoming more and more intense and about 2 mins apart. We were on the right path. My normal doc was there and was letting me take things slower. By about 10am, when I was still only 4cm dialated, they told me we would have to do a little something to get it going. So, I okayed a SMALL dose of Pitocin. The smallest they could give. That is all it took, the contractions were harder, the dialation was happening and we were moving on.

I "mentioned" an epidural when I was between 8-10cm dialated, cause it was starting to hurt quite a bit, but Adam and the nurse kept reassuring me that I could do this and it wasn't much longer until it would all be over. And they were right. By 1:04pm after 2 pushes, Carolyn Elaine Sayre, entered this world at a whopping 6lbs 7oz and 20inches long. She was perfectly healthy, although tiny (Charlie was a whole pound bigger!), AND she got to sit on my chest right away after birth. It was wonderful. As soon as she was pushed out, ALL the pain went away. EVERYTHING! It was amazing. I felt like a million dollars.

The recovery was great, I had no headaches, no bodyaches, I even went to a holiday party 5 days later. I had a 2nd degree tear that gave me basically no pain. Probably the biggest "pain" I felt is one my milk came in my breasts were quite engorged. But, other than that, it was wonderful!

I highly recommend natural birth. I felt powerful and so proud of myself that I did this WITHOUT any pain medication. It is a sensation that only women can feel and probably only women can endure.

....and I have a beautiful little girl to show for it. I love her dearly and she is cute as a button. I kiss her and dress her in pink every chance I get!