Mothers... what did you like/dislike about your labor/delivery experience?

Question

I want to know about your labor/delivery experiences and what you would change or definitley do again if you had the chance. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ungly. I am 7 months pregnant and I want to know as much as I can ahead of time so that I know my options and also so that I know possible scenarios. I know that everyone is defferent, but I still want to hear your stories. Thank you in advance for sharing your personal experiences with me!

Answer 1

I wish I would have listened in my healthy pregnancy class a little more about C-sections. I had it in my mind that I would go to the hospital, have the baby with no problems, and come home and feel pretty good in a couple of days. I was all wrong. I wish I would have considered that a C-section is always a possibility!

1st~~~19 1/2 hours of labor 11 of which were hard labor (back labor to top it off) and then a crash C-section!! WOW I was way overwhelmed and caught off guard!

2nd planned C-section and a lot smoother!

Although out of my control I would have also like to be able to have my children natural. C-section recovery is tough!!

Answer 2

well, im the father that just went through it with the mother. WOW, is about all i can say....

We had our baby last weekend, a month early.

I can tell you some things that were concerning to us.

1) Epidural only worked on uterus and not lower bottom and vaginal area. Really bad....

2) Tested positive for Strep B, this meant immediate medication thus prolonging the labor so the medication could properly take effect. This really sucked because once the baby was born they had to give him even more shots...

3) Delivery room: make sure nurses and dr.s close the door after they enter your room. Also make sure any family stays well away from the door. (they tend to huddle near the door and can create a road block for the doctors and nurses to get into the room) So make it clear to everyone not to disregard your wishes....this can be very uncomfortable when your in incredible pain and don't want the entire hospital to hear you bearing down....

good luck on the delivery, be sure to pack well in advance.....

Answer 3

With my first child I had a LOT of tearing after the episiotomy. My doctor was not there, it was the on call doc from the office, and I had talked to my doc about being against an episiotomy but this doc didn't know that. I wish I had been able to do something to reduce the tearing or prevent the episiotomy.
With my second I kind of wish I had not had the epidural. It never worked 100%, and I hate the numbness afterwards which lasted quite awhile, and i had tingling in my feet and toes for weeks afterwards. Thinking back I wish I had explored other narcotic pain options and not jumped right for the epidural. I had one with my first and just assumed I would need it again but if we go for a third I think I will see a midwife and try to go epidural free.

Answer 4

I know we are all different so here goes :)
my labor was not very long or remarkably difficult at all.
I was feeling some weird pains in the middle of the night that woke me from a sound sleep - not overtly painful just different from anything else I have ever felt. So I got up made some calls so my family would know where I was going - this was pre-cell phone days - and made my way to the hospital in a cab. Everyone told me that the hosp. would send me home, I guess 'cause I wasn't screaming in pain or something. But I got to the hosp. and as soon as they sat me on the gurney my water broke and there I was sitting in this nasty puddle :P . I'm not gonna lie, the labor pains themselves were f-ing excruciating, so I had an epidermal. About 5 hours later my baby girl was born.

Answer 5

I was induced by Cervadil at 41 weeks due to high blood pressure.

I will never, ever be induced again if I can ever avoid it.

14 hours of being essentially chained to a bed, constant fetal and blood pressure monitoring, being unable to eat, having to get catheterized to pee.

The epidural was nice, but I wound up delivering without the benefit of drugs. I did it, so I'm going to try naturally this go-round. I still have occasional spasms in my back at the injection site, though.

Just know that horror stories aren't really going to help you; most deliveries are textbook and trouble-free. What you need is a birth plan and someone with a strong will to advocate for you so that things aren't done to you against your will.

Answer 6

Personally I had a horrible experience but then we had a bit of an almost emergency with my delivery. I had a raised blood pressure through the end of my third trimester. I also ended up having my waters break without going into labor even 3 hours after they had ruptured so I had to be induced. As a result of this they hooked me up to pitocin and upped the dosage every 15 minutes. This drug will give you contractions stronger then even standard delivery contractions even if you haven't started to dialate which I hadn't. I wasn't allowed to even sit up since that would raise my blood pressure even higher. Also had to start pushing early and continuously since my son's heartbeat kept decelerating and he had to get out fast. So I had tearing enough to need emergency surgery to stop the bleeding.
LOL now mind you this is one of the horror stories and I am positive the next time won't be like this at all.
The best thing to take from this is if they suggest pitocin to "speed up" your delivery tell them to take a flying leap unless they get your epidural in first!

Answer 7

Well pregnacy was going well until i got gestational diabetes so i had to have bubz at 38 weeks because my son could be too big or something but as for the birth everything went well...i was in hospital for a few days b4 hand coz of blood pressure and had lots of protein in my urine...anyway my labour wasn't too bad being first time...i was induced in the morning bout 9am then 6 hours later i was dilated 5cms so they broke my waters and that is a yucky feeling and then my contractions from then on started getting stronger and faster. I was in the delivery room by about 4pm and everything started then so i asked for an epidural, but i only end up using them for my contractions so i had a break while that was kicking in, i was monitored the whole time for my diabetes while i was napping, then the epidural started to wear off and then i wanted to push and started pushing, i was dilated 10cm and at 12.15am i had my son and he only weigh 5lbs 10oz so he wasn't very big at all, but 16 hours of his birth there was a problem, he wasn't bfeeding but was hungry and he was vomiting mucus, i told the nurses but they said it was a 24 hour thing, but to me it wasn't right, so the night nurse, I told her and she took him down to SCBU and to find out the tube wouldn't go down to suction any mucus, my son and my husband had to fly down to Wellington Hospital 2am the next morning, he had a tracheasphagel fistula, which is he had a part blockage in his esophagus, but yeh he's much better now, he is 10 months old now and doing well, but the hospital is what I was angry with, so if u have any concerns, u tell those nurses to find out, you make sure they listen too.

Answer 8

My births were all very different, as I learned with each one what could and needed to be done different to make it better for both me and the baby. With my first, I realized that birth philosophy is very important to be on the same page with your care provider. I had a "take charge" midwife who wanted to manage every aspect of the birth and thought that I needed to be quiet and mellow through the pain. Ugh! My next midwife was better as she was very respectful and stayed out of my way while I gave birth instinctively and spontaneously. Best yet was to not have a birth attendant fooling with me or watching me at all.

A few things I learned:

-perineal massage is not necessary and can make things worse because anyone's hands but a lover's "down there" are going to make the mother inhibited and tense up

-pushing in a reclining position is a bad idea because it cuts down oxygen flow to the baby and collapses the pelvis so that it's hard to push

-the cord ought not to be cut right away, it can lead to infant distress to do so

-pushing shouldn't start voluntarily at full dilation, that's a recipe for a long, hard second stage and vaginal trauma -- best to let the body begin spontaneously bearing down

-proper hormonal release for a normal birth won't happen if the mother is distracted, scared, irritated, being instructed, bright lights, strangers milling around and touching her, etc.

-rate of cervical dilation is *not* a reliable predictor of normality of the birth

-the doctor or midwife should not be manipulating and pulling on the baby's head on emergence

-episiotomy does *not* protect the pelvic floor, it *injures* it. It's also almost never necessary, yet the obstetric rate is 50% of first-time moms. Trust me, you don't want your genitals cut. But doctors like to do it, despite it not being at all evidence-based.

Oh, there are so many other things. I suggest you start doing some serious research, it could very well make all the difference between trauma and well-being.

Answer 9

I loved having my baby at home.

I loved having no pain medication.

I loved labouring as I wanted to.

I loved having no internal examinations.

I loved having it written on my notes that the midwife arrived at my house 21 minutes before my baby arrived on my floor :)

I loved how my dog licked her foot when she was 10 minutes old.

I loved the feeling of my daughter coming out, the best feeling in the world. Natural endorphins, way better than an epidural ;)

I love how the memory of her birth makes me feel like I can do anything and take on the world.


I wish she had shown more interest in nursing soon after the birth.

I wish I'd spent more of my labour with her father, but I wanted to be alone.

I wish it hadn't been so rushed at the end, so next time I might call the midwife before I start pushing.

I wish I had taken more pictures.

I wish I'd spent more time just holding her afterward instead of passing her around adoring relatives - that can wait!

Answer 10

I LOVED every second of it!!! The Best experience of my life!!!

I was very lucky with no major complications, bubs heart rate drop for a while and scared me but apart from that, nothing went wrong. My bubs was back to back which made contractions more intense and not regular, the hospital gave me a drug to make them regular, and i had to have an epidural as the pain was too much too bear!! But apart from that, I cant explain how much i enjoyed it!!!!! I also had stitches but honestly you cant feel when you tear or when they stitch you up, but in saying that i did have an epidural and a local !! I wouldnt change a thing!!!!!!