Just In Case (The Delivery Post)

At the end of my pregnancy and into labor I found myself asking everyone around me, "Did this happen like this last time?" Turns out I have a bad memory and that there were many similarities and a great many differences between the two events. Just in case I forget again, here's what I want to remember about round two.

• I had cramping/abdominal pain for days before actually giving birth. Its normal.
• I felt really great when I could walk around the neighborhood at the beginning of labor. Moving=good. Stationary=bad.
• I've puked during both deliveries.
• IV's make my arm cold.
• Twice now, my body has hit a point where it decides that the normal labor timing just isn't going to work for me. I must have this child now. So I start to have contractions that either don't stop or could harm the baby.
• Both of my babies have not handled delivery very well.
• I've had to be given medication to be slowed down twice now.
• That medication sucks.
• Epidurals do not suck-except when they don't cover your whole body.
• It also is the hardest thing in the world to stay still laying on your side during a really strong contraction. I did it only because they had to monitor the baby's heart beat.
• The phrase "we might have to do a c-section" scares the crap out of me.
• It also motivates me to push that thing out of me a lot quicker.
• I'm also motivated when the one little section of my abdomen that still feels every contraction stops hurting when I push. "Push the pain away" was the most helpful phrase that the nurse told me. It's true.

The physical recovery from this one was a whole lot easier than last time. I think that's because I really listened when people told me to take it easy. All in all not a terribly traumatic delivery.