Hey girl!

Unfortunatly, I *didn't* go through any special classes. No yoga, no lamaze.

I knew from jump that I wasn't going to use anything for pain.

Birth is nothing to be scared of. You have to be *confident*, not worried. You have to enter the labor knowing that your body is going to do all the work.

Your job is easy. Relax and let your body contract.

Every hospital should have a doula on hand. My nurse was practically my doula as she talked me through a majority of my pain. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.

When I got to about 8cm, I started to tense up, as they get more painful the further you go. She told me " ssshhh..Let your body go limp. It's a hard thing to do, but focus on your body being jell-o. Relax, breathe, and release the pain through your toes."

my body then took over and I couldn't do anything about it.

Don't br scared to have your baby with no meds. It's a beautiful thing.

The pain only gets so bad, ya know? It's gets to this point, then it levels off.

When you push, push through the pain. I started out pushing on my side. I hiked my leg up and began to push without telling them. They heard me and immedietly called the doctor.

I'm one of the lucky ones to have a 3 hour labor at the hospital. She came *quick*, but if you have a long drawn out labor, just *breathe*!! In through your nose, release through your mouth and toes.

Every woman is capable of natural childbirth. I am young and was able, and so is everyone else.

If you have any detailed questions, like how did it feel while they were stretching your vagina to allow the head to pass. Or, what did it feel like to have the head come out, then the shoulders.

I refused an episiotomy as the infection is less with a tear than a surgical cut.

Sarah

**if you have any detailed questions, like how did it feel while they were stretching your vagina to allow the head to pass. Or, what did it feel like to have the head come out, then the shoulders**

tell me about that. Also how do the contractons feel? And what do they feel like when your pushing the baby thru the canal? I guess thats what they call it. Would walking some everyday help lossen up and make labor easier? Because I heard that if your active thru pregnancy, instead of sitting and relaxing all day, that labor would be alot easier and faster.

*shudders*

I know this wasn't directed to me. But I want to answer about the head and shoulder. To me the head coming out hurt but in a different way from the contractions, it was more of a burning/tingling than anything else. It only lasts for a few seconds though. The shoulders and the rest of the body were a relief, I didn't really feel any pain with those at all. It actually felt better because of the warmth. Trust me, the actual exit wasn't that bad, it was actually kind of downhill after all the contractions.

What .Kay said was right about the rest of the body. It was like pushing the biggest turd out of your bum after a couple reaaaly hard pushes. I only pushed a maximum of 8 times to get her out(but she was only 6..

I laid on my phatt-ass allll day long. I *couldn't* walk because I was such a *heffer*!!!! Seriously, *you* have nothing to do with labor. Your body *will* do what it was made to do, with only a couple of pushes you have to do at the end. As I said, my labor *was* only 3 hours at the hospital.

Just lay back and let the labor progress as it's intended.

When the doctor it puttin his/her fingers in your vagina and literally stretching the *caca* out of your vagina to avoid a tear, now that I really can't lie about it. But I just pushed *through* that pain. I refused to stop.

I soooo wasn't myself through it all. It was kind of strange. They were video taping me being checked and me going through contractions and I didn't say a word. I was moaning like I was in a trance and you could see my toes wiggling as I let the pain out.

My labor was silent. Nobody said a word. I pushed, growled, rested. Lmao...You could've dropped a needle and heard it. When the head came out, .Baron started crying sooo hard. Everyone let out a sigh of relief like they were pushing with me.

It burned when the head came out, but my vagina was sooo numb from all the pressure, that I didn't even feel the tear. I know this sounds scary, but it was all sooo fast, you'll never rememebr.

The only thing that I didn't like was the shots of novacain they put in my vagina to stitch me up. Eeekk, that wasn't cool, but I could *barely* feel it. I was too into my baby as they set her on my belly when she came out.

I had marconium in my waters (she pooped in me) so they had to hurry and suction her before she inhaled poop. But she was fine.

Now, because I refused an .I.V, refused everything, I had an infection. I had lost a lot of blood and was dehydrated from the birth.
I had a fever of 103 and coudn't see my baby till the next morning, because they didn't want me to infect her....That part sucked....I cried my eyes out....But then they gave me 2 vicodins and I was happy

sarah

I have seen so many of those birthing shows and it kind of told me what goes on but I wanted to actually here it from somebody, ya know? Some of those shows freaked me out. Women screaming their heads off even tho they had the epidural. As time gets closer, I get even more nervous. Im so hoping that im going to be one of the lucky ones that can due most of their labor at home, without meds, since I only live 5 min from the hospital. Something about a watermelon coming out of a lemon sized hole scares the hell out off me lol. But since its got to be done, I rather do it with no meds. I dont like big needles

it is not a very big needle and you don't see it. The anesthesiologist is behind you putting the cath in. I was in with my wife when she had her epidural put in and she did not even know they had inserted it.

If they properly numb up the skin with topical lidocaine, you wont know the epidural is in.

Now going wihout meds is your choice but don't go without due to fear of the needle. Do it because it means something to you or soemthing like that. My wife had to push for 4 hours after 8 hours of labor. We had an inexperienced l&d nurse and so she was pushing and getting nowhere for almost 3 hours. In the begining of the 4th hour she was so exhausted that they called in the surgery team and were read but they got him out just in time.

Good luck,
brian

You don't feel the *pain* of the epi needle, but you do feel the sensation of it going in. It's very weird.