Dear reader, have you given birth? How did it go? Is there something you regret about the choices you made? Is there something wonderful that happened? Do you have advice for me?
In other news, swim class was facing extinction. Not the class itself, but my participation in it. On Friday I had a sore throat and couldn’t go. Yesterday, I spent the whole day looking forward to it. At 5:30 I gathered all of my things and hopped in the car, arrived to the gym early, headed down to the locker room, and discovered that I’d left my swimsuit at home.
The horror.
No cell phone service in the locker room. Run back upstairs, outside. Call Scott. I don’t know where to tell him to look. Where is it? He needs to know what it looks like — he’s never seen me in it. Is it this black dress thing with the beige insert? Yes, that’s it.
Sitting on the stairs, waiting. I cry a little. Why why why did I leave the suit behind? Oh, right. Mommy brain. I watch the minutes that I am not swimming tick by on my cell phone screen.
He calls. He’s two blocks away. I stand. I see him at the stop light. It’s a long light. I consider running down to where his car is, whether the time gained would be then canceled out by the time it would take to run back. I hold my ground and wave. It’s a very long light. He drives up the block slowly, one arm out the window, holding my suit. I dash into the street, grab suit as he glides by, shout “I love you!” and run back inside the YMCA to catch the last 30 minutes of class.
I had three kids, two at home with midwives and the third in the hospital. The hospital birth was better, but it was my third so I knew what to expect. Medication doesn’t always work and there is a lot to be said for unmedicated birth. The trouble is with the midwives in the Bay Area – they’re too strident. For instance, there’s no reason in my mind not to have painkillers after the birth ( you’re still pretty sore) but all they’d give me was arnica. Not even tylenol. Lame.
I’d never go for one of those epidurals though, a big needle in my spine? Eeep.
Hey j. Thanks for telling your story. It really helps me to hear how it went for others.
Wow! I hadn’t even thought about painkillers for AFTER. Thank you for pointing that out. I’ll be asking my doctor and doula about that for sure.
I had c-section. I did not want to have a c-section, but I think it was the best thing to do under the circumstances.
All I can say is that you should be prepared for whatever may happen. To use medication or not is your decision, and only yours.
And remember that the most important thing is for you and your baby to be healthy. In the end, nothing else really matters.
I was in labor with you for 12 hours. This was the dark ages. I was demeraled all night and when the dr. got there he gave me a spinal. I don’t recommend that. I was totally knocked out. It sucked. That dr. sucked.
When your sister was born labor was 6 hrs with epidural at the end. I recommend it cuz the birth can be felt but not the pain. Way cool!