Labor - What Mom's Do

I was over visiting THAT family and noticed that Kristen has an interesting post up today. I feel a little crazy today, so without being pressured from a certain Pet that I know I decided to play along and give you a bit of personal information all about me. So, in honor of Labor Day I'm stealing the post from Kristen and making it my own. Of course, she took it from somebody else...so maybe she won't mind.

How long were you in labor?

#1 - 40 + hours. Yes, you read that right. It was not a joke. I went into labor with Gibson on Friday evening and he was born on Sunday evening nearly 48 hours AFTER labor began. It was NOT fun. I could not hold him when he was born because I was so weak. The labor was all in my back. I ran a fever during the last 12 hours. Gibson stalled in the birth canal and required assistance via the vacuum machine.

#2 - Scheduled C-Section. Can you guess why? However, I was beginning to have contractions when I went in for the C-Section.

#3 - Scheduled C-Section. The C-Sections were so much easier for me than natural birth.

How did you know you were in labor?

The pain in my back was very regular and increasingly uncomfortable. I called my doctor around 9:00 PM and he said to wait and come see him in the morning. I did - and in the morning I was dilated to a whole ONE centimeter after a very uncomfortable night. Then I called my doctor every hour for the rest of the day and into the night because the pain was getting worse.

Well, about 3:00 AM I woke up groaning. My then husband told me to call the doctor and tell him we were going to the hospital regardless of what the doctor had to say about it.

So - while I called the doctor - he went and took a shower. Yes, my dear friends, he left me to call my doctor all on my own when I could barely breath much less talk. Can you begin to guess why he is my "then" husband and not my "now" husband?

The doctor did confirm that it was time for me to go to the hospital. So off we went. I checked into the hospital at 5:00 AM. Gibson was born at 5:39 PM. He was stubborn about the whole thing. Come to think of it - he's STILL just as stubborn as the day he was born.


Where did you deliver?

Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, GA. All three of my babies were born there.

Drugs?

OH YES!!!

C-Section?

Yes. The two girls were delivered via C-Section. My blood pressure was high during my pregnancy with Kira. My doctor was concerned about me going through labor again, especially considering that Kira was a bit bigger than Gibson. I was stunned when he suggested a scheduled C-Section. It was the last thing I had expected to hear him say. However, after a few hours of consideration and a ton of reading, I decided that it was a much preferable method than the previous delivery. I was right, by the way. I was actually able to hold Kira within an hour of her birth. I was also back on my feet much quicker.

Marisa was a repeat C-Section. I told them at the first visit that I wanted to go that route. The doctor, of course, agreed.

Who delivered?

#1 - Gibson was ultimately delivered by Dr. Kelley, who just happened to be the on call doctor that evening. However, if he hadn't been so stubborn about it all he would've been delivered by Dr. Sutherland who was my preferred doctor.

#2 - Kira was delivered by Dr. Sutherland.

#3 - Marisa was also delivered by Dr. Sutherland. However, they threatened to take her 3 days earlier than scheduled because of my blood pressure. Had they done that, she would've been delivered by a different doctor that I didn't really care much for. Luckily, the hospital agreed to let me go home as long as I promised to stay in bed for the next 3 days. Randall was relentless about that, so I did actually get stuck in the bed for 3 whole days.


NOTE: For those of you wondering about that 4th child listed on my profile, I didn't give birth to her. She showed up on my doorstep about 3 years ago. She's technically my niece, but definitely my own child in all the ways that any adopted child could be.