[juliana77]

I asked to see the placenta. I think that kind of thing is cool. I loved doing dissections in biology and even thought about majoring in it.

I pooped. Who cares, it happens and they are used to it. I had an episiotomy (we were trying to get him out fast at that point - he wasn't tolerating labor well) and I tore too - they stitched it up, it was fine. He had the fetal monitor in his scalp; his hr kept dropping and they needed to monitor closely. It is what it is. Thy also used the vacuum so his head looked weird... Not a true cone head since he was sunny side up (normal birth position is face down - of course mine had to do it the hard way lol)

Oh, the bill. It was $12 and change for my meals. Go Navy lol

[Sum38]

Interesting; I can recall the horrid pain I went through with my broken ankle, but not the pain I went through giving birth to my 10 pound baby (naturally).

Both of my kids were so worth it! I guess love overshadows the pain.

[junebug41]

Originally Posted by Sum38

Interesting; I can recall the horrid pain I went through with my broken ankle, but not the pain I went through giving birth to my 10 pound baby (naturally).

Both of my kids were so worth it! I guess love overshadows the pain.

I was just thinking about this! There's about an hour and a half that I've blocked out of giving birth (no meds). I've had to block out a good two weeks of my broken ankle

Also, some of that stuff is not the norm. If episiotomes were that common place, they're on the way out now. If you go med-free you can avoid fetal monitoring.

It's just how it's set up. If it was that horrific no woman in her right mind would do it more than once and if it really is that bad, we're biologically wired to forget. I think it's baby smell. Spend a good week around good baby smell and you'll forget just about anything. It's intoxicating. Throw in a baby laugh and forget about it...

[valalltogether]

euughh..

i'm gonna have to do this one day and i'm really scared. but thanks for all the insight, it's been real. lol

[alaskanlaughter]

both of my labors were long, exhausting and very very painful...not everyone's is like that though...i was in labor 22 hours with my first son and 25 hours with my second son...and i mean active, painful labor...i had an epidural with both boys, the first one didnt work, with my second son it worked...ive been through all of it, i even asked to see the placenta with my second son because i'm curious and nothing really grosses me out....you know some ppl even take it home, cook it and eat it?? haha! (i didn't)

although i love my sons dearly and dont regret it, i would NOT EVER go through childbirth again or the ensuing sleepless 292 years with them...i'm too old for that lol...i didnt want any more kids after my first one, but my DH (not the same dad as the oldest one) wanted one child and i wanted him to have his own child...if DH had said "hey i dont want any kids, im fine" than i would have been Just Fine not ever going through childbirth again lol

[alaskanlaughter]

Originally Posted by valalltogether

euughh..

i'm gonna have to do this one day and i'm really scared. but thanks for all the insight, it's been real. lol

not everyone has horror stories of childbirth....its just that no one ever posts about "i had a quick and easy birth" etc...my coworker had 5 kids and all her labors were quick and easy, probably why she had 5 LOL

[mandalinn82]

Val - I'm going to have to do this in a couple weeks. Just remember that women's bodies have been having babies for hundreds of years, and a lot of them had more than one, so it can't be that bad, right?

[XLMuffnTop]

Honestly, the worst thing about labor that still makes my stomach clench to this day was the needle in my back for the epidural. I wish I hadn't done it but I was induced. Going from not-really-in-labor to slammed with contractions doesn't give your body time to produce it's own pain coping endorphins. That's really the only thing I'd change if I could.

[junebug41]

I would also like to add that sometimes ignorance is bliss. I remember going on the hospital tour and seeing the mirror at the foot of the bed so you could watch it all. I was TERRIFIED of that mirror. My midwife said something about "looking" and I screamed (the only time I raised my voice) that I did NOT want to look. I do not regret this decision. As far as pooping, I may have, but I don't know. I haven't asked and no one has offered that information.

So really as far as I know I did not poop and everything is as it always has been

[mandalinn82]

FWIW, my wife, doula, and I have a firmly discussed "Don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to poop.

[shcirerf]

I gave birth to, twin boys, that weighed 6 pounds and 1 and 3/4 ozs, and 6 pounds and 1 and 1/4 ozs. It was a rather uneventful pregnancy. I was healthy as all get out. However getting that BIG, did get uncomfortable towards the end.

I won't bore with the whole story, but went to the hospital at 2 am. Boys were born at 6:35 and 6:39 am. No meds at all with the first, they gassed me for the second, I was exhausted and he was wedged crossways, up under my ribs.

I did tear, and had 8 stitches. Art, the first baby, had a big ole fluid filled bruise on the back of his head from the forceps, Dale, according to Dad, came whooshing out, looking like he was sliding into home plate!

It is messy business, and not particularly pretty. But, I grew up on a farm with lots of animals, so I knew that.

There is no way anyone can tell anyone else to what really expect, you just have to do it. It's different for everyone.

All in all, I would not trade the experience for anything in the world. If we would have had anymore, they would have, God willing got here faster than 4 hours after knowing what to expect.

To this day, and I'm a Gramma now, I would HANDS DOWN rather have a baby than a bad toothache. Drs. are there when you're in labor, unlike the Dentist, who says, here's some antibiotics, deal with the pain and come back in a week for more torture!

On the whole tooth thing, Had a bad tooth in Jan. Got an appt. figured on an extraction that day, nope, come back in a week. Ok. Go back. Tooth breaks apart, get some, get some more, one root bound up in upper jaw, ok, remove some bone to finally get tooth out. Things seem ok, 5 days later get up, the left side of my face, looks like chipmunk on crack hoarding nuts. Antibiotics, pain meds, yada, yada, blah, blah, I could have had a baby and been home and happy and mostly healed up, and something to show for it besides a hole in my head.

[Pepino]

BWAHHAHAHA this is the best thread ever!

I've only had one so far but I tell all my friends...it's not that bad!!!! ANd I was in labour for over 30 hours...

The thing is, contractions only last a minute or so, so you know the pain will end and to me that makes it very endurable because you know you will get a break soon.

After twenty some hours I wanted the epi because I was tired and I did NOT want to feel the pushing part. The epi DID NOT HURT AT ALL!!! The IV hurts more than the epi and everyone I know who had the epi has said the same thing...that the IV hurts more.

Pooping...no idea if I did! I was only pushing for an hour but they told me to push as if I was pooping so that is what I did. I probably did poo LOL but all I saw was the blankets I piled on my belly. I didn't see anything!

I did end up tearing in 3 places but that was because of my NOT listening the doctor when she said "he's crowning...little push" instead me in my own head was like "I'M GETTING THIS DONE" and did a big push and thus caused my own tearing. Of course I didn't feel it at the time but STICHES HURT LIKE A ***** WHEN YOU PEE afterwards.

I wanted to see my placenta because I was curious...I even asked. BUt I was so distracted that I ended up missing it. I didn't even push it out. I guess it just magically came out LOL.

Honestly, after giving birth I felt like I should become a surrogate mother becasue I didn't have any trouble pushing baby out LOL. My friends think I'm nuts.

Oh and my little guy was TOTALLY a cone head ha. But he was still super cute. And that goes away really fast...even within hours it looked significantly less coned.

So my take home message...just get an epi and you'll be fine. ha ha awesome thread.

[CurryMama]

This article seems pretty juvenile. Childbirth is not something that should be looked at as a horror thing. Both of my experiences were good. Of course there will be pain and a little gore, but then you get handed this beautiful little human being that grew inside of you. You see his or her face for the very first time. All the work and the unpleasant parts are more than worth it.

[CurryMama]

Originally Posted by juliana77

I asked to see the placenta. I think that kind of thing is cool. I loved doing dissections in biology and even thought about majoring in it.

I pooped. Who cares, it happens and they are used to it. I had an episiotomy (we were trying to get him out fast at that point - he wasn't tolerating labor well) and I tore too - they stitched it up, it was fine. He had the fetal monitor in his scalp; his hr kept dropping and they needed to monitor closely. It is what it is. Thy also used the vacuum so his head looked weird... Not a true cone head since he was sunny side up (normal birth position is face down - of course mine had to do it the hard way lol)

Oh, the bill. It was $12 and change for my meals. Go Navy lol

I saw one of the placentas too. It's nature..what's not cool about it? I also went number 2 when I gave birth to one of my boys. The nurse told me herself...it's nothing they haven't see happen during birth before. I think I had an epi with one of the boys. Both births, I had to have some stitches, but with an epidural...I felt very little of that part. My oldest had the fetal monitor and the cone shaped head from the vacuum assistance (he was stuck under my pubic bone). But all that was left after was a small dot from the monitor. His head did return to normal shape. I paid $20 afterwards...also mostly thanks to the Navy and medicaid.

[mandalinn82]

This article seems pretty juvenile. Childbirth is not something that should be looked at as a horror thing. Both of my experiences were good. Of course there will be pain and a little gore, but then you get handed this beautiful little human being that grew inside of you. You see his or her face for the very first time. All the work and the unpleasant parts are more than worth it.

The article IS from a humor site, so that might be to be expected.