What They Don't Tell You About Pregnancy

"A baby fills a special place in your heart that you never knew was empty." —Unknown

Water Break

I'm sure almost everyone out there has seen a labor scene in some sort of movie sometime in their lives. In the movies, it's always way exaggerated when the woman suddenly shoots water out of her lady bits and immediately goes into contractions. As a kid/teenager this always terrified me, maybe that's what the media wants to portray pregnancies to prevent so many teens from having kids. Whatever the case maybe, this is most defiantly not realistic what so ever. When your water breaks, you could either have a drizzle of water come out or more like the feeling of peeing yourself. It all depends on the person and how their bodies respond. For me, it felt like I had peed myself, stopped for a couple seconds and then start again and this time it didn't stop. Following my water breaking, I didn't get the shooting pain of contractions like in the movies.

Prior to having my water break, I was having consistent contractions for two hours that were two minutes apart. They didn't hurt much at all, I had my timer out keeping track to see if it was time to go to the hospital. After two hours, I had Joey take me to the hospital for them to tell me not to come back until my water broke... I was pretty irritated because I thought that "this was it" and I was on my way to delivering my daughter, but instead I was told to go home. After I got home, Joey and I were getting ready to go to bed when I felt as though I was peeing. I was confused at first, wondering if I had just peed myself. I wen't to the bathroom to find a consistent flow of amniotic fluid dripping down my leg.

I wen't back into the room and told Joey that my water broke! We got back into the car and drove to the hospital where I would be for three days.

Epidural

We all have heard about the epidural all our lives. Whether that be from our family, friends, sex education, etc. I know so many women who are pregnant or have been in the past who all thought that an epidural was simply a shot that you get in your back to numb the pain. I was defiantly one of those women...

I was eight months pregnant with my first child when I found out it was not a shot, but more of an IV placed in your back. I was absolutely terrified of the idea, so for most of my pregnancy I told everyone that I was going to try my best to have my daughter naturally. I remember watching so many pregnancy stories of mothers who had delivered naturally on YouTube. They eased my mind about it for a while, up until my big day of delivery. I was 4cm dilated and I was in a lot of pain. After a while the pain really hit me and I tried my best to push through the pain in hopes I could do what a lot of people can't. Not that it's a bad thing at all, but it was a serious goal of mine to deliver naturally. My boyfriend Joey, told me just to get the epidural and I wouldn't feel anything, his mom was there too telling me, "Why should you go through the pain when you can get the epidural?" I pondered on this question for so long because I was genuinely terrified of the thought of a needle going into my back and staying there until the end of my delivery. After a while of thinking and being in constant pain, I gave in and got the shot.

I remember having so much anxiety about the doctor coming in to administer the shot, then it happened. The doctor walked in, I turned my head away so I wouldn't see the needle. They told me to sit up and hunch over. I was so scared at this point, wondering if this was even worth getting after hearing about the pain of it online. Joey was in front of me, holding me steady as they put the needle into my back. It was just a pinch, didn't hurt too bad, then the nurse said that I would be feeling a burning sensation for about ten seconds. I held my breath as they injected it into my back, I flinched a couple times because my back is so sensitive and because of how painful it felt. I was giving Joey, the "death grip" until the pain subsided and everything was finished. I remember being laid down with a lot of tape on my back to keep in in place. The nurse told me to be careful on how I lay down because if it came out, they would have to do it again.

I was determined to not let this happen, so I moved so slow to my side. What I also didn't know is that the epidural reacted to gravity. This means that if you're laying on your left side for example, your left side would go numb after a while and the right side of your body wouldn't be numb anymore. Once the epidural kicked in, they put a catheter in me to make sure I didn't soil my bedding. This was pretty interesting to me because what I thought I knew, turns out I didn't know at all...

After the Baby Is Born

After my daughter was born, they placed her immediately on top of my chest, which was expected. I cried when I first saw her, the day that I have been dreaming of for months had finally happened. It was better than I could have ever imagined.

They took her over to the baby area to get her all cleaned up and started massaging my stomach for the preparation of the placenta to come out. This was also something I didn't know about. I knew that the placenta was like going into labor again, but I didn't know that they massaged your stomach. It hurt, but not too bad. They also started sewing me up in my lady area. I only felt the pressure of them doing so, but no pain thankfully. After being sewed up, the nurse gave me a squeeze bottle to fill with warm water to use after I use the bathroom. I was really uncomfortable down in my lady parts, exhausted from everything that my body just went through, and just wanted to spend time with my baby.

Using the Bathroom

I know this part may be a little TMI, but I feel it should be talked about. When I went poop for the first time after labor, it was the most excruciating pain I have felt. It hurt so bad and to be honest, I didn't know why. I felt that I was the only one going through this issue and I was too embarrassed to talk to my nurse or doctor about this, but after talking to my cousin who had her baby four months after me. She was asking me if this was normal. At that point I didn't feel alone and told her that I had gone through the same pain as she had. I wanted to make this post so I can share my personal experiences to those who are first time mom's or to anyone who's pregnant trying to find out the things that aren't talked about. I think in this day and age you would think that people would be more open about what really happens, some have but not as in depth. I wanted to help mothers out there get through their pregnancy and tell them all there is to know about what I learned so it can ease their minds about it.