Pregnancy Info HOME

Thanks so much! I had my mom and sister in the delivery room with me. I'm so glad I did, too. They each held a leg as I pushed, so I could concentrate on getting my baby out! haha... my poor sister faints when she even HEARS about pain, but she did really well... she only had to sit down 3 times when I was pushing... haha... The doctor had to break my water for me, I had been in labor since midnight the night before, and it was then 9-o-clock, so he broke it with a knitting-needle looking thing. It didn't hurt at all. I had a some-what natural birth.. haha. I was in labor (having contractions.. not hard labor) for about 29 hours, so by about the 24th hour (I was dialating VERY slowly) I asked for some medication.. I was sooooooo sick of the pain... and the contractions were getting worse. I didn't want an IV, so my doctor gave me a shot of something that just let me relax and sleep between contractions and took the edge off the really bad contractions. It wore off by the time it was time to push, which was good because that way I could feel the contractions so I knew when to push. Which is one thing.... do NOT get an epidural. I don't know how anyone would know when to push if they can't feel their contractions! Pushing actually felt kind of good except I thought my eyes were going to explode out of my head. Think about the worse constipation you've ever had... and that's it... haha. When you push, try your hardest to push from your stomach and not your face! haha.. don't want to pop a blood vessel in your eye!! I ended up having to have an episiotomy because her hand was coming out with her head.. and obviously that wasn't likely to fit. haha. It wasn't bad though. He gave me a few shots "down there" first so I couldn't even feel him cutting me. I also couldn't feel when he sewed me up. Although I've been a little sore for the past couple days, it's not bad. Her cord was wrapped around her neck too which was really scary, but the doctor knew just what to do and it didn't hurt her at all. I had to stop pushing after I pushed part of the head out, and he got the cord and clamped it and cut it before I pushed any further.. little tip.. when he says to stop pushing... BLOW AIR (breath out)... like the "hooo" at the end of "hee hee hee hooo"... I wanted to push soooo bad, and if mom wouldn't have told me to b__w air, I wouldn't have been able to stop pushing and probably would've strangled my baby.. so just keep going "hoo hoo hoo hoo" until the doctor says push. After I got the head out the doctor said "push one more time!" and kind of pulled her out by her head and arm as I pushed... it was the weirdest feeling ever, but felt so good to get her out! haha. Then came the delivery of the placenta.... OUCH. The nurse pushed on my stomach as the doctor said "push" and pulled the placenta out by the umbillical cord. Then the nurse continued pushing in order to get the excess blood and whatever else out. It hurt. But it didn't last forever, so it was okay.. haha. As for tips to help labor... If you're not too far along to start exersizing... EXERCISE... you'll need those muscles to push! Also, practice your breathing techniques... I cannot tell you how much those have helped me. You HAVE to be able to relax or you're in trouble! Also, this may sound weird, but I took one of those hand-held solitaire games you get at Wal-Mart in with me... and played it during my contractions while I did my breathing exersizes. It actually helped take my mind off the pain. So think ahead of time about some things you can do while you're in labor to help you relax and not think about the pain! So that was labor... now I'll tell you about my baby :) .............

wow... I wrote a book in that last post.. haha... anyway........ I named my baby girl Alena (pronounced A-lay-nah). She was born at 5am, weighed 6 lbs, and measured 19"... she's soooo cute and tiny.. I just love her! She's been a total joy to have around the past 5 days she's been out of my belly :) She really did make EVERYTHING I've been through during this pregnancy worth it. It's so cute, I went upstairs today to check on her and she was half-awake so I kissed her on the cheek and she gave me this big 'ol grin. Whoever said newborns can't smile has never met my Alena! She's also VERY strong. She could already lift hear head up with her arms when she was less than 1 day old! I really do think that everything I did during my pregnancy to take care of myself and my baby really paid off. I would definitely encourage everyone to take care of themselves properly. It really is worth the extra trouble! I'm just so happy right now I can't even begin to tell you... haha. She's just everything I could ever wish for. She's so perfect. She didn't even have the red blotchy marks that newborns tend to have after deliver.. or the whiteheads. She's just perfect. :) Just wait, ladies. Being single and pregnant may be pretty c___ppy (and depressing!)... and dealing with the arsehole fathers definitely sucks... but the end result is soooooooooo worth it! We don't need men... we have the love of our lives in our bellies (or in my case... in my arms)! Good luck to all of you, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask me... I'll be checking in when I get the chance!

WOW! thanks for sharing that April, you've offered some very good insight of what's expected and what I and other will soon look forward to. I'm SOOOO afraid of labour. I'm the biggest wimp EVER when it comes to pain, even the slightest pain, so I don't know what I'm going to do when it's time. With every pa__sing day, I get more and more nervous because I know I'm only a month away from THE BIG DAY. I am excited to see my baby, but oooooh MAN, what I have to go through before hand. It's good to see that your so happy and I'm glad that everything is looking brighter and brighter for you with each pa__sing day. I do look forward to teh day I get to hold my baby, I'm so excited, but I am going to miss feeling my baby kick inside of me..hehe it's kicking right now.

:) I said I'd miss my baby kicking me from the inside too... haha... funny thing is I don't... not even a little bit. It's much nicer having her kick me from the outside :) Good luck with your labor ~S~ You'll do great! and don't be afraid to get the drugs if you can't stand the pain... just don't get an epidural... haha...

Hi April! How are you and your baby girl doing? I'm doing well, still counting down to the day he gets here. I went to the doc on Friday and was dilated 1 so she stripped me. Hopefully i have him soon. well i had a weird change of events happen. the ex called and said that he wants to be a big part of the babys life. I'm taking everything he says with a grain of salt these days but hopefully he sticks with it. he apologized for everything that he said and did to me and wants to be the best father he can despite the distance. he asked for my address so that he can send the baby some stuff also. i really hope he sticks with it and turns out to be a wonderful dad to this baby. My child and i willl be GREAT without him if he decides to change his mind AGAIN and walk away but my baby will be a lot better with a loving father he can COUNT ON!! I hope everything works out for the best, cross your fingers for me! Anyway, how is your baby doing? how's the father situation going, is he sticking to being a good dad and part of her life? is she growing like a weed yet? i'm sure she makes you happier than ever before! I hope all is well with you two and let me know how everything is going! God bless you both!

April and S...I had my baby!! He was born on Aug 15th (his due date!)! he is perfect in every way! I love and enjoy him so much! ok about my labor...It was the EASIEST THING EVER!!! My doctor stripped my membranes for the 9th time that morning(i'm not exaggerating). she said she's never heard or seen a patient get stripped that many times and not go into labor!! I dilated all the way to 4 cm and she said until i have contractions they couldnt do anything so i played the waiting game for 2 weeks. I dont know if i told you my sister came here to Japan for the summer to help me through my pregnancy and she was suppose to leave on the 16th of august so she barely got to see my son be born. well my doctor was wonderful, she wanted my sister to see the birth so bad that she told me if i felt anything to go into labor and delivery and see what they said. well around 2 that afternoon on the 15th i had some lower back pain and i called my doc and she said go in that she would talk to the doctor that was pulling the laboring shift and see if she would keep me. well i got to L&D and they hooked me up to the machines and said that i was definetly 4 cm dilated and i was having contractions every six minutes...i didnt feel them so it must have been back contractions, doc said that was good. well the laboring doc talked to my doc and she came back and asked if i wanted to be a mommy today!! i was so excited!! I know my OB doc told her that my sister was leaving and my family was in the states and i really wanted my sis to witness it so the labor doc kept me! i was admitted at 4 pm with early early signs of labor. They broke my water at 530 pm and my contractions started to pick up a bit but not fast enough so i got pitocin @ 730 to speed things up....When i was contracting on my own i was ok, got through them fine when i got the pitocin i thought i was going to lose it. Pitocin is no joke, it made them come faster and so much harder. I probably could have gotten thorough it without the epideral but it seemed like the nurse knew i needed to get the epideral then or it would be too late. So i got it at 930pm, everything went numb! i felt nothing, and it was weird. The only reason i got it was because i didnt know if it was going to get worse and i didnt want to miss out on it and be in terrible pain and regret not gettign it. well i was happy as ever after getting it, i was only dilated to a good 6 cm and i asked the doc around how long until my son was born, she said the earliest was midnight and that was pretty much immpossible because i wasnt dilating that fast and it was my first baby. well at 1115 pm, the doc came in to check me, so my sister and 2 friends left to go get something out of the vending machines and was going to come right back. well as soon as the doc lifted up my gown she said oh my God, and told the nurse it was time!!! The doc told the nurse to run and get my sister if not they would miss the birth! I was in shock, i didnt feel like it was time and i didnt feel like i needed to push but he was already crowning! so the nurse RAN and got my sister in just the right time. I pushed for 10 minutes, that's all, and i felt NOTHING!! I couldnt tell if i was pushing or not so they got the mirror and that helped me learn the muscles to use. I was so nervous thoroughout the actual pushing, all i could think was oh my goodness i'm about to be a mom. I couldnt feel him coming out and i kept giggling because of the nervousness. My friends and sister could not believe i was laughing, but i couldnt stop. well when i finally got to hold him i was so in shock, he was crying but so sweet! He is prefect! the motherly instincts didnt kick in at first but the did later that night. I was just in shock that i didnt know what to do, i didnt have time to prepare for anything so it hit me fast. Total labor time from early labor to delivery was about 7- 7 1/2 hours and that was my first baby!! The lord really looked after me! i still cant believe how easy it was for me, no pain and i still gained!! About the father, my sister called him and told him that i was admitted and in labor and gave him the # to the hospital...well the wrong #! so i had my mom call and give him the real one. he called at like 1200am and didnt know i delivered yet (he's still in th states). i thought my mom told him i delivered and he was calling to ask about our son but he was calling to see how things were going with the labor. I told him that our son was beautiful and he said what, he's here already?!! i was like oops, i thought he knew and it totally caught him off guard. he started crying on the phone and was really shaken up. He's called every day since the birth. He's been keeping in touch more the last month (see my previous post on above for full story) but has called everyday. i sent him pics and he said he looks at them every day. we'll see if he keeps this up but right now he's trying so i cant ask for more. But over all everything is going well. he lets me sleep, eats every 3 hours and only fusses when he's hungry. he's very alert and have i said he's perfect?!?! WEll let me know how you're doing and i hope all is well with both of you!! so for the lengthy post and sorry for the rambling! I always ramble!

Awwwww congrats d, I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with your labor. I'm 2 days shy of my due date. I'm extreamely anxious and can't wait to see my baby!!!! But, everyone keeps telling me I'm probably going to be late :( ahh well, I'll be sure to come back here and letcha all know how my labor went and what I had. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

d that's soooo awesome!!!! seee?? wasn't all the c___p we went through WORTH IT!!?!? These babies really are the loves of our lives. I know my baby girl keeps getting cuter every day! She smiles a LOT!!! I just love her soooo much! She's more than 7 weeks old now I can't believe it! Well, congratulations d and I'm so glad it went so well for you!!! ~S~ It's september so I'm pretty sure you had your baby by now. I hope everything went well for you!! Let us know as soon as possible! :)