I'm glad most of the readers of this forum have already had children. I try not to tell my L&D stories to people who have not had children yet.
I was in labor with DD8 for almost 2 days. I had to have my cervix softened then had pitocin. Since I was not allowed any food or water for 2 days I was dehydrated and suffered from low blood sugar (I am hypoglycemic). I about came out of the bed when the nurse tried to put an IV in my dehydrated veins. Also, dd never dropped. I had to push her all the way. Fortunately, I only had to push for about 45 minutes to actually deliver. The doctor barely made it upstairs in time to catch the baby. Ironically, since I had an epidural from the beginning I never felt a full-blown contraction. Because I had such a long and difficult delivery, I had a slow and miserable recovery with some mild PPD.
An unexpected drawback to having a long labor is that I kept having visitors. I finally told my husband not to let anyone in. I was too miserable to be polite to people. With my second child I did not even tell anyone I went to the hospital until after I delivered.
My second dd was breach and we had my nice c-section scheduled. The day before my c-section I went in for my final check-up and my dd had turned. She is always full of surprises. The doctor was happy that I would be able to have a V delivery ... I just cried.
When I went into labor a few days later the nurses kept telling me that the second one was always easier. They were right. I was only in labor for about 20 hours and I recovered much faster. I did take time to have a good meal before going to the hospital the second time, which helped immensely. Although I did experience some full-blown contractions with my second, I didn't have to suffer through too many before the epidural came to the rescue. I admire those of you who could do it without drugs. I have too much aversion to pain.
