…from a reader

I became pregnant my senior year in high school and was induced before I graduated. When I went in to have my son, I did not once regret my decision to have my baby.

I went in for a scheduled inducement at 6:00 am on March 5th, 2007, which was two weeks before my scheduled due date. I wanted to have a natural birth instead of a cesarean because my baby was still small enough to go that way.

I honestly believe that if I had waited two more weeks, then I would have been forced to have a cesarean. I wish that the nurses would have given me some more information on what I should and should not have done before going in. I waived getting an epidural, as I do not like the thought of having a needle anywhere near my spine.

Everything went well for a while. The Demerol made me go in and out of consciousness for a bit until my contractions became really close together. When they first put the drug into my system that told me that it would make me throw up. I sorta laughed it off, but of course, I threw up.

The nurses neglected to tell me that eating before an inducement would be a bad idea, so everything I ate came right back.

One of my few comforts during the birth was a stuffed frog that my best friend gave me during my labor. I held onto it the entire time.

My boyfriend at the time was little help to me. He sat in a corner the whole time because I cursed at him during labor.

My mother was terribly annoying. She was in my ear the whole time telling me to push. My son took about 11 hours to be born, but I have heard that 11 hours is not too bad for a first child.

I had a little trouble giving birth to him. I am a small woman and my son wasn’t big, but big enough that they had to use some type of plunger to help me get him out. I was terrified when he finally did come out though, because the plunger had made his head into a cone-shaped.

I remember crying and screaming, “What is wrong with my baby!”. The nurses and doctor calmed me down and told me that his head would regain its normal shape.

I was so exhausted. Just after they handed my beautiful baby to me, all my friends came into the birthing room. I was delighted to tears to see so many of them there. One friend even gave me a beautiful poem that she wrote on heavy paper in calligraphy.

I have no regrets from giving birth to my son at such a young age. The greatest joy of my life was getting to hold my new born son, and knowing that I helped to create him.

…from a reader

My daughter was born six weeks prematurely. My due date was January 29th, but at 4:30 am on December 14th my water broke!

After being admitted into the hospital, our doctor and the N-ICU nurses came to talk with us. They told us anything and everything that could happen with a premature birth. As soon as they left the room, I just cried and cried. I was so worried for my daughter.

I was only 33 weeks pregnant, but they were hoping I would get to at least 34 weeks so Makenzie would have better odds of being healthy. I was on bed rest in the hospital for four days before i went into natural labor.

The stay was so long and dreadful. I was constantly being poked by needles for blood tests every 3 hours to make sure I wasn’t getting an infection that would put my daughter at risk. Because of having an I.V. in me 24/7 my body swelled up to the point where it couldn’t possibly swell anymore. So, with my swollen limbs, it took about 3+ pokes to find a vein EACH time I had to get blood taken. I had so many bruises on my arms and hands, it was ridiculous!

On the fourth day, just a day short of 34 weeks I went into labor. I had wanted to do a natural birth without any pain medication, but by this day my body was done! I had spent four miserable days in the hospital, and had gotten a total of about 5-6 hours of sleep the whole time. My body was exhausted, and I couldn’t handle it.

Getting the Epidural was such a relief! My beautiful daughter was born December 17th at 3:17 and was 5lbs 2oz and 17.5 inches long!!! She was as healthy as can be, and I was so in love!

She spent 11 days in the N-ICU because it was mandatory for her to gain the weight back that she lost the first week. But other than that, she didn’t have any issues.

It was so incredibly hard leaving the hospital without her. People who haven’t gone through it, don’t have the slightest clue of how painful it is. We had to visit our baby on Christmas at the hospital, we didn’t have her home with us.

When I think about how it all happened, I wish it wasn’t the way it was. I feel sad that I didn’t have a good birthing experience. However, I am so thankful that my daughter is healthy! I know everything happens for a reason, but I just hope that with our second child – the experience will be better!

…from a reader

There were two things I was sure of when I got pregnant. I was going to breastfeed my son and have a natural birth. Unfortunately, only one of these came to fruition, and it was not the way my son came into this world.

I was student teaching when I was pregnant and my boyfriend was working two jobs, so I didn’t exactly prepare for childbirth. I wanted to take the classes, but between time constraints and the fact that they cost around a hundred dollars, we never went through with it.

My boyfriend and I were avid readers of pregnancy and childbirth books, and the decision to go natural was easy; it was the best for my baby. Fortunately, I was able to realize that I couldn’t be stubborn with this.

As my due date approached, I discussed this with my doctor and we decided to go forward with my birth plan, but also be flexible. I went into the hospital early Monday morning, four days before my due date, with intense pain. I was timing my contractions and I felt I should go in. As soon as they hooked me up to the monitors the contractions stopped.

I saw my doctor that day and because of my pain we decided that if I didn’t go in before 7am on Tuesday that he would meet me there and induce me. After about 48 hours of pain, I thought this sounded like a deal.

As it turned out from 1 am until 4 am I timed the contractions and tried to face the pain at home. I figured there would be less temptation to get any drugs if I couldn’t get them. So eventually I was barely able to move during the contractions, so I decided to go to the hospital. I was in labor and contracting, but not dilating.

They hooked me up to Pitocin to speed up the process. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. At the time, I was just ready to have the baby. My pain got so severe that my blood pressure was skyrocketing every time I had a contraction.

Around 7 am I decided to take the epidural. Until my doctor came in and broke my water, I was feeling good. Then the pain returned. I started to feel like I should push, but was never told to. When I asked, the nurse said that I could push “a little”. I wasn’t sure what that meant. So I started to kind of push, but not intensely, to see what would happen.

Soon my doctor came back with news I didn’t want to hear, but was ready to hear: I was going to have a C-Section.

Knowing my son hadn’t dropped, and that a C-Section was a possibility, I figured that fifteen hours of pain, after starting to time at home, I was ready to finally have this baby. I was pumped with drugs that I welcomed with a smile on my face at this point. The pain was unbearable at this point.

One of my favorite memories of my operation was my boyfriend saying, “We, I see your uterus”. Talk about an intimate bonding experience.

My son was born a healthy 8 lbs 9 oz. He hadn’t dropped because the cord was around his neck and as he was being taking out of me, decided to poop. It was a good thing the doctor made the call to go with a C-Section.

The best pictures of me were on the operating table. I assume because of my lack of understanding that I had been cut open thanks to the drugs, and having my beautiful boy in front of my eyes. I was able to breastfeed almost immediately, which is something I found out afterwards can be a problem for women who had a C-Section.

The worst part was the day after, getting out of my bed in order to eat. The pain from surgery was horrible, and a reason why I want to try a VBAC the next time around. I would like to try again for the natural birth. I would also like to check out a birthing center, especially now that I know what to expect, but would have to look into the VBAC allowances.

I really have no regrets. The ends justify the means. The doctor and I did what we had to and it resulted in the birth of a wonderful little boy.

…from a reader

I had a hospital birth, natural vaginal delivery for my son. I work in the medical field, so before I got pregnant and through most of my pregnancy, I assumed that a hospital birth with all the drugs available to mankind was the only way to go.

Then really late in my third trimester, I watched Ricki Lake’s documentary, “The Business of Being Born” – which made me question my assumptions about giving birth. Although I live in the SF Bay Area, I am not one of those crunchy granola women. I did do my best to avoid caffeine and artificial sweeteners during pregnancy, didn’t take any medications, and gave up my glass of wine with dinner.

If I had been so cautious about what went into my body during pregnancy, why would I suddenly give up all control when I was about to give birth? Although a home birth was not a consideration for me personally, I debated having a completely natural delivery, and didn’t make up my mind until after I got to the hospital, settled into the birthing suite, and talked to the anesthesiologist.

I was feeling pretty good about things, until about 5 hours into my contractions and the nurses had turned up the pitocin. I was no martyr; I wanted the epidural. Modern medicine is magical, and the rest of my labor was very comfortable.

About four hours later, my little guy was pushed into the world. I was a little surprised at how quickly I was kicked out of the birthing suite to be wheeled to a regular shared room. I was also shocked at how soon the hospital staff tried to separate me from my minutes-old baby; the only reason I got to keep holding him on the ride down was because he was nursing. And even after that, he was whisked away to the nursery for his “bath”; something odd happened that wasn’t really explained to me, and I didn’t get him back into my arms for nearly 4 hours.

Otherwise, it was a very happy experience. My doctors and nurses were all fabulous – kind, helpful, and patient. I would not change a thing.

…from a reader

It was a rainy dark morning, and I was up at 4:30 am getting my hubby ready for work. I was also 9 months pregnant and ready to pop. At my last check up however, the doctor told me I had about a week or so left to go before our beautiful daughter would be brought into the world.

Anyway, it was raining and I was horribly tired and ready to go back to bed. I kissed my husband goodbye, called my Mom to tell her to drive safe to work later that day in the pouring rain and laid down with the dog to get some much needed rest.

My head no more than hit the pillow when the flood gates open, I was soaked! My water had broke! Oh No! This was pre-cell phone era an my husband had a 45 minute drive to work. I waddled the best I could to the living room to call my Mom back, but just as I reached the hallway a clap of thunder roared and the power went out!

I was standing blindly in my hallway searching for the phone to call my Mom! Running my hands up and down the counters looking for my cordless phone I found everything but. Finally I found the phone, hit redial and my Mom answered the phone! Thank God! I told her I was in labor and she said she was on her way.

As I waited I tried to remain calm, but this was my first child and I had no clue what to expect in all reality. Classes are nice, and fun but in no way did I feel prepared to bring a child into this world in the dark all alone while the storm raged on outside! What is a normal 15 minute car drive took my Mom over an hour to get to me as most roads by our home which is down a dirt road were flooded, mud filled and she just couldn’t get down them!

Finally she arrived, loaded me and the luggage I had time to pack while waiting into her car and we were on our way. Once we arrived at the hospital, all seemed to be back under control. My Mom checked me in while the nurses whisked me away in a wheelchair!

After things calmed down, they had me breathing and my Mom was coaching me things seemed to be going well. About 2 hours of what I like to simply refer to as pain they said I was ready to go, and my baby girl was ready to welcome the world. I all of a sudden let out a scream “Where in the heck is my husband!?”

Shouldn’t he be here by now? I knew the roads were bad, but this had been literally hours! My Mom asked me what time I called and notified him…that’s when I realized, I had not called and told him. He was at work thinking I was at home sleeping and had no clue I was ready to bring our daughter into this world!

My Mom hurried to the lobby payphone called my husband and he was on his way. He did make it in time to see our beauty being born, but he literally only made it with 8 minutes to spare! Whew!

To this day he still tells people I wanted all the credit and was a tough cookie and thought I could do it all myself! It surely was a rainy, dark, and odd day. We named our Daughter Neveah (Heaven spelled backwards) Rayne (rain). No pun intended.