A Birth

I'm not sure what is meant by nature childbirth, except when is compared to a cesarean. I delivered vaginally, although I did get an epidural. Here is my story. It was Monday, a three day weekend. This was our first child and when I had contractions I didn't know just how bad they should be before going to the hospital. I mean they felt pretty bad to me. We got to the hospital about 1:30, they had us walk for 2 hours, a waste of time. We left about 6:45 that evening to go home. I had a doctors appointment the next morning at 7:30. I was three cm, I was told I'd probably have the baby that afternoon or evening, I was already three days overdue. We went home. The contractions started getting really bad that afternoon but the hospital said not to come in just yet because there were no beds available. Finally about 6:45, ironically the same time we'd left the night before, we arrived at the hospital. I am always amazed when I see very pregnant women on TV just walking no problem into the hospital. I could barely walk, I was huge. At this point I was 5 cm. A pitocin drip was started, (maybe that was later) . The pain was bad, I had to stand next to my bed, because lying down made the contractions worse. My water broke on its own about 7:45, just an incredible gush, tons of water. I didn't care. Two days earlier, we had been at a restaurant eating breakfast, in the ladies room someone asked me wasn't I afraid to be out. At the time I didn't really understand what she'd meant, but after seeing all that water, now I know. Thank goodness it happened at the hospital and not at the restaurant. I got an epidural around 9:30, also a very painful thing but worth it. I could still feel the contractions, but just barely, At 1:00 a.m., the nurse came in and said I could start pushing, I had been just lying there. I pushed for 2 hours straight and felt everything, so I consider mine to have been a very natural childbirth. The baby was coming out face up and had the cord wrapped around its ankle. Of course nobody told me any of that until afterwards. Never in my life have I felt such pain, I swear the people in the next county heard my screams. :-) I got though it and had a beautiful healthy baby boy, 8 Ibs, 9 oz, 21 ½ inches long. He just turned one on 27 May 99, he has a great personality and is very lovable. We are trying for number two, no success yet, We just started. Hopefully I'll get pregnant soon and they will be 2 years apart. Next time I'll skip the pitocin and the epidural. Bye!