Planning the “Perfect” Delivery
Did your child’s birth go the way you hoped it would?
The moment that I held my oldest daughter for the first time exceeded all of my expectations. I was overflowing with love for the tiny infant in my arms. It’s a good thing that I loved her so much, because my labor and delivery were not what I had hoped for, and I was left grumbling and feeling irritated for hours after she was born.
Image of my niece on her birth day, taken by her favorite Aunt Labor started pretty normally for my first. My water broke early the morning of my due date. I calmly called the doctor and headed to the hospital. I asked for an epidural shortly after I was checked into the hospital and settled into the bed while my husband napped. “You mean this isn’t normal?”
Not knowing much about labor and delivery routines, I didn’t realize that there should have been a nurse checking in on me regularly while I waited. When one finally came in, I mentioned to her that I could feel everything on my left side, and I was extra numb on my right. It was rather uncomfortable.
The nurse left to find the anesthesiologist, who came in to give me another dose of anesthesia. I would have felt much better had it not been for the fact that the drugs made me nauseous. He left and I tried to relax.
Shortly after the anesthesiologist left, a new nurse came on duty. She asked me how far along I was the last time the previous nurse had checked me. I told her that I had only been checked once – when I had been admitted to the hospital hours before.
With a shocked look on her face, the nurse said, “Well, let me check your progress.” To my surprise, she whipped away from me and started preparing for delivery. The baby’s head was already crowning. Apparently, I had received the anesthesia during transition. Recovery was horrible.
I won’t go into all of the details, but will say this: after my daughter was born, I swore I would do it differently the next time.
Planning the “perfect” delivery
With my next four deliveries, I prepared all pregnancy for a natural childbirth. I wanted to be in control. I planned out my perfect delivery. But each time, something unexpected happened that kept me from having the birth that I envisioned.
I was able to deliver my next four babies without an epidural (I didn’t want to go through that again!) but there was always something out of my control that held me back from that “perfect” birth experience. My doctor had a scheduled c-section so she didn’t want to speed things along before she was ready. The labor and delivery rooms were full so I had to labor elsewhere. Too much pitocin made me and the baby short on oxygen. Each labor took more hours, not fewer, as I was told it “should” be.
As I lay in the hospital bed holding my last baby, I was again overwhelmed with the joy of motherhood and the miracle that each of my children were.
Although I had been frustrated once again with another disappointing delivery, it hit me: I was not the one in charge. My body was delivering the baby, but I had only limited control over how the events played out. I could decide which hospital I attended. I could pick my doctor. I could pack my bags and decide what I was going to wear. I could chose who was in the delivery room with me.
In the end, it WAS perfect
But so much of the “other stuff” – those details that I was letting myself worry about – was completely unimportant. I was safe and my babies were healthy. How could I have asked for a more perfect delivery than that?
What about you? Did your child’s birth go the way you hoped it would?
Childbirth is such an incredible moment, and I’d love to know what went through your mind when you held your baby for the first time? By replying, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and a $50 donation in your name to Global Giving.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs October 17 to November 13, 2011. A random winner will be announced by November 15, 2011.