[blparent] About labor pains

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

I, too, experienced complications during labor, one of the many reasons
I needed a C-section. I went into labor exactly at 38 weeks. We had a
scheduled delivery the following week, but my body suddenly decided to
deliver a week ahead of schedule. For no real reason, I went into labor
and Declan was experiencing fetal distress, and I had just had a doctor
appointment two days before, and everything was good.

I also was not able to handle a vaginal delivery since he was a little
big. Eight pounds, 13 ounces and 22 inches long. There was concern about
his size and, shall we say, my size, so a C-section was opted for. Plus,
they didn't think Declan or I would handle a long labor. It was
considered safest to deliver via C-section. I had hoped to not need any
drugs, but obviously they're necessary for surgery. I don't think even I
can handle a surgical procedure without drugs, ha-ha.

Both my sisters handled vaginal deliverys just fine, and so did my mom,
but not with ease. My pregnancy was similar to my mom's. Neither of us
were very big to begin with, my mom being even smaller than me when she
had her children, and neither of us gained weight proportional to how
our tummy and chest grew. This caused some problems for both of us
during pregnancy. I have lost 40 pounds after delivering alone already.
I hear all the time how I don't look as though I had a baby, and during
pregnancy, right up til the end, I didn't look pregnant from behind,
though my tummy just kept growing farther and farther out, grin. Ross
said it looked like a torpedo coming out of me, LOL! My mom went through
this four times, and I don't know how she did it. Neither sister
experienced this problem. I also struggled with severe nausea during my
first trimester, and my first hospitalization was due to vomitting and
subsequent dehydration. Fortunately, once my second trimester came
around, the nausea stopped. Then a new batch of problems hit. I also had
my type 1 diabetes to contend with. Over-all, my diabetes was managed
pretty well, but I had a lot of fluctuation in glucose levels during
second trimester. I always hear how the second trimester is the best-
you feel great, have energy, but my second trimester was probably the
roughest. And why I never felt pain, well, not quite sure. I do have a
very high tolerance, but usually I'm not quite that impervious to pain.
And after C-section, at most, I just tire easy and feel a little weak at
times. I really should be studied, ha-ha!

So yeah, it's interesting how different it is for women. None of us have
the exact same experience, and really you can't base your pregnancy on
the experience of others.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 9
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 22:11:12 -0700
From: "Erin Rumer" <erinrumer at gmail.com>
To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] About labor pains
Message-ID: <002601cd9880$afdaa470$0f8fed50$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Wow Bridgett, that's amazing.  I don't know how you got through all that
without major labor pains other than to say that the good Lord blessed
you ten times over.  I think I speak for all of us when I say that we
all would do just about anything to experience that when delivering our
munchkins.

I had severe pain and I even have a high threshold for pain, but I also
had a lot of things going on during delivery as well by way of
complications. Thankfully, I was quite blessed on the other end with a
quick and low pain recovery from my C-section.  Every woman is different
and it's interesting how all of our bodies react differently during both
pregnancy and labor. Some of my friends talk about how they honestly
thought they might die while others said that it hurt but it wasn't
anything unbearable and it didn't last long.  I used to think that
everyone just handled a similar situation differently, but after having
a child myself I know that we all honestly have our own individual
experiences.

Erin