gosh i have so much to say and it's all going to be scattered since im going to comment about totally separate parts as i read them - so here we go!
i love how you voiced your coming to terms with the impending labor. women give birth in trees in crisis situations so i think a bottle of recharge could fall through the cracks unnoticed in the long run ;) that "surrender" to the situation kept me cool and calm long after i thought i'd feel overwhelmed.
my waters broke in the tub during a contraction and honestly it felt like someone snapping a towel at me under water - strange but true. like really noiseless but definitely some SNAP happened. i yelled out WHAT WAS THAT!! or something and my midwife said it was probably my waters. i felt so silly not knowing!
the way you described your heightened senses is dead on with my experience too!! i sat in front of that stupid window staring at the rain and wind until it was pitch black outside and eventually we had to close to curtains. i was in some serious zen!
i clearly remember walking down the stairs and proclaiming to the room (maggie, david, + kathy) "from this point on, no more pants!!" so funny.
i felt very lucid my entire labor. very aware and involved, even conversational + lightly laughing between contractions until very close to the end. maggie + david were fantastic at keeping the mood light and humorous but not TOO humorous. i think i couldnt have been as "awake" had i been in the hospital - in fact i know i couldn't have been because i wasnt at all that way with augustines birth. i was present but felt much more like a device or part of a systematic process rather than an active, live, joyful participant.
nothing, and i mean NOTHING prepares a woman for the physical trial of natural birth. it is leaps and bounds beyond pain i have known in any other way, but oh it's so worth it. and oh i felt so empowered! you have such a level head and the "just one day" comment is just how i tried to focus myself when i felt that energy that might split me in two. i wish i were a creative/artistic person - i could paint a Sistine chapel of labor, pain, and victory.
at one point in labor david was standing outside the tub (me, in) and i hung around his neck and pushed a few. oh my gosh the man was shaking and shaking and shaking and in hindsight i couldnt believe he could hold me up! he said it was the heaviest thing he's ever had to bear - not just dead weight, but STRAINING dead weight. ugh the poor man.
pushing out the placenta is like running a triathlon and then being asked to run down the street for a gallon of milk. oh God has a funny sense of humor.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-11-22 02:26 am (UTC)i love how you voiced your coming to terms with the impending labor. women give birth in trees in crisis situations so i think a bottle of recharge could fall through the cracks unnoticed in the long run ;) that "surrender" to the situation kept me cool and calm long after i thought i'd feel overwhelmed.
my waters broke in the tub during a contraction and honestly it felt like someone snapping a towel at me under water - strange but true. like really noiseless but definitely some SNAP happened. i yelled out WHAT WAS THAT!! or something and my midwife said it was probably my waters. i felt so silly not knowing!
the way you described your heightened senses is dead on with my experience too!! i sat in front of that stupid window staring at the rain and wind until it was pitch black outside and eventually we had to close to curtains. i was in some serious zen!
i clearly remember walking down the stairs and proclaiming to the room (maggie, david, + kathy) "from this point on, no more pants!!" so funny.
i felt very lucid my entire labor. very aware and involved, even conversational + lightly laughing between contractions until very close to the end. maggie + david were fantastic at keeping the mood light and humorous but not TOO humorous. i think i couldnt have been as "awake" had i been in the hospital - in fact i know i couldn't have been because i wasnt at all that way with augustines birth. i was present but felt much more like a device or part of a systematic process rather than an active, live, joyful participant.
nothing, and i mean NOTHING prepares a woman for the physical trial of natural birth. it is leaps and bounds beyond pain i have known in any other way, but oh it's so worth it. and oh i felt so empowered! you have such a level head and the "just one day" comment is just how i tried to focus myself when i felt that energy that might split me in two. i wish i were a creative/artistic person - i could paint a Sistine chapel of labor, pain, and victory.
at one point in labor david was standing outside the tub (me, in) and i hung around his neck and pushed a few. oh my gosh the man was shaking and shaking and shaking and in hindsight i couldnt believe he could hold me up! he said it was the heaviest thing he's ever had to bear - not just dead weight, but STRAINING dead weight. ugh the poor man.
pushing out the placenta is like running a triathlon and then being asked to run down the street for a gallon of milk. oh God has a funny sense of humor.