Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a little Labor Day fun, so I thought I would join in.  Be sure to leave your own answers in the comments and check out everyone else’s fun memories.

How long were your labors?

#1, 24 hours
#2, 12 hours
#3, 12 hours

 How did you know you were in labor? 

All three, very steady contractions,  all the mess that comes with that.  My water broke with #3. It wasn’t all exciting like in the movies…it was just a HUGE mess. Every contraction brought a new gush of fluid; by the time we made the half hour drive to the hospital I was soaked from the waist down. I soaked the entire triage bed before the nurse finally agreed to admit me.

Where did you deliver?

Same hospital with all three.  Same room with the first two.

Drugs?

Yes. Epidurals with all three.  A friend who’s soon to deliver told me the other day she “thanks God” for the epidural.  If asked after #1 and #2 I would have agreed. 

But #3 didn’t go so well.  It worked for about five minutes, then didn’t do anything but make my blood pressure drop way too low.  So I was forced to lay flat on my back and deal with all those contractions while I was pumped full of something to fix the bp problem. 

After that was okay, the anesthesiologist asked “Would you like me to try again or do you just wanna go without?”  I’ve never thought anyone was more insane.  OF COURSE I wanted him to try again.  The second time he just did a spinal block which worked fine, but didn’t block all of the feeling once baby moved down.  This of course made me panic, but in the end it was perfect because I got to FEEL the baby come out, but without any pain:)

C-section?

None.  I’m always thankful I didn’t get pushed into one with #1, since the labor was SO long.

Who delivered?

The same OB with #1 and #3, the other OB in the practice with #2.  Loved them both.  They kind of get put in a heroic postion…they’re the ones who start the ball rolling when I say I want drugs, and theyr’e the ones who hand me my baby.  How could you not love them?
The best was #3.  Doctor walks in and says, “Just push once so we can see how close you are.”  That push brought Miss I’s head right out…one more push and she was here! That definitely beat the other two and their hours of pushing.

Happy Labor Day!