The Aftermath - Labour and Delivery Part 2

You (most often) can't complete a pregnancy without experiencing labour and delivery. I remember one of my first thoughts when I found out that I was pregnant was... "ugh, I don't want to do labour or delivery!" That thought and the fear that came along with it stuck with me throughout my pregnancy. I kept imagining worst case scenarios involving days of labour followed by an emergency c-section, my water breaking in public, and having to get an epidural. I was determined to do this naturally and without the use of drugs.

However, towards the end it became something that I was actually starting to look forward to. Call me crazy! I was excited to find out what labour felt like and I was really interested in the whole "pushing" thing, especially after a friend of mine told me that she loved pushing and that it felt really good for her.

Although, the thing that I failed to acknowledge was the aftermath. Every woman has a slightly different experience, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it'd be gross, but I didn't realize how sore I would be. I ended up puking every time I pushed due to the castor oil, so I wasn't keeping anything down. Add that to the fact that pushing ended up being terrible for me. I was exhausted, couldn't even hold myself up (thanks mommy), and really just wanted to sleep. I was severely dehydrated. The "ring of fire" held true to it's name, as well. I actually remember my midwife saying "come on Michelle, his head is almost out!" and I loudly replied "I can't, it hurts so fucking bad!" Which was the one and only time I raised my voice and swore!

I was in a complete haze when my son was born. I kept repeating "hi baby, hi baby!" There's a few photos of me smiling, but most of the time I look confused or completely out of it. Of course, I was bleeding out due to having quite a few second degree tears that my midwife couldn't stop, so I wound up in the OR. I actually had so many stitches that they didn't even bother keeping track. I have Tyrus' 37 cm head to thank for that! While in the recovery room my body went into shock. I was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't even breast feed my brand new baby. I'm not sure how long that went on for, but it was pretty scary. My mom actually looked at my midwife and asked her if I was going to be okay because I was so pale. I did get to drink plenty of water and gingerale, so that was pretty nice!

Anyways, it took me numerous weeks to feel normal "down there", but I didn't bleed for nearly as long as I thought I would. The first few days in the hospital were disgusting, to be honest. I took full advantage of the ice packs, had two of the best nurses, and used Arnica to help with the healing and bruising. It could have been worse, that's for sure, but it was still a very scary and overwhelming experience.