Labor and delivery curiosity!

[anyakitty.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have always been SO curious about the nitty gritty details of labor and delivery. I am fascinated by those shows that come on TLC sometimes depicting natural and home births. I don't ever plan on having children but I just simply must know:

1. Is it really as bad as it is in the movies? Do people really scream/go crazy from the pain? Can you compare contractions to menstrual cramps to give me an idea of how much worse they are?

2. This is the big one... do a lot of women tear? How does THAT feel? Do they stitch you up or do you have to just let it heal or does it just simply depend?

3. After you give birth vaginally, is your vagina really never the same ever again? Is this only a physical, inside thing but also a visual, outside thing?

Please, don't spare me any details, I want it all no matter how questionable. It's either this or asking my boyfriend's sister who is pregnant for the second time and I'd rather not, haha. Thanks in advance!

Comments

[kacieka.livejournal.com]

1. The pain was incredible. You don't... really.. notice a whole lot that's going on around you, you're so busy with trying to make it stop. I was planning on doing it all natural, but once labor hit... I decided to screw natural (no pun intended) and get anything I could get my hands on. I went into labor (actually WALKED myself into labor) October 30th, 2007 around 5pm. That day, I MADE myself get out of bed to get some fresh air. During the last week or so, I slept nearly 24/7 and had to force myself to get up to pee and eat. So.. after doing that for a week or two, I got myself ready and walked around on my parents 5 acre property. Needless to say, it wore me out. I went back to bed to take a nap. I was attempting to roll myself over to get comfortable, and wham... my water broke. The first thought in my head was... "Oh crap.. tell me my bladder is not THAT small. I did NOT just pee myself." and then realized my water broke. So much for that nap, huh? LOL. I eventually got some.. well hell, some pain medication through the IV... i can't think of the name. It helped for maybe 30 mins, if that. I was so loopy, I kept telling the nurses I wanted cheese, because I hadn't had anything but a cheeseburger to eat the day my water broke. Got it on camera too! So now my daughter can see me telling everyone I want cheese when she gets older, heh. Well... the IV meds didn't work too long. They also had to put some sort of medication in my IV to stabalize my contractions, they were pretty far apart and being really funky. I eventually got an epidural. Heaven. Couldn't feel a damn thing. Labor was really, really easy after that. Also... I had forgotten that I have a crooked back (a small form of scolosis i think) and my OB didn't know.. so... the needle they used for the epidural hurt more than it should have. The guy poked me in my back 6-7 times trying to find the right spot. I ended up screaming, "Son of a BITCH! Mother FUC...." and trailing off, realizing I was cussing in a Catholic hospital. Oops. I guess the most embarssing thing for me (I was lucky enough to have pooped and showered earlier in the day, for fear that I would poop during labor) was that I let out a giant, giant fart while my daughter was coming out. Not a little one. One of those long, lengthy, oh my god I farted.. type farts. No biggie though, I blame it on the epidural and not being able to feel anything haha.

2. I think its pretty common for women to tear, luckily I didn't. My OB was trying to get my daughter out, and two other nurses/aids or whatever was sort of holding my vagina lips to prevent tearing, if i can remember correctly.

3. My vagina was still pretty much the same afterwards. Besides being really, really sore... it was fine. I didn't notice anything unusual after it healed and I got over the soreness. I was more concerned with my back hurting for 3-4 months afterwards because of the epidural and my crooked back. :(