10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Delivery

Let me just say this: I wouldn’t change my daughter for anything in the whole wide world, and I would re-do my delivery 100 times over for her, but there are so many things that no one tells you before you deliver! I heard so many horror stories and so many “it’s not that bad!” stories, but no one every really broke it down for me. I went in that hospital as clueless as a man about delivering a baby.

[bctt tweet=”After an hour of painful contractions, I was begging for it. #deliverystories #momlife @nursetomom” username=”losethecape”]

Here are 10 Things that I wish I knew before the first delivery:

1. Bleeding is normal- This is the initial reason I went to the hospital, only to find out that this was totally normal! If I weren’t already dilated, they would have sent me home.

2. The pain- Not exactly what I expected. I mean I knew it would hurt, but this was a different kind of hurt. Like literally someone is inside of you trying to rip their way out. (Ha ha)

3. Epidurals – I didn’t expect to want an epidural so SOON. I thought I could be a hero, and make it almost all the way with no help. NOPE! After an hour of painful contractions, I was begging for it. So much for being tough! Holding still through contractions to have a giant needle shoved into my back was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done.

4. IVs hurt- I have started a few IVs in my lifetime and I get frustrated when people squirm, but ya know what? That crap HURTS! It also is super annoying for the next two days taped tightly to your hand while you are trying to wrangle and nurse a new baby without bending it. (However, they are very helpful when you need stronger pain meds because they think you broke your tailbone.)

5. Blood pressure cuff- ah, my old, unwanted friend. No one told me that you would be strapped to my left arm for the next 16 hours, pumping away, cutting my circulation off every 5 minutes making any movement difficult. This, coupled with the IV just made moving impossible! Not to mention, I have extremely low B/P normally, so I stressed out about it every time it had a reading.

6. Below-the-waist numbness- No one told me how numb I would be. I had been told multiple times how great epidurals were. That your legs will be numb but still movable, and you won’t feel a thing! No. My legs were no longer attached. I felt like I had peg legs, and they kept making me pick them up with my two unusable arms every time I pushed. They literally felt like giant pieces of meat that didn’t belong to me and weighed 300lbs a piece.

7. Exhaustion- I often ask my husband about things that happened during labor, because I was so exhausted I don’t remember. I didn’t sleep all night the night before, was up at 5am and admitted to the hospital at 8am. I didn’t give birth until 10:46. I don’t even remember anything afterward, I was so tired.

8. Out of body experience- The whole time during labor, I felt like I was watching myself from above, and thinking about the process now, I still feel like I didn’t really do that.

9. The overflow of emotions- I had no idea the way it was going to feel when they put your baby on your chest. I just cried and cried.

10. Love- I knew I was going to love this child, but I didn’t know how much. It’s seriously crazy the amount of love I have had for her since the moment I saw her. I still can’t believe how much I love her!