What they don't tell you about Birth

I've been meaning to mention this for some time, but it always seemed to soon.  I thought now I'll go ahead, and all the other Mommies can mention anything they have as well.

When I was in labor I had the drugs.  I had narcotics then the epidural.  Fine.  All went well.  I actually don't even know if that  affected what happened or not.  BUT....

Right around "pushing time"....I started to shake.  And I mean SHAKE, uncontrollably, my whole body andhead.  I had to strain my neck muscles and clench my teeth to keep my head from shaking.  It was horrible.
Finally when I went in to have the c-section, the anesthesiologist actually stood behind me and supported me head so it wouldn't shake.  Bless him.
It didn't stop until I was in recovery pumped full of morphine.

I have since found at least 3 other people who had the same thing happen, and each one of them agreed that this is not mentioned in any baby book, that the nurses seem totally unconcerned and don't even comment on it, and that it's scary.

So just so you preggy ladies out there know, if you start to shake, don't be scared!!!  It's normal!!!

That doesn't sound very normal to me!! This childbirth business sounds scarier by the day. Do you know what the drugs were? I want to ask my doctor about them because I definitely do NOT want to go through that. In fact I might just say no to all the drugs. My mum didn't have any and she survived ...

I don't think it's the drugs that causes it. I shook a lot right after giving birth both times and I had an epidural with my first but not with my youngest. I've had lots of friends tell me they shook too and some didn't have any kind of anesthesia at all. I was told it's just because your body is going through a type of shock and it's normal. It doesn't last long...just a few minutes.

I've never heard of that happening before. geez!

I just wish someone had told me that every intern in the hospital would be inspecting my dilation. Mostly young men... how embarrassing!

Ok, people, let's everybody just calm down.    Let's not scare the pregnant people.  I had the shakey thing-but I honestly can't remember which pregnancy it was-number 2 or 3 I think.  I  also threw-up with labour 2 and 3 and just barely missed the baby.  It's not a barrel of laughs but it is something you can get through.  I had gas and air with number two and pethidine(sp) with 1 and 3.  My third labour was definately the worst but I still felt like I could handle it.  Don't try to worry about it too much.  

I also threw-up with labour 2 and 3

Same for me in labour 2, but I had an epidural, so I put it down to that.  No shakes in either labour.

pethidine(sp) with 1 and 3.

I had Pethidine during 1 and to tell you the truth it didn't really do much for the the pain.  I was high as a kite between contractions, but when the contractions hit, it definitely brought me back to ground.

As a side note for the US ladies, in the UK it's called Pethidine.  In the US, the brand name is Demerol and generic Meperidine.

Oh goodness.  I wasn't trying to scare anyone!

I was only trying to let you all know, so that if it happened to you you *wouldn't* be scared, because I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago and she said that when it happened to her she would have been terrified except that she knew it happened to me too.

That's all, I'm really sorry if I did scare you.

Labor wasn't that bad at all, I swear it wasn't.

Well, I'm not any more scared than I was months and months ago - - - so no problems here with me! I know labor isn't going to be all champagne and strawberries, so theres no point in me pretending it's going to be!

I was looking through my pregnancy book last night (the Kaz Cooke one) and in it she mentioned the shakes and the vomiting... she didn't have either (she did end up having a c-section though) but said a lot of her friends did. It wasn't a big deal, but like you said SAF, it was just something no one had mentioned and so they thought they were just the weird ones! It's no surprise that a body would do things like that when going through the shock of labor really... and well, my million-week-long bout with morning sickness has taught me to not really care who I puke in front of. As long as I get a baby out of it in the end, I think I'll be able to manage it.

*puts on her optimistic hat*

As a side note for the US ladies, in the UK it's called Pethidine.  In the US, the brand name is Demerol and generic Meperidine.

Thank you Catlinn!!! I keep telling my mom that if I don't have an epidural they still give me pethidine, but I never knew what the US equivalent was so my point didn't really come across! The only other person here that I know that's given birth recently said the same thing about the pethidine.... and the gas & air for that matter... that she felt high and fine betwenn contractions, but it didn't really do anything for the actual pain.

You're certainly welcome, Marlespo.  Before my second delivery, I was quite keen to look into the options for pain relief, so I wanted to know what this Pethidine stuff was and how it compared to the Demerol that I had in the US.  A little hunting around on the net and I found my answer.

I know there are many ladies that are very much in favour of a fully natural birth, but after going through it the first time with Demerol and knowing it had no effect on the pain, I wanted something during the second round that would put *me* in control, rather than the pain.

With the epidural, I didn't feel high, I didn't feel sleepy.  I felt very much in control and able to handle labour, whereas the first time it was merely a haze of pain and confusion.  The only drawback was the fact that I lost the use of my legs during labour and for about 4 hours after the returning to the ward.  If available, I would definitely look into a walking epidural, rather than the traditional one.

I didn't know there were different kinds of epidurals.... the main reason I've been thinking of not having one is because I didn't want to lose the use of my legs for so long... I haven't had my pain relief meeting with my midwife yet, I'll have to ask her if that's available to me here...

Hey, Marlsepo, didn't you say you are going to use The Rosie in Cambridge?  If so, have a look at this.  Look for What are the disadvantages of an epidural?, the third bullet.  You might be in luck.

I can't believe it hasn't occurred to me yet to go to the Rosie's website!
*smacks forehead*
THanks Caitlinn! That mobile epidural sounds like the ticket for me, assuming I have enough time that is, our family history is chock full of really fast births and labors... but I'll definitely let my midwife know I'm up for one of the mobile epidurals if I'm a candidate at the time..

I had the epidural as well (no shakes, no vomiting) but my right leg went so numb I could not move it on my own lol I had to have Glenn lift it and move it for me when I kept moving about. Speaking of moving about the one thing that bugged me was when they went to put the internal monitors on me (cuz i could not be still for the tummy ones) the intern pinched me with it and I told him so and he tried to argue with me about it. I was like come on it is my body I know what is me and what is not lol.

The only problem I had with the epidural was that my water had broken and when I sat on the edge of the bed to get it, baby water *poured* out of me all over the floor.  

Other than that I loved it, I was so happy with it.