***baby vibes***
I lost my mucous plug three weeks before Aurelia finally showed up. Hopefully your baby should get here sooner than that since it's only 2 weeks to the due date!
Sparks is right. Everybody told me how horrible labor is and I was scared to death. Then my friend Laura poo-pooed them all. She had both of her children at home with a midwife, natural. She says, and I found this to be true, that it
really hurts,
but your body will not give you more pain than you can handle. It hurts, but at the same time it feels just really really neat to be pushing a little person out of your body. I could feel Aurelia's face as she was being born, it was really weird but neat lol. Don't feel too scared, and enjoy it as much as you can.
Of course, if they give you pitocin, then your body isn't in control of the contractions and their intensity any more, so that rule about no more pain than you can handle goes out the window. In that case feel free to use as many drugs as you want.
A lady at my work has two children, one natural and one with the epidural. She said the epidural helped a little during the contractions, did nothing while she was pushing, and the spot on her back where they put it in hurt like the dickens for weeks after her baby was born. On the other hand, without the epidural she said the contractions were a little more intense, but plenty bearable. Pushing out was about the same, and after a few days she felt fine and had no back pain from an epidural site. So she recommends no epidural. I went natural, and Aurelia was 9 lbs.
A couple more pieces of advice:
When they say to rest when labor starts, DO IT. I felt like cleaning the house which everybody said would happen, and so I cleaned the house. Big mistake. You really will need every bit of energy to push that baby out. I think things would have gone a bit smoother if I had rested instead.
When you are pushing, all you have to do is get the baby's head and shoulders out. A lot of pressure while that is happening, but once they are through, the rest of the baby follows very fast.
You can do it! It's going to go great. We can't wait to see pics of the baby.
