When i got hooked up to the monitor i was having contractions every 2--3 minutes.

After about an hour or two i was having them EVERY minute.They had to give me a shot to slow down the contractions and about 3 hours later, they gave me this gel, that was supposed to soften my cervix. Then they broke my water, and about 10 hours later i was having contractions about every minute for 5 hours. Got an epidural, then 5 hours later i had an emergency c-section.

And now i have a 6 day old little boy. And he's perfect.

So, we're thinking "ok, great - our daughter will be born on Dec. 29."  Wrong!!  What they didn't tell us was that my wife wasn't at all dilated, and in those cases induction can take a few days.  She had no sign of contractions when we checked in on the 29th.

So, there I was sitting in the hospital with her like a moron thinking she was going to have the baby any time now.  I didn't want to leave because I didn't want to miss the big moment, and my wife needed my company and support anyway.  She ended up having the baby by C-section at 4 AM on New Years Day.  I spent most of that time in the hospital with her, getting very little if any sleep (it's tough to sleep in a chair when you have doctors and nurses barging in every 10 minutes).  By the time our daughter was born, I was going on my 3rd full day without sleep.  My wife wasn't able to do much to care for the baby because she had just had major abdominal surgery (C-section), so I had to do almost everything.  No big deal - I love caring for our daugher and always have - but doing it on no sleep is a different story.  We both would have been far better off if I went home and got a few hours of sleep in the evenings instead of hanging around the hospital.  It was a very rough first night for all of us.

The moral of the story:  First of all, ask questions! You can never anticipate exactly what's going to happen when it comes to giving birth, but the more your doctors can explain to you ahead of time, the better off you'll be.

Second of all, giving birth is all about mother and baby (and rightfully so), but keep in mind that there's a father involved too, or if f not the father than hopefully some other birth coach, partner, parent, friend, etc. Once the baby comes, you need that person to be well rested enough to help you out. You will need all of the help you can get, especially if you have a C-section. Make sure this person has an opportunity to rest and get plenty of sleep before the birth, because he probably won't once the baby comes.

Post edited at 1:01 pm on Nov. 18, 2008 by RunninRef