workingmom I am lucky to be married for 8 years to my high school sweetheart. We had our first child in Nov. 2007 and are expecting #2 in July 2009. My husband and I both work full time for large companies and are hoping to someday own our own business so we don't have to do that anymore. View all articles | Contact author

I had my first Child at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL.  I had such a great experience all the way around.  As 1^st time parents my husband and I took all of the classes that the hospitals had to offer.  We took Lamaze, bringing home baby, nursing; you name it we took it.  We really did learn a lot even though we had both been around children all of our life.  Most of our friends had children before us and we have older siblings who did too, but this was different - it was our child.  We couldn't give her back if she was crying; I was the one going through the labor, etc.  I am so glad that we took the classes; I would recommend these types of classes to everyone.

My husband and I decided that our 1^st time around we wanted this to be just between the two of us, no one else in the room, except for the doctor's and nurses of course.  I was determined that I was not going to get an epidural.  I took Lamaze, I was going to do this, and I knew I could!

Well let me take you back to my last trimester.  I started having contractions month 7.  Everyone thought they were Braxton hick's contractions, but there weren't.  I went to the hospital 3 times and was given a shot to stop the contractions and put on medicine to stop them after they continued on.  I was told that I was not drinking enough water; I drank water until I am pretty sure it was coming out as I was drinking it.  I sent ¾ of my day in the rest room because I had been drinking so much water.  Either way, I did what they said and kept drinking water, still having the contractions.  I would not say that I had a bad pregnancy by any means.  I really enjoyed being pregnant, even with the contractions, which by the way would be 3-5 minutes apart even at 7 months pregnant.  I was nervous, but did everything the doctors said and ended up being late.  I knew they gave me too much medicine to stop the contractions!  LOL.

I went in to be induced on a Monday at 6:30 am.  I was in my room by 7:00 am and they broke my water and started the poticine at 9:00.  Well breaking your water starts your contractions, and since I had been having them for 3 months anyway, I really wasn't sure why they started the poticin at the same time, I guess to get things rolling.  Well, rolling they were.  By 9:30 I was having 4 minute long contractions, with no break.  It was then that I decided that there was no way I could do this with out the epidural.  So we had the nurse call for the epidural.  I have the epidural by 10:00 and was good to go after that.  I reached 10 cm and was fully effaced by 2:00, but the nurse did not want me to push, I think it was because the doctor was still at her office, but she said that she was just going to have me "labor down" for a little while.  So I took a nap and let my body do the work.  At 5:00 the nurse told me that if I wanted to I could start pushing. 

I pushed and I pushed and I pushed.  My husband was a great coach.  I pushed every 3 minutes for the next 2 hours and 20 minutes.  I did not feel any pain.  I felt pressure, but no pain.  The staff at the hospital was great - we are headed there with Child #2 in July.

I know that some people have had a bad experience with hospital births, but all in all, mine was great.  The fathers get to stay in the room with you, my husband never left and neither did our baby.  We did not send her to the nursery at all; that is your option. 

Since I was a first time nursing mom, they had a lactation specialist come in and work with me, show me how to hold the baby, my breast, etc.  They gave me a phone number to call when I got home if I had any questions, and I did.  They were great.