I can’t believe a month has past since I had my beautiful baby boy. Right now, he’s snuggled in my husbands moby wrap on my chest getting a little snooze. Baby Boy was being a little fussy, and it’s amazing what a good snuggle will do to help calm him down – plus it meant that I got to make myself a sandwich and eat lunch.
On July 26, I had an amazing natural water birth at my local hospital. There were two big things that terrified: 1) My pre-exisiting vulva pain, how would that play in, and 2) what was my Symphis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) pain going to do in labor.
The day before I went to my twice weekly acupuncture appointment for pain relief and induction points. I complained that my low back was giving me grief and I was feeling a lot of on again off again menstrual like back pains. The acupuncturist mentioned she was worried that back labor would become an issue for me based on my complaints and gave me a few extra points in the back. We went to a housewarming party, I did some shopping, and around midnight I failed to get to sleep realising that the spasms keeping me awake were early contractions. They came every 3-5 minutes and lasted only about 45 seconds.
Because of the Symphis Pubis Dysfunction – SPD – I hated being on the ball during a contraction. I hated sitting backwards or forwards on a chair. I hated anything that put undue pressure on my pelvis. I loved being on all fours – mostly just leaning over the couch. I loved having heat applied to my low back (Hubby and I spent a good 40 minutes in the shower at one point). I loved kneeling. The same rang true during active labor.
We called the doula around 4am, and she made her way over and helped conquer the pain. At this point, I began to struggle with keeping anything down. After about 3 hours of throwing up and pooping (yes, labour is glamorous). The doula recommended I talk to the midwife. Naturally, my midwife had the weekend off – because what first time mom goes into labor on her due date? and we met the midwife on call at the hospital. Having not slept since the day before (and that sleep hadn’t been a good sleep), nor had I been able to keep much of anything down, I opted for some therapeutic rest: a shot of morphine and gravel.
However, first I had to have a vaginal exam…. terrified. As with many vulvodynia patients there’s nothing I wanted more than a vaginal exam… Hubby applied the lidocaine ointment as best he could, and we did the exam. Honestly, contractions were worse. Honestly, having to lie in a hospital bed during a contraction was worse than the vaginal exam. I don’t even remember the experience, only the look of extreme displeasure that I had to be checked to get the shot – I was only 3 cm dilated, but beginning to look promising. I was thus sent home from the hospital after the shot to rest and finish up.
2 hours later, the morphine gravel induced sleep wore off and I was throwing up again and handling contractions. At some point, this became active labor around noon, and with that came the back labor. At around 36 weeks my acupuncturist finally released an ongoing spasm in my low back that had caused me some discomfort. In active labor this nasty spasm was back… I found myself trapped on the toilet for about 45 minutes (nobody tells you that when some women loose their mucus plug, they are so mucusy they’d rather sit on a toilet… otherwise they are changing a pad or undies every 30 minutes). My doula arrived and was able to convince my husband and I to get me off the toilet and try other labouring positions. All I remember was the back spasm and how nothing would work. Sometimes heat would work. Sometimes pressure.
I finally decided we should go to the hospital. I dreaded having to go to the hospital and get checked only to be turned away. Nobody wants an un necessary check. So the midwife came to my home, and as I got on the bed my water broke. During the check it was confirmed that I was fully dilated and we then put on clothes and made our way to the hospital.
P.S. sitting in a car, or a wheelchair while in labor is very uncomfortable. It added pressure to my hips and that made me even more miserable. Thank god the hospital is five minutes away. 🙁
At the hospital I tried a tens machine on my low back while waiting for the tub to fill. WORST IDEA EVER. It felt great out of a contraction, but not so great in a contraction. I’m pretty sure I screamed bloody murder for my husband to remove it. Probably a better idea to do in early labor.
I then transitioned to the big birthing tub. This was amazing. It took some time to find a position that felt just right but as soon as I got into the water I felt my hips feel mildly better and the spasm in my back became less noticeable. I’d recommend a water birth for those with pain in a heart beat. I ended up floating in the tub on my back with towels to pull on and pushed out my baby in less than 90 minutes.
Baby Boy was slightly stuck by his big shoulder and the nurses pushed my knees back to get him unstuck. This moment is one that I frown upon and dislike because I remember it being very uncomfortable.
However, at the end of the day SPD was my biggest struggle in giving birth. Vulvodynia was minor, and the pain of everything else masked any vulva pain. My baby boy was 8lb 5oz, and we only teared so very minimally.
It was ABSOLUTELY amazing when I got up to go to the bathroom and had to put on a pair of underwear and I did it without sitting down, one leg at a time! I had some residual pain over the week where my pelvis would hurt when I moved in bed or put on pants but 4 weeks later, I can barely remember the discomfort in my pelvis from the Symphis Pubis Dysfunction. Talk about a win. 🙂
At about 3-4 months I’ll return to physiotherapy to set up a routine to get myself stronger for the next baby. I don’t want to be crippled by carrying a second, especially if I’ll be chasing a toddler 🙂
As to the Vulvodynia, it might be a while before I know if that’s cleared up.
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