What I learned about giving birth

Two weeks ago, almost to the hour, I went into labor. My, oh my, how my life has changed since then. I am the mother of the most gorgeous little boy you have ever set eyes on. After over 24 hours of labor there are some things that I  learned which no one told me about.

• When your contractions start; you might not feel any pain, whatsoever. In fact, you may have to pay very close attention to even know you are contracting. Trust your instincts and know your body. 
• Don't let anyone talk you into getting an epidural before you feel like you really need it. Everyone told me I should get one, but I made it to 7cm and lasted over 24 hours from the time of my first contraction with absolutely no medicine. Had I gotten the epidural early on, I would have been stuck in bed that whole time. YUCK! 
• Your bed will have lots of levers and buttons on it, which will make people want to mess with it. Don't let them. The bottom part of your bed breaks off for delivery. You don't want to be dumped on the floor. I wasn't, but it was a fear of mine! 
• Your water may break on its own and when it does the pain sky rockets. There was also no question for me as to if my water had broke. It felt like a fire hydrant flushing. 
• Once your  body is ready to begin the delivery process they will let you start pushing through the pain. No one told me HOW to push. A natural instinct just kicked in. 
• Having  my husband next to my bedside every minute was probably the only thing that got me through it. I needed to know I wasn't alone. 
• Once you start pushing through your contractions, you finally feel like you are getting somewhere, and you are learning to deal with the pain; the Dr. will tell you to stop pushing and to "breathe" through the pain. You will want to punch him in the face! 
• Once the baby is born more fluid gushes out of you. I had no idea there could be so much left in there after the first gush. 
• Holding your newborn and seeing your husband hold your newborn are  2 of the best moments of your life. Don't feel bad for not letting friends and family in right away. We waited over an hour! 
• Your body may shake uncontrollably in the minutes after birth. My Dr. said it was a hormone dump and not to fight it because it would make it worse. 
• Ice has never tasted so good. For some reason your mouth becomes like sandpaper while you are pushing.