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Devyn Darling Sex: girl Born: 04 April, 2008 Age: 0 years & 190 days Birthday in: 175 days Starsign: Aries Development: See the 6 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -I can smile now! It is a whole face smile with squinty eyes and I stick out my tongue while doing it.

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (with pain relief)
Duration of labor: 25 hours
Weight @ birth: 8lbs 6oz
Length @ birth: 19.5 inches

It all started April 2nd around 4am when I woke up with cramps that were about as painful as a bad period cramp. This went on for a few hours and my boyfriend was going to stay home from work, I told him it was probably another false alarm and that if it was labour I would call him to come home. From 4am April 2nd until 3pm April 3rd these cramps continued every ten minutes and would last a while but I knew it still wasn't active labour.

I was watching Oprah at 3pm on the third and it was all about the "pregnant man" at 3:30 I got my first real contraction and it hurt through my stomach in my back and through my hip bones. I whipped out the laptop and opened up the contraction timer website HOPING that this was the real thing and that I wouldn't need to be induced. Next thing you know I am timing them for a half hour and they are every 4-5 minutes lasting a minute each. They hit me hard and they hit me fast. I called my boyfriend and told him that I was having contractions 5 minutes apart and luckily he was already on his way home. I jumped in the shower and he called the Health Link and they advised him to get me to the hospital asap if they were already 5 minutes apart.

In the vehicle they were 3 minutes apart, I got to the hospital and they assessed me, they told me the reason I was having such terrible contractions was because baby was face up and that position causes back labour and back to back, irregular, strong contractions. They checked me and I was only 1.5 cms. They shot me up with morphine and gravol and sent me on my merry way and said not to come back until I couldn't handle them any more.

Morphine has never worked on me so for another 18 hours I suffered horrible back labour at my moms house because she lives near the hospital. Rory got some sleep as I sat in the bath for 5 hours. I got out of the bath and then immediately got into the shower because the water was so soothing. Around 5:30 am on April 4th the pains of the contractions got so intense that I began throwing up with every contraction. Having rectal and vaginal pressure PLUS contractions PLUS stomach retching created the most horrible thing I could have imagined at the time. I woke my boyfriend who was immediately rubbing my back or holding my garbage can for me. At 6:30 AM I could no longer handle the thought of not being at the hospital so we packed it up, woke my mom and headed in.

We got to the hospital around 7AM and i was immediately hooked up to be assessed. The contractions were every 2 minutes apart. The nurse came in and saw how much pain I was in and decided to check me, we discovered that in 18 hours I had only moved to 2cm. I was instantly so discouraged because of how aweful I felt. The nurse was going to send me home even though I was telling her that i had been throwing up with contractions. As soon as she got the proof of me throwing up she shot me up with demerol and gravol and brought me to the shower and promised me she would find me a birthing room. After a dissatisfying shower because there was no bench and I was forced to stand through my terrible contractions the nurse had got me a room.

My delivery nurse who was an absolute angel came with a wheel chair and took me to my new room. I was in such terrible pain that I was begging her in between bouts of throwing up (which was now dry heaving because nothing was staying down) for an epidural. She new how much pain I was in and said that I had to have an IV in for a while to hydrate me before I could get an epidural, I wanted to cry but instead I endured as she tried to give me an IV. The attempts failed because I was so dehydrated that she could only get the needle half way in. My nurse advised me that the anesthesiologist would have to give me the IV. My nurse was amazing, she wound up getting him to come to me first because of how ILL I was. He managed to get the IV in and instantly got me hooked up to fluid. He then came around and began the process of the epidural. Which totally is worth the little pop you feel in your back compared to all the back labour! I had one more contraction upon completion of the epidural that felt half as terrible because the medication was already kicking in. FINALLY, after about 20 hours now of excruciatingly strong contractions and No sleep since my crampy sleep two nights before, I was able to nap for an hour.

My doctor came in around 11:30 and I was still 2cm, they broke my water and told me to get some rest. My boyfriend and mom left for lunch and I slept for another hour. My doctor was back and I was 5 cms. I was so happy things were progressing. I wanted to nap again so my nurse told me to lay on my opposite side than I was because we still had to get the baby to change position. I rolled over and fell asleep for another half an hour or so and I woke up and felt like the ENTIRE world was going to fall out of my butt. I was checked and was 8cms. She was pleased and called the anesthesiologist to come top up my epidural. Within 5 minutes he had come and topped me up and I felt this incredible urge to push. It wasn't really an urge so much as my body started to push and I couldn't control it. The nurse checked me and I was 9cms. 5 more minutes and BAM i told her my baby was falling out. Or at least thats how it felt.

The epidural doesn't cover the pain of pushing and I am happy about that because it would have felt like a total cop out. I was told that the pushing phase in first time mothers usually lasts at least 2 hours before they call the doctor in and I felt defeated. I felt like I was attempting the impossible. Within 2 bouts of pushing the nurse assured me that I was an amazing pusher and that this wasn't going to take 2 hours. I pushed for a total of an hour and fifteen minutes. I needed an episiotomy and I still tore up on both sides of my urethra. They did put her on my belly for a few seconds when she came out but we knew she had a bit of meconium when they broke my water so they whisked her away to be assessed. THE PAIN IS OVER INSTANTLY no more contractions, no more pressure. I was amazed.

Devyn Darling Hartley was born at 4:15 pm April 4th at 8lbs, 6oz and 19.5 inches long. She is the most amazing baby in the entire world. She is already sleeping through most of the night and she is only 4 days old. She is an amazing breast feeder and the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I cried for about an hour after she was born because the love I felt was instant. My boyfriend cried, my mom cried.

People ask me now if I wish I had a c-section instead of 25 hours of back labour. I said HELL NO. The pain lasted a day, now I have a few stitches and no surgical recovery needed. The pain was totally worth it and if I had to go through it again knowing the baby I would get in the end I would do it in a heart beat.

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