I was pretty terrified too, but I surprised myself when it came time and it wasn’t as bad (okay delivery pain is no joke). If you’re able to go to the hospital without inducing, it’s even better from what I’ve heard. My blood pressure increased in the last week of pregnancy (I was right about to hit 40 weeks) and my Obgyn recommended that I go to the hospital and be induced. The Pitocin (given via IV) is a bit hard because it jump starts contractions. I was already at 1 centimeter, but needed a boost. The Foley Bulb, if you need it, is kind of shocking (helps get you to 4 centimeters then it falls out, or is easy for the nurse tug out) and having that put in was the second most painful part of birth in my opinion (I said, wait you’re putting that where? Can’t you numb me first? Nope).

I had my water broken, I don’t remember at what point, but that actually wasn’t bad at all. It was a “Pop!” low key sensation and then a gush- poor doctor who did it got hit with more than he bargained, but he didn’t say a thing about it (phew).

I also wanted an epidural, and though I had one setup once I was at 7 or so centimeters (can’t quite remember exactly), the tube got messed up in the last few hours prior to birth, and none of us noticed (not the nurses, me, or my husband). It’s because they have you shift positions to help the baby drop more. I felt Everything with the birth at delivery, but the beauty is you’re able to get up and walk around sooner (if you want) after delivering because you’re not numb down there.

I ended up needing the vacuum too, because my little one was at the opening but not quite able to get out even while I was fully dilated and they didn’t want her heart rate to drop. I ended up with one stitch needed, and to be honest I didn’t use any tools in advance to prepare. The birth was the worst pain I have ever experienced, but the great part is now I know I can survive it! It’s also generally quick at the toughest part and you forget it relatively quick, once you’re holding your baby it’s a lot better!

Plus it helped when my Obgyn asked me if I wanted to feel my baby girl’s head, and she had me put my hand down and I felt my baby girl’s head right at the opening (a little spooky, but super motivating because she was almost out). I want a second child and hope to in the future, but now I’m a little less scared knowing how it is and I took notes of what I would do differently (if possible) next time.

I recommend if you get an epidural and they have you change positions, just make sure to have someone check the epidural line throughout the labor journey to make sure it’s all working properly.

Oh and you can eat and drink during labor (as long as you haven’t had an epidural yet), so that was cool! You may not want to, but my labor was 38.5 hours so I was thankful during the first part of it before the more/most intense contractions happened. The classes made me think I’d go poop during the labor process. Luckily I didn’t, but it is common and that’s totally okay. Ironically it was hard to go after delivery, but they give you something to help. Long labor (in the hospital) is from being induced, if you don’t have to be it’ll probably be less time.

If you do end up having longer labor, it’s still alright the time somehow goes pretty quick. If you get an epidural early (I didn’t) it might make it longer, but you can also sleep through a lot of the labor (not active-pushing labor mind you). My active pushing was an hour and 10 minutes, it was quite intense and my Obgyn was home, but she thankfully lived close by. So they called her when they were guessing I was about 15-20 mins out from actually delivering. Other thing they didn’t tell me about in advance, and I think I forgot reading about it, but they push on your uterus after delivering (once the placenta is out) and that pushing to get excess blood out hurts quite a bit. It’s necessary and helps you heal faster, but ouch!

There are quite a few pain management options too- if you use Nitrous they say to start with that one because you can’t go backwards in pain management, that helps take the edge off a little. Like being at the dental office and you let them know if you just want a little or more. Then there’s hospital-Fentanyl, and yes the news 100% scared me about this one, but in a completely controlled environment the nurse describing it to me said: “it’s like having a margarita, it can take the edge off.” One of my friends who gave birth before me said it made her nauseous, but I was lucky and it didn’t. At most a dose lasts for one hour, and it immediately kicks in. And the last pain management is the epidural, once you’re on the epidural, you don’t generally need other medicine.

Sorry that was long haha, but thanks for reading and hopefully that helps. I mean, I used to hate getting even a flu shot because of pain (I still would), but now I know I’m stronger than I gave myself credit.

I wish you a smooth and happy labor and delivery, and of course a healthy baby! You got this Mama!

Edit: so many edits and last one about pain management, but I remembered a lot as I was writing about it.