Labor, Like Life, Is Unpredictable

One of Moorpark’s newest residents, Aliana Reese Wheeler, made her debut on July 30 at 6:17 a.m.

She weighed 7 lbs., 1 oz. and was 19 ½” long. My labor and delivery didn’t go exactly as I planned or imagined. I now know that every pregnancy and delivery is different, and we cannot always plan for the unexpected.

My bundle of joy was not supposed to arrive until my due date, Aug. 10. The morning after my OB/GYN scheduled me for an induction on Thursday the fourth, my labor started. Aliana was not going to wait.

When I had Kaila four and a half years ago, my labor went pretty quickly. She was born within seven hours of my first contraction. I had an epidural, and my delivery was relatively smooth. Other than the pain of the initial contractions before my epidural was administered, I was pretty comfortable throughout labor and delivery.

This go-around would be completely different. The advice most give to expecting mothers is to time your contractions at home, and head to the hospital once they are five minutes apart. When I awoke at 4 a.m. with slight contractions, I laid in bed another hour because I didn’t feel the urgency to go to the hospital right away. Within another half hour, my contractions rapidly progressed from minor cramping to excruciating.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was fully dilated and ready to push. I begged for pain medication, but the nurses told me it was too late.

When we read, research and try to prepare ourselves for labor, we often ready ourselves for possible complications or changes to our desired birth plan. Cesareans are more common now. Long labors may be subject to medical intervention. No one told me that I could progress so quickly I wouldn’t have time for an epidural. It never crossed my mind as a possibility. When labor takes less than four hours, it is labeled precipitous. My labor only took a little over two hours from my first contraction that early Saturday morning.

Natural non-medicated childbirth was not something I had desired to experience. Don’t get me wrong, I marvel at the women who choose the path of natural birth and succeed. My experience with my first daughter was good, and I thought this time could be the same. I didn’t have the choice.

I gave birth to Aliana totally non-medicated and even without the presence of my doctor who didn’t arrive in time. Excruciating, writhing pain it was. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did.  

With my newborn growing steadily at home, the uncomfortable feeling of being pregnant is gone, and the pains of labor are thankfully only momentary.

Labor, like life, is unpredictable. There are endless possibilities to how it may unfold. No matter what path nature creates for you, the end result of a healthy baby is the most important. But when you start to feel those contractions, don’t wait. Get to the hospital!