Don’t worry, romani,For every horror story, I’m sure there are many more stories like partyof5’s and shellfell’s! Some of us just weren’t so lucky. 
And even with more difficult births, most of the time things still turn out okay.
And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how the kid gets here!
It’s posts like this that make me thank God my parents are not on this site.
%-(
On the plus side, I now know what VBAC stands for.
Oh no worries. I really am just kidding you guys.
My mom’s pregnancy and birth with me was super easy. The only day that she remembers being very sick was her wedding day when she was about 3 months pregnant with me. It was also outside, 100 degrees, and near-100% humidity so I think it was the weather. She says that I was easy on her during those times in order to give her a false sense of security. (I was an absolutely horrendous baby and toddler.)
The section scar, unless it has to be so fast they just cut you in the middle, is generally right above your pubic bone, you cant even see mine, unless you look close. (of course its like the '70’s down there, to quote Mellie)
Although D has a pretty nasty one above her navel.
But its part of her, so I dont even notice it.
My scar is horizontal as well, EK,just above my pubic bone. Hardly noticeable.
I think the worst part about the broken tailbone was, I knew I was hurting while still in the hospital. I kept telling the nurse how bad I hurt and how difficult it was to move around. She said, “Do you feel like you’ve been run over by a Mack truck?” And I said, “Yes, and worse.” She checked my incision, which looked fine, and marked it up to me being a first time whiner.
It was sometime before my six-week checkup with my OB that I saw a nurse practitioner in the office. I think they made me come in because I kept asking for refills for my Tylenol with codeine. When I got in her office and described to her how it hurt, she examined me, touched me right where the tailbone was broken, and I about hit the ceiling; she said, “You cracked your tailbone.” I had no idea up until then - people kept telling me, yea, you’ll be sore after childbirth.
Good news was, with D2 (even though she was a pound and a half bigger), the tailbone was fine. And when the epidural wore off, I was very pleasantly surprised that the episiotomy wasn’t so bad (compared to the broken tailbone).
So my biggest gripe was the hospital staff that minimized what I was feeling.
TMI maybe…because I had c-sections, I don’t have bladder problem now. I was also able to go to bathroom right after giving birth, and that was huge for me.
@teriwtt - was there anything they could have done? Not an easy place to put a cast.
Romani–The only thing you need to remember is the word “epidural.” Trust me.
The main problem with my first two deliveries was that they were old-style, on the back, episiotomy whether you needed it or not. My first birth was attended by a resident. She cut a huge episiotomy and didn’t sew it up well–tissue slipped out and got infected. I couldn’t sit for weeks. I thought that’s just what happened after you have a baby. At my 2 week checkup, the doctor said something like “Yikes!” when she saw it. Then I heard her talking to the nurse saying “we’ll cauterize that. . .” Well, I knew cauterize meant burn and I didn’t know exactly how they were going to burn it (probably chemicals?) but I pictured her taking something like a soldering iron to my delicate parts. They left the room to get supplies. I jumped off the table, threw my clothes on, ran out of the clinic and never went back! When I had my second kid I had another episiotomy and I told the doctor (different doc) to make sure he sewed it up right with small stitches. My next kid was born at home. I had that one, and all but one of the rest, in a kneeling position. (5 of them–I did the math wrong in my first post. When you have that many kids, you lose count 
) I was able to do this, even though I had epidurals for my last 4 kids–I highly recommend this position. I even had some students in some of my deliveries to “watch this weird mom do this weird thing. . .” Never more than one push. I never tore and felt fine after the deliveries. Nothing at all like the first two. After that they stopped doing episiotomies routinely anyway, and I imagine that they would be needed only for first babies, or very large babies, etc.
I missed a step on a boat more than a month ago and fell…HARD… on my tailbone. It still hurts. Wish I still had those old donut pillows… They would have come in handy.
Sometimes you can’t get the epidural. I had epidurals with my first 2 but the third one came too fast so no epidural for me that time. In a way it was better without the epidural. Transition sucked but after was much nicer not being numb. I think the compromise of turning off the epidural for delivery would have worked best. I found it hard to push fully numb.
With my second child (w/ epidural) the doctor told me I wasn’t a very good pusher. He did come back and apologize after DS was born and weighed in at 10lbs on the dot. Yes I had an episiotomy and I did have bladder issues for about 6 months after he was born. Eventually those issues self resolved.
With my third child (w/o epidural) no one told me to push at all.
@atomom Don’t worry, I want to be medicated up to the max. I don’t want to feel a darn thing! Heck, I’d be happy to just be knocked out during the whole thing…
No bladder issues. No epidural. Very small episiotomy with the first, nothing with the second.
No… but instead of taking sitz bath after sitz bath at home, I might have given that up - it wasn’t going to do any good, and just frustrated me because I didn’t know why I felt so much pain. Once I had the correct diagnosis and was given some tips on how to best get comfortable, etc., and how long it would take to heal, I was more patient. I’m pretty sure it was at least six months at a minimum before I could sit comfortably again.
I think a lot of people thought I was just being a wuss.
No bladder issues or epidural for me either. Episiotomy the first time, although the doctor had promised not to, and a tear along the old episiotomy line the second time. I can grumble about that but it’s long since healed.
I was strangely lucky to not have stretch marks or varicose veins. My SIL had a terrible time with her veins. It’s always something!
Romani, when I was born in the 50s, my mother had a mask strapped to her wrist during labor and whenever she felt like it, she just took a whiff of the magic gas. She has only vague memories of me being born, and I guess I probably started life higher than a kite!
No epidural with either child. Apparently the hospital was still not doing them when S1 was born. I got a shot of Stadol instead. With S2, as I mentioned upthread, I went through transition in the car on the way to the hospital, so it was too late for an epidural by the time I got there. I would’ve gotten one if I’d made it to the hospital sooner.
I didn’t have an epidural either, which was okay. I only went through labor once so got to get the full effect!
Am I the only one whose epidural didn’t work? When I had my first baby, I was prepped for an unexpected C-section because of fetal distress. However, the epidural didn’t “take”. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong, but I didn’t get numb. Instead I got a brutal headache. Ended up having general anesthesia. When I had child # 2, the epidural was fine and I was awake for the C-section. MUCH better experience!
Well, patsmom , with S! (never went into labor-just prepped for C-section), I was supposed to get an epidural and the anesthesiologist tried three times and couldn’t do it for some reason (still not clear why). After 3 attempts, he said he could not try again . So, quickly it went from you’ll be awake and your husband can be with you to - you’re going to have to get general, will be asleep and your husband has to wait outside the delivery room doors. Very disappointing. The VBAC with S2 was a much better experience, to say the least.