I had a very easy labor and delivery - contractions started at 2:30am, got to the hospital around 7:00am, water broke around 8:30am, started pushing at 11:00am, REALLY started pushing at 1:00pm, delivered at 1:25pm. Immediately started crying uncontrollably as soon as I saw my son lifted to be cleaned up. The doctor stated that the cord had been very short and almost ripped before the cut it.

The NICU nurses were over with my husband, clearing my son's lungs as a precaution because he had pooped inside as we found out when my doc broke my water. I could hear my baby crying, I could see my husband's initial shock and emotion on his face, and I was still in bed reeling with emotion myself. 

At this point, my doc (who was not my actual OB, but had been on call since it was the weekend) had already begun trying to initiate the delivery of the placenta. He was tugging on the already frail, short cord and sort of massaging my abdomen in between stitching up my tiny tear. He wasn't even finished with the stitches when he said that another piece of cord ripped and only part of the placenta came loose and delivered. He ordered fetonyl be pushed through my now faded epidural, and had more local anesthetic applied where he had placed stitches. For the next hour and a half my husband stood over me with my brand new baby staring at me, while my OB's entire arm was reached into my abdomen trying to rip the rest of the placenta from my uterine wall. Even with the pain meds and anesthetic I could feel EVERYTHING and I couldn't have contact with my son. The look on my poor, helpless husband's face as he watched me writhe and cry and cringe in pain is a look I will never forget. 

At 3:00pm it was finally over. I have never felt so beat up in my entire life. My hemoglobin had dropped five points. They had brought in two more bags of fluid for my IV. I could see the aftermath of what my body had just endured...my doctors sleeve and glove were coated in blood, they changed the pad that had been under me and I could hardly even move. 

Once in my overnight room I couldn't turn my body, I couldn't sit up without help, I couldn't stand up straight (or even close to straight) once I was out of bed. My hubby left to get me some more water and my IV machine was beeping and beeping and my son was in my arms crying and I couldn't sit up to turn off the alarm. When I talked to my first nurse she asked if I had had a csection. And she seemed almost shocked when I told her no. 

It was something I had not been warned of, something I could not mentally prepare for, and something that GREATLY affected my postpartum recovery and my first few weeks as a new mom.

POSTPARTUM - it took three weeks before I could rock my son without pain, three weeks before I could nurse him sitting up and not want to cry from how much pain it caused me to be sitting up, four weeks for me to be able to get around the house completely worry free. 

Again, I wanted to share so that women can be more aware of this subject. I had no prior knowledge of it. It really was a medical hiccup that completely changed my postpartum experience. A lot of women have terrible labor pains, and many don't know how they could possible have another child and go through it again. For me - I could totally handle the contractions again, I could deal with the seemingly endless pushing, but for the life of me I am terrified of the possibility of having to go through another manual removal. It was absolutely traumatizing for me, and for my husband.