by Mary Syreze Smith

Created on: February 28, 2008

How a woman chooses to birth her child is a personal choice. Every woman sits through her pregnancy and dreams of how it will go. There are hopes and expectations of the delivery process. Often, we do not expect the realities that occur. This was my case.

I was determined to delivery naturally with my first daughter. I expected the pain, I was ready to deal with it, and my husband and I both agreed we didn't want anyone playing with my spine for any reason. The week before my daughter arrived I ended up at the hospital in pre-term labor. The pain was excruciating. I couldn't lay on the table comfortably and I kept raising up with the pain. I would hold my breath during each sharp, clenching pain in my back. They checked me, determined I was dilating, but were concerned because I was not at 37 weeks, which in the medical world is considered "term," even if it isn't 40 weeks. So, they gave me a shot of morphine and phenagren to stop the labor and ease the pain. Needless to say, the medication didn't even touch the pain. I was up the rest of the night. At some point, I finally started crying. My sister was insistent on calling my doctor. I told her no, that I didn't want to bother them.

I dealt with the pain for the next five days. I went in for my next check-up. The doctor said I was only half a centimeter dilated from the week before. I walked out of the office so discouraged. All that pain and misery and practically NOTHING to show for it. The only plus was that my membranes were bulging which was indicative of the water breaking soon. I went home and dealt with the pain in my lower back, as it started increasing in severity, and refused to call the doctor. I was certain they would tell me nothing was wrong and send me home again. Not wanting that experience twice, I just walked, took a warm bath, tried various positions to ease the pain. I couldn't sleep. Everytime I tried to, I couldn't get comfortable. At around 2:00 a.m. I felt this vise-like gripping pain on my spine. It felt as my spine was being twisted. I wrenched back and almost screamed. I woke my husband and said, "We have to go to the hospital now! Something is wrong!" He woke his cousin, who had spent the night at our house, and we piled into our Ford Explorer and my husband sped to the hospital.

I cried, screamed, and moaned the entire way. I thought for sure the pain would never go away. When we arrived at the hospital, I tried to walk in, but doubled over and grabbed ahold of a nearby trash can.

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