All I want to give is sympathy
In an attempt to be more sympathetic and understanding, I asked my wife a very simple question. Let me paint the background of the story.May 12th 2009
1:10pm-"BBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN" Gina screams my name from the living room after her water broke.
1:45pm-Gina is breathing heavy and moaning as she discovers, while laying on the hospital bed, that she is dilated to an 8 and has yet to have her epidural.
2:15pm-Gina is smiling now that the drugs are kicking in.
2:37pm-Baby is born.
May 13th 2009
2:15pm-We are waiting for the nurses to discharge us and Gina says to me "I can't believe I got to an 8 without the epidural. I'm proud of myself".
2:16pm-I, in an attempt to understand my wife and empathize with her, ask "So, what does an 8 feel like, are we talking a paper cut?"
2:17pm to current and future-Wrong answer.
By the way, paper cuts hurt. Especially the ones I used to get at NuSkin. The ones you'd get when you're taping a box and the cardboard slices through you.
Labels: baby, birth, epidural, pain
posted by Ben Arkell @ 11:31 AM
3 Comments:
You know, I only had my epidural with Charles for about 15 minutes before he was born(I'm not trying to one-up Gina in saying that. There is a point), but I think it would've taken him a lot longer for the baby to get down the birth canal if I hadn't have gotten it because once the epidural takes effect, it relaxes all the muscles down there and can allow the baby to slip through easier. Now of course, that's not the case for everyone, sometimes it can actually slow down the birthing process b/c it's hard for some mom's to feel when they're pushing. But I think for me(and probably for Gina too), it is very beneficial. So anyways, I just wanted to add that in because in our conversation last week, I didn't get to make that point when we were talking about how pricey they are and were wondering if it's really worth it to only have it for such a short time. To me, it's totally worth it! And instead of thinking of a paper cut, think more like knife in the stomach, twisting around sort of pain. I'm sure you haven't experienced that but I bet you'd like to have an epidural first if you knew it was going to happen :)
Those cardboard paper cuts do hurt.
I just never really know what to say to you Ben.
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