"Labor" WOD

Yes, Labor is a workout. Some of you have been asking, so here is the story:

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 started out as just a normal day. I was going to be getting induced at 6pm that night, so I decided to exercise one last time before I came home and got all my stuff packed for the hospital. I had to pee every 20 minutes by this point of my pregnancy, so I decided to run on the treadmil. I ran for about 35 minutes and walked for another 15 or 20 on a incline (not too much). After that I did about 200-250 air squats. I was feeling good and ready to be induced!

About an hour later at 11:30am, I started having mild contractions that were coming pretty consistantly every 4-6 minutes. Those contractions never stopped the whole day. We got to the hospital and I was dialated to a 3. I was thinking the labor was going to be easy since the contrations werent hurting at all! Well by 7pm they got really bad! I was able to breathe through them and be very calm. I didnt even cus out my husband this time! At 9pm I got my epidural, but it didnt start working till 10:00pm. At 10:30pm they checked me and I was dialated to a 4.5. My water broke when my doctor check me, so she told my hisband Cragen that it will be a few hours and that he could leave to go get dinner.

I was laying there and relaxing when all of a sudden I could feel the contractions again. At 11pm, my epidural was wearing off! I was nervous that they were going to have to redo the epidural. They finally came in to check me at 11:30pm so see how far I was before they decided what to do about the epidural. Well she never really "checked" my dialation because the head was crowning! That's right, in 1 hour I went from a 4 to a 10 and it was time to push! Apparently when the baby descends this fast the epidural will not be as effective, which is why I started to feel all my contractions. The doctor yelled "get the team in here!" right as my husband walked through the door at 11:32pm. He was pretty confused and shocked just like I was! By 11:35pm we were ready to push. The pushing took the pain of the contractions away. by 11:44pm, Tanner Ron Retherford was born! (16 minutes before his due date). It was the fastest labor and the easiest pushing ever! (9 minutes....PR!!!)

This Pregnancy and Delivery Vs. First Pregnancy and Delivery:

-Tanner was 8lbs 0 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long/ Carter was 9lbs, 6 ounces, 21 inches long

-7 hours of easy contractions, 4 hours of active labor with Tanner/ 2 hours of easy contractions, 12 hours of active labor with Carter

-9 minutes of pushing with Tanner/ 2 hours of Labor down time plus 1.5 hours of pushing with Carter

-2 degree tare with Tanner/ Episiotomy and rip to a 3.5 degree with Carter

-Tanner cried right when he came out/ Carter was not breathing and had no pulse

- 1 hour of skin to skin time with Tanner right after birth/ Carter went to NICU right after birth

- 1 day of medication for pain because the nurses made me with Tanner/ 2 weeks of constant medicine for pain with Carter

-Less than 24 hrs at the hospital with Tanner/ 3 days at the hospital with Carter

- Gained about the same amount of weight (35lbs) but felt way more energetic, healthy, and "light" with Tanner. This pregnancy was a breeze compared to Carter.

-The main difference: With Carter, I walked and did the elliptical. With Tanner, I did CROSSFIT.

Now I'm not saying that crossfit is the reason for all the differences between my two pregnancies. What I am saying is that both my pregnancy and labor were a WHOLE LOT EASIER this time around because of it. I worked my butt off trying to work out every single day so that I could have an easier time during labor, and I guarentee that crossfit helped my labor. All the workouts I completed helped me stay strong and healthy and it is helping me now with my recovery time. I have already started doing some minor workouts, and I hope to be back to 100% in 2-3 weeks so I can train as hard as I want again!