Dear cgilsing,
I just read on the "Ilove it" thread that you are going to be a momma in a few months. Congratulations! It's wonderful to be a mom. I have an almost 2 yr. old son and 7 yr. old daughter year old.
Nicole

Thanks Happy4dollphins! We couldn't be happier! Can I ask you a question? I've been wanting to ask someone who has both had children and has celiac disease.....On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate the pain from glutened cramps and the pain of childbirth? I guess I'm getting a little nervous! I get sharp, nauseating D cramps when I'm glutened and so far I think that is probably the most painful thing that I have experience with. I'm just starting to wonder what I have in store!

Congratulations on having your first baby! It is awesome.
ON the pain part, well my suggestion is to get an epidural. If you get to 4-5 cms. they should give you one and it will be before the worst pains. I don't get severe cramping from celiac, so can't help you there ,but the pain is pretty bad once you pass 5 centimeters. I tried to have my first naturally and made it to 6 cms. and I was induced, so my contractions didn't have much break in between. I highly recommend the epidural, but if you can do it naturally then go for it. THis has just been my experience! It will be ok though and your baby will be well worth it.
Monica

Just be prepared. I had my daughter all natural. I really didnt think id beable to do it, but once in labor i kept telling myself, this can only go on so long, it will end. It wont come close to the pain of celiac. Much worse, depending on how severe yours is. The way i would describe it is a different pain, none like you can describe, more of a unbearable annoying pain. You will do great! Good luck!

I'm so excited for you! I had my first son with no painkillers at all (it was 1981). The labor was 8 hours long, but not too bad until the last 3 hours or so. The contractions were stronger than any D related cramping, for me, but I breathed and clenched and squeezed my husband's hands until they had my nail marks in them and got through it ok. I was young, and wanted the experience. I'm still glad I did it. My second son was a C-section after 12 hours of labor. By the end of that, I was happy that they put me to sleep for the surgery! Every labor is different--whatever you chose to do is the right thing--don't worry, it will be fine. And then you get to meet your baby

Thanks everybody! I keep telling myself that lots of women have babies and the vast majority of the time everybody gets through it just fine, and I'm not opposed to getting an epidural if it gets to be too much! I'm addicted to A Baby Story though and I keep seeing women on there that are screaming and this lady that was on today started having panic attacts and flailing around and stuff! I thnk I'm pretty good with handeling pain, but whoa! I'm with you though Jerseyangel! If I have to be in THAT kind of pain then Brett's hand is going to feel at least a part of it!

If you can live through the pain and cramps of c and d that go along with celiac, then you can easily handle childbirth!

It is a blessing to be a mom and kids say the most wonderful things. Just tonight while tucking my daughter into bed and she's hugging my neck and whispering sweet nothings in my ear and then she says "mommy, am I adopted?" LOL!!!!! UM Noooooooo Honey, you were in my tummy, I have the stretch marks and the c-section scar to prove it! she then says to me, "oh good... do you have pictures of them cutting me out of your tummy???" UM Nooooooooooo!!!!! LOL! But I do have pictures of the first time I saw your sweet face, and she says " you mean the first time I saw YOUR sweet face?!!!" (melt!)

I also like to watch "a Baby Story," but sometimes it makes me really mad. The woman usually goes to the hospital (and is admitted) quite early on in labor, lays flat on her back hooked up to various things, and after a few hours of being flat on her back is told that labor is failing to progress and she needs a C-section.

EVERYBODY is different. I'm not opposed to epidurals, either. (I had them for all three babies.) In fact, if for some reason you must be induced, those contractions are usually FAR more painful than the ones you would have if you went into labor naturally (which doesn't always happen), and then you really really really NEED an epidural. But some of us labor much more slowly than others, and a doctor's impatience is no reason for a C-section.

I was lucky enough to have an OBGYN who believed in letting me labor as long as the baby was not in distress. My first baby was induced becasue of pre-eclampsia, and I was in labor for 26 1/2 hours (and I caved ini and asked for the epidural after 18). The second one did not have to be induced, and I was in labor for 18 hours, and the 3rd one surprised me and everybody else by taking 30 hours--but it wasn't 30 terrible hours. It was really just the last couple of hours that were rough.

With babies 2 and 3, I called the OBGYN when I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes, but they weren't absolutely unbearable, and asked if I had to come in yet as I really didn't feel like the baby was any where near being born. The answer, thankfully, was that I could labor at home until the contractions were so bad that I literally could not talk through them.

When I got to the hospital after 26 hours of contractions, Emily wasn't born until 4 hours later!

I'm not trying to tell you that you shouldn't go to the hospital--you are the best judge of your own body. Just be prepared that, as soon as you lie down in the hospital bed, the contractions feel 100 times worse--and at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, once they have you lying down, they don't let you get up even to go pee. They make you pee lying down into a pot, which is something I could never do, no matter how hard I tried (and, oh, I tried)!

So--my advice is, check out what the hospital policies are, and if they're as antiquated as Magee's, don't lie down (at the hospital) until you're sure you don't want to get up again for a while! See if they have rocking chairs--some hospitals let you rest in a rocking chair.

The walking around for hours and hours is tiring, boring, and pretty dreary, but it's less painful than lying down!

One of my nurse friends taught me that squatting through a contraction relieves the pain quite a bit AND makes the contraction more efficient. It really helped with the third baby--wish she had told me in time for the first 2!

Our Lamaze teacher actually told us that Lamaze-style patterned breathing was "for the birds." (and it made me nauseated, too.) She said that the important thing was to remember to breathe, and to breathe as though you were in the middle of running a marathon (which, in a way, you are). Nobody running a marathon would dream of going, "hee hee hee hoo hoo hoo." They take big breaths of air (lotsa oxygen!) and blow the pain out with each exhale. That helped me, too.

In retrospect, I should have hired a doula (an expert in helping a laboring mom labor who also deals with the less knowledgeablehospital staff and can be a very good advocated when you are in too much pain to speak clearly ). My husband is the most wonderful man I know, but he was totally useless during labor. If you hire a doula, make sure she won't try to prevent you from having an epidural if that's what you really feel you need to get through labor.

Sorry this post was so long--hope at least some of it is helpful.

Nini--I just got all teary-eyed reading your post. AWWWWWW!