What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Believe in yourself, in your body!
Here's the long version of my birth story:
I'm a mommy to two boys, currently 9, and 2.5 years. My oldest is a rainbow baby. My first birth was OP presentation, 27 hours and 13 min of labor (I chose an epidural at hour 21). From that moment on I knew if I ever had another baby I wanted my birth to be different.
Reading the birth stories of other moms became my favorite thing to do. I came to know that by reading them, my birth could be exactly what I had wanted, or possibly not. But it would be mine either way. Every single minute was mine. I could embrace it the process, or let others make my decisions for me.
I decided on a hospital birth. Part of me longed for a water birth at home, but another part of me was too frightened that I would have horrible luck and something would go wrong. My rational side knows that things go wrong statistically at the hospital just as much, if not more, but this is what I chose.
I worked 50-55 hours a week on my feet as a restaurant manager until week 39. I was having contractions off and on since week 36. As soon as I stopped working so did my contractions. I rested up as much as I could awaiting labor to come. I was getting acupuncture every couple days at this point to try to jumpstart labor.
It is cold in Minnesota in March. Snow and ice covering most of the state still. I ended up falling down a few steps on my butt one night around 9:30. My fiancee urged me to go to the hospital to get checked. I was feeling a little "off" and didn't argue.
They got us checked in and found the baby's heartbeat right away (so nerve-wracking). I was told with a fall that I would need to be monitored for four hours in order to rule out any complications. I was hooked up to the monitors and my labor and delivery nurse was asking questions about my birth plan. Seemed so silly since I wasn't in labor.
We looked at the monitor and she said "are you feeling these contractions at all? They are about 5 min apart!" I guess I was feeling them a little. I was so worried about the baby I guess I hadn't noticed my contractions. I got out of bed to use the bathroom shortly after this. It was around midnight. I sat down on the toilet and heard a pop and felt a gush. WHAT! Oh boy! This made everything feel different.
My fiancee and I started realizing we were not going back home tonight. Passed out in the chair in the hospital room is my 6 year old son! We figured out what we were going to do with him (oops!). My contractions are super intense at this point and it was hard to get in a comfortable position wearing the monitors (since I had fallen I was urged to leave them on) and I spent the next hour moving from birthing ball to all fours on the bed to side laying. I kept using the toilet so I could take them off.
I was inside my head so much thinking of my first birth being 27 hours and I started doubting myself. I asked for the epidural. The nurse checked my cervix. I was at a 3. We started IV fluids in order to get the epidural. It would take a half hour for the fluids and then they would page the anesthesiologist. That half hour was so intense. I remember thinking of others birth stories. I remember imagining I was in a pool of water.
I remember a mother writing about blowing bubbles on the water. I blew those bubbles with my mouth in my hospital bed. Over and over while holding my fiancee's arm. Concentrating on my breath and those bubbles! A half hour had passed. The nurse checks me again. I'm at a 9.5! She asks me if I still want to go forward with the epidural and gently reminds me of my previous request of no pain medication.
While we are discussing this I tell her "I'm pushing." My eyes were closed. I was in the moment. They placed him on top of me and we locked eyes. He was so perfect. My fiancee and I are crying. I latch him on right away. He eats like a champ. So in love. Carter Ian Thomas 7lbs 9oz 21in.