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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I woke up at about 5am that Sunday morning and I’d been having steady contractions 3-6 mins apart and 30 secs to 1min in length. They were coming back to back and getting stronger and stronger to the point that I could not return to sleep. I decided to give my Midwife a call at around 12ish noon and she told me to come in. So therefore I showered and called my mom to come and take me to the hospital which we didn’t arrive until about 5pmish. When I got there I was checked in and wheeled back to a Labor and Delivery room where I was then put on a monitor and and my cervix was checked for dilation and effacement. The midwife told me that I had dilated 2cm and was only 80% effaced with the baby’s head being -1 stationed. So, therefore I was taken off of the monitor and told to walk the halls for a total of 1 hour and come back and they’ll check me and put me back on the monitor. One hour later I came back and was checked again and had only dilated to 3cm and was 100% effaced. By then my midwife wanted to send me back home with the knowledge that I was 39w2d pregnant only 5 days shy of my due date. So she asked what did I want and I told her to go natural and suddenly interrupted to go on to the bathroom where yay!!! My water broke!! I yelled my water just broke and the midwife and nurse quickly rushed into the bathroom to checked me and indeed it did. I was placed back on the monitor where my cervix was checked and I had them dilated to 5cm by about 7:30ish. By then the contractions were only about 2 mins apart and very excruciating. I suddenly changed my mind around 11 ish about getting an epidural which by then it was too late once the anesthesiologist came in I had already dilated to 9cm and I was in too much pain to sit still for the insertion. The midwife was in a c-section delivery at this time and I was surrounded by nurses and my mom of course. I pulled my IV out my arm and through the tv remote all by accident because of the terrible pain and as that occurred I screamed out to the nurses as I reached down and felt my baby’s head crowning and yelled I have to push. So I started to push with all that I had in me because I just wanted the pain to be over and then the nurses caught my beautiful son as he was welcomed in the world at 11:54pm that Sunday night which was a total relief to me.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
The most challenging thing was the contractions as this was my second time giving birth naturally with no meds the pain seemed far worse this time around.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
The most helpful thing I did was inserting evening primrose tablets into my cervix every other night which helped me to not have to get stitches. Also, I drunk two to three cups of red raspberry leaf tea a day for week 36 to strengthen my uterine walls.
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What surprised you about your birth?
The surprise was not being about to get the epidural when I changed my mind so late in the game but hey that comes with the territory.
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Our bodies were made for this as we are natural-born warriors and Queens.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
I would say taking deep breaths even when I felt like I couldn’t breath.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It felt like such if relief and I fell in love all over again.
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What did you name your baby, and why?
Tristan because I fell in love with the name Christain but wanted a name with a T to match my two girls names and mine.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Just make sure you are fully ready to embark on the journey physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is totally different from receiving meds during labor which I did with my first and went natural with my 2nd and 3rd. It is. A lot but our bodies were made for this as we are natural born warriors and Queens. #ProudMommyOfThree #LatestAddition08/04/2019
