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When did you realize you were really in labor?
When my water broke and I felt a strong urge to push! I woke up at midnight and had trouble falling back to sleep because of what I thought was just early labor cramping. I got out of bed around 2:00 AM, telling my husband to get some sleep and that it was "just early labor." I should have known I was in active labor at this point because I needed my birthing ball to get through contractions, but they were so irregular that I kept convincing myself it wasn't time to go to the hospital yet. When my water broke at 3:00 AM I immediately yelled to my husband that we needed to get to the hospital ASAP because I was already feeling an urge to push!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Honestly, the rectal pressure! We live 30 minutes away from our hospital so when I couldn't get myself into the car because contractions were very close together and I felt a strong urge to push, my husband called for an ambulance. We weren't sure at this point if we'd be having an unplanned home birth. Since the ambulance took us to the hospital, I spent the most intense 20 minutes of labor strapped to a stretcher and mostly on my back. This made the already awful rectal pressure even worse! It wasn't just the feeling of having to poop like birthing classes often mention. Instead, it felt like the baby was going to come out of my rear end! I distinctly remember thinking, as the ambulance pulled into the hospital, that I would seriously consider an epidural just to make the rectal pressure go away. The contractions themselves were easy comparatively!
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
My husband and I took a virtual birthing class, but the most helpful things for me were doing daily meditations, reading any book I could find on natural hospital births, and going into birth with the greatest confidence that my body was made to birth a baby vaginally, despite the previous c-section with my first.
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What surprised you about your birth?
How absolutely amazing it was! Of course, it was hard work, but I was really surprised by how "easy" managing my contractions was and how almost "enjoyable" the pushing phase was. With the intensity of my rectal pressure, all other sensations seemed so positive and productive. Birth doesn't have to be associated with intense pain, even when going natural. I think that when you let nature take its course, our body has its own way of making this experience manageable and amazing.
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The most helpful thing for me was just letting all inhibitions go and being as vocal as my body wanted to. This auditory release seemed to help me let go of any negative sensations or thoughts I was having.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
To be honest, I didn't feel like I had a chance to use most of the pain relief strategies I had planned because my labor went so fast. The most helpful thing for me was just letting all inhibitions go and being as vocal as my body wanted to. This auditory release seemed to help me let go of any negative sensations or thoughts I was having.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
AMAZING! After the C-section with my daughter, I didn't have the opportunity for immediate skin to skin as I had expected. The doctor had some reason for whisking her away immediately to the infant warmer to be checked. I wasn't able to hold her for 10-20 minutes afterward, and since I was still getting sewn up it was a very awkward feeling trying to hold her while laying flat on my back. It was beyond amazing this time around to have him immediately placed into my arms and feel that instantaneous love for each other.
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What did you name your baby, and why?
We named our baby boy Ryan, after my husband's middle name. Our first daughter is Elizabeth, after my middle name, so it was an easy decision to keep with the same theme!
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
The best advice I can give is to educate yourselves, by reading birth stories or books on natural childbirth, and to prepare your mind to remain calm, by practicing daily meditations and breathing techniques. These preparations helped give me the confidence I needed to KNOW that my body was ready to give birth vaginally.
