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Video Interview With Marissa
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When did you realize you were really in labor?
2 hours before he was born and my pain was able to be timed
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
It’s not my regular way of thinking, so changing my entire mindset about birth and modern medicine was hard. Growing up everything was all about doctors and medicine, natural wasn’t really in my vocabulary until I met my husband.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Change my thinking of birth being difficult to birth being beautiful and a mountain that I could climb with the right mantra and support.
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What surprised you about your birth?
That I didn’t really know it was happening until 2 hours before baby arrived! Period cramps were more painful than my contractions ever were. It was so manageable that when I called the hospital they said I only sounded a couple centimeters dilated. 20 minutes after that phone call I was holding baby in my arms after getting into my tub because I realized he was coming and there was no time to get to the hospital.
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Changing my entire mindset about birth and modern medicine was hard.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Breathing and encouraging myself through each breath.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
Shocking! I couldn’t believe he was here and mine! It didn’t really sink in that he was here until a couple hours later when we were at the hospital and I had a moment where it was just him and I in the room.
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What did you name your baby, and why?
Enoch Gabriel. Enoch is a man in the Bible who walked with God and never actually died. It also means devoted. Gabriel is an angel and means God is my strength. Since my husband and I are religious it means a lot to us
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
It is a mindset! Without the mindset it’s so hard. You have to want to do it and have CONFIDENCE! If you’re not confident in your capabilities as a woman you will doubt yourself in the hard moments. When you know you are able and strong enough nothing can stop you!
