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When did you realize you were really in labor?
When a contraction woke me up at 2:30am. I got in the tub and tried to get as comfortable as possible before each contraction. I chanted "I...can...do...this..." through each one, then told myself "now rest" as each finished. After an hour in the tub, I called my midwife. She listened through a contraction and said to come in! I got my husband up and made the half-hour drive to the birth center. Once in our room, my midwife checked me and found me at 7cm dilated! I was so happy as things felt so intense! I labored for a short while kneeling over a birth ball, then backwards on a toilet. With each contraction I would push my hands into the cold tile wall as hard as I could and continued chanting (or yelling!) "I can do this!" Shortly after, I moved to a birth stool and in six minutes (two pushes!) my little one was out!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
This time around the challenge was how intense it was from the very beginning! My first birth was much longer and built up much more slowly. I was happy to have it over so quickly but it was very shocking!
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I believe that experience from my first birth helped immensely, as did prenatal yoga and really training myself to stay calm and loose. I always appreciated natural birth stories and Ina May Gaskin's awesome books.
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What surprised you about your birth?
The speed! From my first real contraction to her birth was under four hours! My first labor was 24 hours from start to finish, so this was very different! I was ecstatic when I had finished and felt such an incredible surge of energy, happiness and love that lasted all throughout those first few days.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
It helped me to be in the tub initially, then to sway my hips as I labored over the birth ball. Pushing my hands into the tile wall above the toilet helped too, as it seemed that using my muscles for that loosened my bottom half.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
I delivered my baby on a birth stool (as I had done with my first birth, as well).
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
I was so shocked that I burst into tears when she came out! I was shaking and for some reason I wouldn't pull her close to me for a few seconds. I couldn't believe how fast it had all gone and that she was already delivered. Once I could wrap my mind around it, I pulled her close and climbed into the bed for our first couple hours of skin to skin.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Work on relaxation techniques beforehand! I relied so much on smooth swaying with my body, as well as very deliberate relaxation prior to each contraction. Try to work against tensing up!
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How did the Mama Natural Birth Class help you in your childbirth?
I was so shocked that I burst into tears when she came out! I was shaking and for some reason I wouldn't pull her close to me for a few seconds. I couldn't believe how fast it had all gone and that she was already delivered. Once I could wrap my mind around it, I pulled her close and climbed into the bed for our first couple hours of skin-to-skin.
