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When did you realize you were really in labor?
Around 12:30 AM on her birth day (and due date!), I started having mild waves that felt like cramps about 5-10 mins apart. When they didn't go away, I knew that was the day. I tried to rest, but when they kept getting more intense I woke up my husband and told him to call into work. We headed to the birth center once we checked traffic.. I felt that 45 mins in the car while still in early labor was better than risking staying home too long.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
As my midwife said, "It's on the job training." There's really no practicing. Since there isn't any backing out or drugs, all your preparation is hypothetical.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Reading positive birth stories and educating myself. My midwife, my Hypnobabies class instructors, my prenatal yoga teacher, and my mom (nurse and retired midwife) were amazing resources and always supported my desire to have the best possible pregnancy and childbirth. They taught me that childbirth is not an emergency, and all the tragic stories we hear are the exception and usually caused by the snowball of interventions. I loved reading Ina May's guide to childbirth and many of Dr. Sears' books (The Pregnancy Book, The Baby Book, etc..) and my husband also read Bradley's Husband Coached Childbirth.
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What surprised you about your birth?
How much work pushing was! With laboring, the waves just come and you have to let them happen to you. When it comes time to push, you actually have to do something to get the baby out! I was very tired at this point, but after almost a full day of laboring, my desire to be DONE with this process overshadowed my fatigue. I pushed for 90 minutes on the bed, then birthing stool before meeting our bright-eyed girl.
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You have to commit. I was blessed to be raised by a midwife and was taught that natural birth is normal. I knew my whole life I would have a natural birth.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Telling myself that I can't stop the sensation, it will pass. Counting through the waves helped. Vocalizing through them helped and kept me from tensing up and resisting. Moving positions helped (going from bed, to shower, to toilet, to tub...)
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What position did you end up delivering in?
Sitting on a birthing stool next to the bed.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
I couldn't believe she was finally out! It was so relieving and wonderful to finally relax and hold my baby and get to know her. She showed her personality right away.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
You have to commit. I was blessed to be raised by a midwife and was taught that natural birth is normal. I knew my whole life I would have a natural birth. But the so readily available drugs and negative birth culture we live in is very difficult to shut out. It's nothing like the movies. If I wasn't in a birth center (or home) with an amazing support team, I don't doubt that I would have given in to doctors and nurses who scare mothers into interventions. There was nothing wrong with my baby or my birth, I had nothing to worry about and neither do you! Commit and choose your team carefully.
