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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I went to a friends house to take my mind off when I would be in labor, and the minute I got there I started feeling cramps. They came and went all that afternoon, evening, and the next morning which was my due date. I took a long walk with my dog, and almost the second I came home around noon my water broke and my mucus plug came out.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Because my water broke before active labor and I was doing a home birth, I wasn't checked until I was ready push. Mentally that was hard not to know how far along I was. And then of course I had no idea how physically demanding it would be. I was a professional ballet dancer, I thought I had pain and physical exertion under my belt, but this was so different and so hard. It's difficult to describe.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Pray! And knowing people were praying for me. Choosing a midwife who I trusted and who holds the same beliefs I do. Knowing I had no choice, it had to be done. Also, not knowing the sex of my baby was very motivating to hurry up and meet him!
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What surprised you about your birth?
Besides the pain and how primal it all felt, I was surprised that I had a scary birth. Everything had been going so well, I was healthy and the baby was healthy. After I had been pushing for about two hours in the birth pool at home the midwives tried me pushing on my bed. My eyes were closed as I tried to rest, but I remember opening them when they had me stand on my bed and seeing blood everywhere. I was bleeding, a lot, and they couldn't find the baby's heart beat. They had all been calm up until that point, but I could see how scared they were. They told me to push that baby out with the next push, and I couldn't do it. So they said they needed to call it. Thankfully we live within sight of a hospital, so the emts were there within a minute or two. It was all very surreal. My husband sat in the front of the ambulance and heard them call for a doctor to perform a c-section on a still birth. In the back of the ambulance, though, as they started preparing me for a c section, they found the babies heart beat again. And by the time we reached the hospital, in a matter of seconds, and with my legs strapped together and down (torture!) I was able to push my baby further and he was ready to be born naturally within minutes of being at the hospital! He had the cord wrapped around his neck three times and once around his arm. I stopped bleeding (they don't actually know why I was), and the hospital worked with us and let us leave within eight hours to go home. It was all traumatic, but at the end of the day we felt like we had had our best worst case scenario happen. I was able to finish my natural birth, and most importantly we had a healthy baby boy. I had to go through a lot to process it all, and so did my husband emotionally. Mostly we are so grateful to our midwives for making a hard call, the proximity of our house to the hospital, and for the hospital staff who were excellent and worked with us.
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Surround yourself with positive, loving people. Not necessarily to be at the birth, but people who share their positive birth stories, people who are cheering you on, people who will bring you meals and offer good advice and pray for you and take care of you. It makes all the difference.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
I loved getting in the water, it was so soothing. Unfortunately I was only allowed to push in there, since my water had broken before active labor.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
On my back in the hospital.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
I think we were all so in shock. Even little Owen didn't cry, he just looked shocked. It was magical, to know he was safe and in my arms and a he! Such joy and happiness and relief!
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Surround yourself with positive, loving people. Not necessarily to be at the birth, but people who share their positive birth stories, people who are cheering you on, people who will bring you meals and offer good advice and pray for you and take care of you. It makes all the difference.
