Birthing Three Other Children First Helped Sarah During Her Hospital Birth

When did you realize you were really in labor?

I woke up at 2 am with some intense but very irregular contractions. I knew I was in labor but the contractions weren't hard enough or consistent enough (ranging from 5 min apart to 25 min apart) for me to wake up my husband and get to the hospital.

I knew it was urgent for us to get to the hospital at about 4:07 am when I looked at my clock and realized I was in the midst of a series of contractions that was lasting longer than 5 minutes straight. I yelled at my husband from the bathroom to wake up and that we needed to get to the hospital NOW.

What was the most challenging thing about going natural?

For me it is always the stress of wondering if going to the hospital was going to create a need for or pressure to have interventions I didn't want.

What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?

Have three other children first ;)

What surprised you about your birth?

Well, that it happened so fast. I went from realizing we needed to go to the hospital to having an absolutely URGENT need to get there in about 5 minutes. We left our house for the hospital at 4:17 - my last two contractions before leaving the house I was starting to feel a LOT of pressure "down there" - but I didn't want to tell my mom or husband what I was feeling because I knew they would get nervous. I almost wouldn't get into the car (but decided that birthing in the car on the way to the hospital was a better scenario than on my driveway - I knew I couldn't walk back inside without too many contractions that would send that baby girl on out!) ... but I did, and 5 minutes later we arrived at the hospital. So it's 4:22 am. My husband pulls up outside, sprints in and yells "My wife is about to have a baby in our car" (I guess I didn't have to tell him about the pressure - he's watched this three times before and knew what was happening)! Someone runs out to help him with me and in a couple minutes I was inside the ER, where I was "greeted" by a full L&D team. Right after walking in, a hard contraction broke my water and her head crowned. They have me get into a wheelchair to take me back to the ER - so a nurse is literally holding baby's head inside and telling me I cannot push yet and telling me to breathe. A nurse slips on the amniotic fluid and completely wipes out (I remember thinking that it looked like it REALLY hurt). The first door we try to go through is locked so we have to back up. Finally (well, about 30 seconds later), we make it out of the waiting room and into a hallway where there are more nurses and a stretcher waiting (and an elderly man peering around the corner). Sometime in there my husband was able to get my underwear off (and saw that she was crowning). I stood up with the next contraction, delivered her head then pulled myself onto the stretcher (despite telling them "I cannot get on that stretcher!") and the rest of my sweet little baby was born. I leaned back and started laughing: "Did that really just happen??!"

Always amazing. It always feels to me like it's this perfect moment where everything is right in the world.

What pain relief strategies worked best?

I have always preferred to labor in a tub for the hardest parts. I had the opportunity to do so with my first two deliveries. The second two happened so fast I didn't have time to get in the tub!

I found that the position I was in made a huge difference. I liked standing up and leaning over onto something - a bed, my husband - but laying down during hard contractions, no matter what side or position, was always more uncomfortable for me.

What position did you end up delivering in?

Standing up in a semi-squat.

How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?

Always amazing. It always feels to me like it's this perfect moment where everything is right in the world.

What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?

Prepare for it! I took Bradley classes before my oldest daughter was born. Between that and experiencing the birth in person of six of my nieces and nephews (and talking with my sisters about their experiences), I feel like I had an arsenal of scenarios/ experiences and knew how I'd want to handle each of them. That knowledge gave me confidence in making decisions that aligned with my desires for my births.

I also would advise moms to not try to rush the birth! We have in our heads that 40 weeks is the magic time at which your baby should be ready to be born, and it doesn't do any good to get your mind stuck on that date. My least pleasant birth experience was with my oldest - I was anxious about the fact that she was 4 days past her due date and I basically went to hospital so early in labor and due to a variety of reasons they ended up putting me on pitocin. I still ended up not having any pain medications but it was a long process and altogether just not what I wanted. I was so determined not to rush things with my second that he was 10 days past his due date but my birth experience was so much more what I had hoped for!