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When did you realize you were really in labor?
On Wednesday morning, April 5th, I was fixing my daughter breakfast around 7:30am before school and noticed what felt like contractions. They were about 4-5 minutes apart so I continued to make note of them while I drove my daughter to school. They continued for the hour it took me to get her to school and back to the house. They got stronger as the morning when on so I knew it was the real deal. Our doula came over around 11:30 and started timing them and they were around 3 minutes apart lasting a minute. We decided to get ready and head to the birth place where we checked in around 1pm. He was born at 4:18pm.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Being my 2nd natural childbirth, I had some fears from my previous birth so I had to challenge myself to get past those fears. It was about twice as long and I pushed for 2-2.5 hours after being up almost 24 hours, so not knowing what this one would be like and how painful it would be was my biggest fear. In the end, for the labor, in general, pushing was the most challenging part but having a shorter pushing phase and knowing what to do made it so much more manageable.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I did hypnobabies for my previous birth and this go round decided to do Bradley. The two paired together worked great for me leading up to and during my labor. It never got too intense and I was able to use positive mental imagery, positioning, and coaching from my husband to move through the contractions. I also worked out a lot during pregnancy and ate healthy which I think made a big difference in the length and intensity of my labor along with my recovery.
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What surprised you about your birth?
It was much easier than my last. The contractions were never too overwhelming and I felt like I was in control of my body whereas last time I felt a little more out of control. It was a pretty peaceful experience overall. The pushing was the toughest part but it was much shorter this time which I was grateful for!
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Natural is the way to go but preparing is key. If it doesn't go the way you expect it to, you know you did all you could to have the birth you envisioned for you and your baby.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
I used visualization of my husband, daughter, and I and the beach or mountains. I also saw the contractions more as my muscles contracting and working and not so much as pain. Also positioning. I walked around a lot and then laid over or sat on the ball. My husband also did counter pressure on my lower back during contractions when we were getting closer to pushing.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
I squatted in the birthing tub facing my husband so that he was able to catch our son.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was such an amazing feeling. I was overcome
with joy and love for our new little addition. I also felt a sense relief to know that labor was over and that we had a healthy baby boy in our arms. I couldn't wait to get home and introduce him to our daughter.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Many of my friends wonder how I have done it because labor is so "painful." I treated both my pregnancies like I was training for an athletic event. I consistently worked out and ate healthy to get my body ready. Now I am not saying that I didn't indulge because I did daily, but I was cognizant of what I was eating and getting in more protein. I also feel like your mind has to be in the right place to do a natural childbirth. You have to have tools to help you prepare yourself during pregnancy and to cope with the contractions during labor, which is where hypnobabies helped me along with the affirmation cards. Another thing I recommend is having a birthing team. I had a doula and my husband which was a great help! My doula gave me massages to ease the aches and pains of pregnancy and to prep me for labor. Those were very helpful! She was also a great help, along with my husband, during labor to suggest positions and keep me focused and positive. Natural is the way to go but preparing is key. If it doesn't go the way you expect it to, you know you did all you could to have the birth you envisioned for you and your baby.
