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When did you realize you were really in labor?
It's kind of cliche, but when my water broke! I had been in prodromal labor for two weeks and it had felt very real about three times before that, so that was the definite sign that I was waiting for!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Two weeks before actually going into labor, I went into labor. Everything felt just as it had with my first. Regular, painful contractions that I had to breathe through for hours. My midwife told me to come to the birth center and I labored all day with little progress and eventually it slowed to the point that the attached hospital was pressuring my midwife to either break my water or send me home. With my last delivery, the doctor broke my water against my wishes and I was far too traumatized from that to consider it, so my midwife, husband and I decided that I would go home to labor. For two weeks I labored off and on and was in so much pain that I almost reconsidered having my water broken manually just to end it. In the end, I decided to trust my body. Trusting your body is the most important thing.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Sitting on the birthing ball, sitting and lying in ways that help to prevent the baby from being posterior (Spinning Babies), prenatal yoga and drinking red raspberry leaf tea. I also went to the chiropractor regularly and that was extremely helpful. The last few weeks of my pregnancy the Mama Natural week-by-week was up and running and was really helpful as well!
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What surprised you about your birth?
How fast it was! My contractions felt slightly different the morning he was born. I can't describe it, but they weren't any more painful until after my water broke, just different. My husband stayed up with me and we decided that if nothing more happened by 1 AM that we would try to sleep. We ended up going to bed earlier than one and as I was maneuvering myself into bed, my water broke at exactly 12:59! With my first, I labored for seventeen hours and pushed for four. This is my second child and (aside from the two weeks prior) I labored for only three hours after my water broke and pushed for only ten minutes! And this was almost a ten pound baby, four pounds more than his sister! My body apparently just likes a long, slow labor and crazy fast delivery!
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For two weeks I labored off and on and was in so much pain that I almost reconsidered having my water broken manually just to end it. In the end, I decided to trust my body. Trusting your body is the most important thing.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Holding my husband's hand, praying and telling myself that I could do this, that women had been doing this forever and breathing.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
On my side.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was amazing. And beautiful. I was so energized compared to the first time. My husband got to announce that the baby is a boy and we just cried, smiled and counted his little fingers and toes.
