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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I woke up around 5 AM with pretty significant cramps and couldn't get back to sleep. I eventually got out of bed, knelt beside the bed and started swaying. That is when I realized that there was some rhythm to the cramps, that they came and went, that they were contractions. I woke my husband up around 6 and asked him if he could come with me to my already scheduled midwife appointment at 9 AM. He checked and made it work (he works from home). After watching me get ready for a bit he told me I was in labor and that I needed to call the midwife and say we were coming. The contractions were definitely time-able and getting closer together. I wasn't sure and didn't want to call. He said he was going to take the day off in case. Our two year old woke up and we got her ready, and I decided my hubs was right. On our way to drop her off at daycare I called our doula and the midwife and asked them to meet us at the birth center.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Not giving up when I kinda felt like pushing but I was only at 6 cm dilated. I really had to work hard to not get discouraged, but keep doing the things that were helping my labor move along-changing positions, moving, eating, drinking labor aid, singing, and reading my birth affirmation cards.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
There were five things that I think really helped me prepare for labor:
1. Red Raspberry Leaf Tea-drank it like crazy in 3rd trimester
2. Eating Dates-6 a day
3. Going to the Chiropractor once a week from 25 weeks forward
4. Prenatal Yoga-especially squats
5. Making my birth affirmation cards-I found lots of positive sayings, quotes, and Bible verses, put them on cards and had them laminated so I could have them with me in the tub too
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What surprised you about your birth?
How much singing helped the contractions not hurt. I read something from Ina May Gaskin, I think, about how singing helps you open up and breath. It was amazing! My husband played all kinds of songs from when we were dating and first married that brought happy memories. I sang through so many contractions and it really helped!
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It was amazing! They told me to reach down and touch her head when she was crowning and my whole demeanor changed. The pain meant nothing since she was almost there!
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Singing through contractions was amazingly effective!
Being in the tub was really helpful, but it slowed my labor.
Massage from my doula or husband helped.
Hip squeezes when I had some back labor (thankfully not a lot).
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What position did you end up delivering in?
I was laying on my side on the bed. We did that to help me not tear as I tore badly with my two year old.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was amazing! They told me to reach down and touch her head when she was crowning and my whole demeanor changed. The pain meant nothing since she was almost there! Then I held her, and she was slippery and mucousy and looking just like her older sister did when she was born. I was just so full of joy and thanks that she was here safe and I was safe (I had a postpartum hemorrhage with my oldest right when she was born).
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
1. Drink your Raspberry Leaf Tea
2. Eat your dates-6 a day
3. Go to the chiropractor-good alignment of hips and position of baby is huge!
4. Prenatal yoga-again good alignment of hips, strength, stamina for labor
5. It is so much easier the second time!
6. Get yourself mentally ready as much as physically ready-pray, visualize, etc. Making my own birth affirmation cards made me do that and I was so much mentally stronger than with my first (also natural, but not nearly as pleasant) birth
