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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I had contractions all night long and although they weren’t very strong, I’ve never had Braxton Hicks contractions or anything so I knew they were building up to the real thing.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Not knowing when the baby would be born! I live in Turkey where it is extremely common to have elective Cesarean, so women schedule their births. In the final weeks of my pregnancy, I was constantly wondering when I would go into labor. Having said that, it was also nice in a way to not be in control - there aren’t many times in life when something is really out of your hands like that!
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I found the book “Nurture” by Erica Chidi Cohen very helpful and actually referred to it during labor (I had it on the kindle app on my phone) and still refer to now. I also did the yoga sequence on the Spinning Babies Daily Essentials video which I loved. And of course I also had the Mama Natural week by week pregnancy book! Another book that I read a while back and still refer to is Shiela Kitzinger’s the Year After Childbirth.
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What surprised you about your birth?
How strong I felt! I was tired during my first labor and hungry and dehydrated during my second. For this one, in spite or being 13 years older than I was for my first birth, I was well rested and well fed and I felt really powerful when it came to pushing. So my advice is - rest and eat and drink as much as you can!
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Don’t be afraid. Our bodies were built for this work and they know what to do. If you can manage to trust yourself and surrender to the wisdom of your body and follow your instincts, you can do this.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
For me, breathing and vocalizing were really important. When I was in transition, letting myself make noise really helped to focus me and got me through a very tough time in the back seat of a car stuck in traffic!
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What position did you end up delivering in?
Not an ideal one! On my back in a gynecological exam chair. But I had no stitches and delivered my daughter in four pushes - so even if you end up having to follow orders in the hospital and you end up in a position that you’ve read is not great, all is not lost!
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
Unbelievable. It should be so obvious that this is the moment that the past ten months have been leading up to, but finally holding a warm, wet baby in my arms seemed like the most outlandishly wonderful and miraculous thing.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Don’t be afraid. Our bodies were built for this work and they know what to do. If you can manage to trust yourself and surrender to the wisdom of your body and follow your instincts, you can do this. Also, have the support of people who believe in you - I had a midwife by my side for all three of my labor-day and she helped me immensely.
