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When did you realize you were really in labor?
My water broke early in the morning when I had gone outside to cut some wood for the fire. It was hours before the contractions began, but once they started I knew I didn't have long.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
I experienced more pain than I had ever felt before, even more than with my first child, and wow that was hard. However, it was also a great challenge for me in the last weeks of pregnancy to let go of some fear I had about hemorrhaging. I was prepared to have an unassisted home birth this time, knowing a birthing center was less than 10 minutes away, but was still nervous I might hemorrhage like I did with my first. I spoke to a few midwives about it and realized that Shepard's purse, yarrow and even a bite of your own placenta had the power to stop a hemorrhage immediately after childbirth. I took the precaution of making a strong infusion of yarrow when I was in early labor and drank that after my baby was born. No heavy bleeding this time. I also believe that was simply due to different circumstances, but it was nice to have those herbal allies by my side anyway.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I read. A lot. Some of the most helpful information I internalized was that transition was almost always the most difficult part, but being in that also meant that your baby was probably only minutes away from being born. This helped me to just be in that phase, and focus on helping my child descend gently and safely through the birth canal. During my first childbirth experience, I had the impulse to push without ceasing, which I believe was out of fear that the transitional phase would last forever, and that may have even contributed to the mild hemorrhaging I experienced afterwards. This time I barely pushed, had no tearing and have had a much easier time healing postpartum.
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What surprised you about your birth?
The intensity that I experienced with my second child was shocking. I was so quiet when I labored with my daughter the first time. This time I was moaning, which gradually got louder and louder until I hit transition and was roaring. I could not have contained it if I tried. It was also a much faster labor. Only about 5 or 6 hours from the start of contractions until the birth of my son, whereas I labored approximately 15 hours my first time.
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Start believing in yourself because you are capable of feeling so much more than you ever have in order to birth one of the greatest loves of your life.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
I knew that I wanted to at least labor in a warm bath, if not give birth there. So when my contractions began my husband started heating up water. We are very off-grid at the moment, so in order to fill up a bath we have to heat several large pots of water on a fire, which takes a considerable amount of time. By the time the tub was full I was in definite need of it. We put a few drops of lavender oil in the water and I breathed my way through several contractions. That gave me just enough time to gather up my courage and get a grip on the reality that this was happening and that it was going to be intense. Besides water, I'd say my best strategy for dealing with the pain was the use of my voice. Every time a contraction started I would accompany it with sound and it was almost intriguing for me to listen to the different noises my body wanted to make, because eventually it was an involuntary reaction.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
After awhile I decided to get out of the tub and ease my way over to a bed we had prepared just for the birth. The front part of the bed was elevated slighted so that I could work with gravity. I got down on my hands and knees and sometimes let my elbows rest up at the top. I would rock back and forth with each contraction in this position until I could feel my baby coming out.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was such a relief to finally hold my son. My body was shaking violently and I was a mess of emotions. All I could think clearly about was that he was safe in my arms.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
My advice to other mamas that want to go natural is to take ANY opportunity you can to witness others give birth, even if you have the opportunity to watch a mama dog or other animals! You will learn so much. It may be a very different experience for every creature, but you can still witness the nature of childbirth itself. How it is something the body just does. Otherwise, read birth stories, make birth art. Get "into" your body. Dance, stretch, do yoga and love on yourself as much as you can during your pregnancy. Start believing in yourself because you are capable of feeling so much more than you ever have in order to birth one of the greatest loves of your life.
