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When did you realize you were really in labor?
The night before I was having some stronger contractions than before. We wanted to have the baby the following day (long story) so between that and knowing that it might be a while til we had another opportunity, my partner and I made love that night, both to enjoy it and to help stimulate labor. I slept through the night just fine and the following morning the stronger contractions continued. They were fairly irregular and I was able to keep playing with my son and cleaning up around the house until about noon when it was clear I needed to go focus on labor. I went up to our bedroom and started timing contractions. They were less than 5 minutes apart and were increasingly intense. We left for the hospital an hour later.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
This time, there wasn't a huge challenge. I labored and delivered so fast (less than three hours total from the onset of active labor to birth) that medication wasn't an option. I was admitted to the hospital just 45 minutes before giving birth, so again, there was no option.
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AdaBean
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I read Birthing from Within which helped some in terms of coping techniques to manage the intensity. I also took a prenatal yoga class, and discussions from that class helped me remember to make low sounds and to breath! I think doing my first birth naturally also helped, although that was a much more challenging birth.
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What surprised you about your birth?
How fast it happened! About 35 minutes after being admitted I was having increasingly intense contractions with a tiny urge to push. I got up to go to the bathroom and luckily the midwife and my husband followed me to the bathroom. My first contraction sitting on the toilet turned into a huge push, I nearly gave birth into the toilet! I managed to get down on hands and knees on the floor of the bathroom for my next contraction and then my body seemed to know that the next one would be it, so I had a long enough break to get back to the bed and up on all fours on the bed where in one really really long push the baby was out! My first birth involved three hours of pushing after 7 hours of active and very intense labor, so all of this was quite a lovely surprise!
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Do what is right for you. If you really want to go natural, don't give yourself the option of interventions.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Breathing, making low sounds, different body positions and focus points. For the first hour of active labor at home I focused on the timer on my phone while I leaned over a yoga ball. Once at the hospital it took a long time to get through the registration/admissions process - I spent most of that time on my knees leaning into a wheel chair. Once I was able to move freely for the rest I was in the closest thing to a child's pose as I could get considering my belly.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
Again, all fours child's pose although when the baby actually came out I was more up on my knees.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
Amazing! With our first he had major breathing issues and I did not get to hold him for over 36 hours - I didn't see him for at least three or four hours, so getting to hold her right away and to see that she was ok was amazing. They placed her underneath me on the bed immediately after she was born and I kept saying "she's here and she's ok!" over and over. Then holding her for a while was magical!
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Do what is right for you. If you really want to go natural, don't give yourself the option of interventions. With our first I think the birth plan and using a midwife in the hospital who had a reputation for insisting on things being a certain way helped. We delivered in a different city this time and I again had a midwife although it could have been any one of several midwives. We were lucky to deliver on a day when the midwife I had seen the most was at the hospital and she knew what I wanted. Because everything happened so fast, the birth plan wasn't really a help the second time except for having discussed it with the midwife a few weeks in advance. Between making sure the midwives would work with me on the natural birth and mentally not giving myself the option, I pulled it off both times, much easier the second time than the first I must say.
