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When did you realize you were really in labor?
We had been trying to get labor started all week because I was scheduled for an induction the next day and I REALLY wanted to start labor at home. I'd had cramping on and off all week after several membrane sweeps, but nothing stuck around and got more intense. The day I did actually go into labor, I'd taken castor oil twice, but I'd really given up hope things were going to start on their own. After dinner, when I started paying attention to the backache I'd had for a few hours and realized there was a pattern of greater and lesser intensity, I realized I was in labor. My husband started timing the "greater" intensity and we realized I was having one minute long contractions 2-5 minutes a part. Even then, i didn't really believe it until I could look on the app and see 20 contractions and the sensations hadn't faded away like prior days.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Not knowing how much longer it was going to go, and how much worse it was going to get. I think those two things contributed to my later decision to get an epidural - I knew I'd given it a good run, but I didn't see how I could keep going.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery and Childbirth Without Fear and my husband and I did the Mama Natural Birth Course. Although I didn't end up having the completely natural Childbirth experience I wanted, I felt very prepared and informed going into birth. When I asked for the epidural, my husband asked me, "Is this one of those times you want me to help you stand by your previous desire to go all natural?" And even in the middle of my contractions, I looked him in the eye and said, "I know what I'm asking for. I understand that this means a catheter and continuous fetal heart monitoring and IVs and staying in bed - I am aware of the risks and how this changes the outlook of birth, but I still want it." I credit being able to draw up that knowledge to how well informed the birth course helped me be!
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What surprised you about your birth?
So much! How quickly the contractions settled into a rhythm, how close together the contractions were, how I never felt anything in my abdomen - it all was in my back and radiating down my thighs. I didn't even know you could experience pain from contractions in your thighs! I was surprised also by how little my efforts to relieve the contraction pain seemed to help, and later, when the epidural kicked in, I was surprised at how quickly my body dilated the final 4 cm once I could relax and have some relief from the back labor.
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They were so informative! I really appreciated getting to go through them with my husband and being able to do them even though we live overseas right now.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Moaning low and quiet helped, directing the shower on my hips and thighs helped a little for awhile, and repeating to myself, "I can do this, I am strong, this won't last forever" over and over helped me for a long time.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
On my back in the hospital bed. Since I'd had the epidural, I couldn't get up, and then we had to have a vacuum extraction because the baby's heart rate wasn't recovering between contractions.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
So surreal. To be honest, she felt like a stranger at first - a welcome one, but I had such a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that this little person in my arms had just been the little person kicking and kneeing me in utero. That being said, it was also so much fun - taking in her little face and realizing that our baby was finally born!
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How did the Mama Natural Birth Class help you in your childbirth?
They were so informative! I really appreciated getting to go through them with my husband and being able to do them even though we live overseas right now.
