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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I started having moderate-severe back labor around 1:30 AM on October 7th, my due date. By 2:30 am I knew it was the real thing!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
Transition!! I was in transition on our 45 min ride to the hospital and oh man did it take every ounce of resolve to get through that car ride!
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Read! I read all of Ina May's books and every other natural birthing book the library had. This was my fourth natural birth but it had been 6 years since I last had a child so I felt like a first timer again.
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What surprised you about your birth?
How quick it was! Delilah was 5 minutes shy of being born in the car. Labor started around 1:30 AM, became consistent around 2:30 AM. We arrived at the hospital at 3:45 AM and Delilah arrived at 3:50 on her due date, delivered by myself & the nurses, no doctor was present as the on call hadn't yet arrived. We were admitted after her birth!
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Natural birth is mind over matter! The discomfort is temporary and the means to a wonderful end! Once you feel that you want to give up you are likely in transition and very close to birthing your baby.. stick it out! The easier recovery from natural birth is worth it in & of itself.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Imaging the contractions as waves that ebb & flow
Staying on hands & knees helped the back labor
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What position did you end up delivering in?
Hands & knees... got an overwhelming urge to push in the hallway of the childbirth center. The nurses were able to help me walk to a delivery room between contractions. My water burst as I was climbing up onto a delivery bed and I ripped my pants off and immediately started pushing on hands & knees. Staff wanted me to wait so they could set up for delivery or get a doctor there but my body took over and I couldn't stop. Two pushes on hands & knees and my daughter was born!
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
Shocking! The nature of the delivery felt surreal, like a movie. Once my adrenaline settled it was bliss! skin to skin & immediate nursing while the placenta was delivered.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Natural birth is mind over matter! The discomfort is temporary and the means to a wonderful end! Once you feel that you want to give up you are likely in transition and very close to birthing your baby.. stick it out! The easier recovery from natural birth is worth it in & of itself.
