Birth Story (Birth Center) PIP

Crinita

I started to write down the birth story in great detail, but to be honest it was kind of blurry already, insofar as I don't remember exact times, or how much I was dilated when, or what order I went from bed to tub to toilet and back and forth.  It was long, I was tired and in pain!  :P  So I will summarize. 

Some background:  It was my first birth and I am in my early 30s.  I am fit and "low risk."  I didn't have any complications during the pregnancy.  I went unmedicated at a birth center.  A midwife and LPN birth assistant along with my husband were my companions in this venture. 

On Oct. 18th my water broke early in the am.  I had a very prolonged prodromal labor phase, and things didn't really start kicking along until around 3 or 4 pm that afternoon.  After that, I was in labor with increasingly intense and frequent contractions until I had the baby at 5:40 am the following morning, Oct. 19th.  I labored a lot on the toilet, which felt extremely intense.  In the beginning, I was able to breathe through the contractions and I kept things relatively calm.  That fell apart maybe around 8 or 9 pm the night of the 18th, when things were just getting so intense and frequent that I was having to moan and yell through it.  The LPN, who was very compassionate, directed me to keep the moans low and I tried as much as I could to do that, I think that it did help.  In the end, at the pushing stage, I felt the urge to leave the toilet and go to the bed.  After a little over 2 hours of very intense pushing (leaning forward with legs bent up, pushing very hard through the bottom) our little girl finally decided to come out.  I knew that I was going to tear with the pushing but at that point I was so ready to get her out I just made up my mind to push through it and just get it over with so we could have our prize.  It was so worth it!

I did have enough bleeding after the birth that I was given medication for the bleeding and I had to stay down for a bit.  I also had to get some stitching for 2 1st degree (mild) tears.  But at 9:40 that morning (4 hrs later) I was wheel-chaired to the car and allowed to go home with our healthy and alert baby.  I was not expecting my labor to be that long or quite that painful.  To be honest, there were points during the night were I was thinking in my head, "why didn't I just get an epidural in a regular hospital!? WTF is wrong with me!?" but now that I have lived through it and we have our baby I am glad that we went the natural route.  It was obviously doable because she is here.

aylafsu88

Congrats!  You did an amazing job.  Your little girl is beautiful.

ScorpioMum

Congratulations!

rooftop

good job.

TheBorg7of9

Congrats!

Dumb question. When you were on the toilet were you sitting on the lid or open?

Crinita

Open, and while I guess a lot of people sit facing the back (according to the nurse) I was sitting facing forward.  For whatever reason sitting like that just intensified everything and I made more progress there than in the tub, on the ball, or on the bed. 

wintersong

You know, I know so many women who say the same thing about the toilet. Do you think that that's because we are already so used to relazing all of our muslces while doing...er...other things on the toilet, or do you think its for some other reason? (TTC for the first time here, so everything is new and interesting to me!)

painfreelabor

Well done, that was a beautiful story. When your waters go early there is not much chance of a fully pain free labour as hormones are released that open up pathways in your uterine muscle to oxytocin from the brain. This makes the contractions much stronger than they would normally be. Next time I hope you will be able to keep them intact and then you may have a lovely pain free labour. If I can do it then anyone can. Ann x
www.painfreelabour.blogspot.co.uk

shiway

Yes sitting in the toilet is great because we are use to relaxing our bottom and it just happened easier. Also the position. It's kinda like a squat. As long as your legs are at a good height. You don't want to be on tippy ties as that creates tension I your legs. Use stools. Sitting backwards is good because you can prop pillows up I the back and lean forward and relax even more. Again use stools to out your feet up on so they are flat and to I are able to keep legs relaxed!!

Way to go mama! Love birth center birth stories!