Christmas Day Natural Birth Story
Hi All,
This is my first post on this board, and I happy to share my natural birth story!
Christmas Eve was my due date, and around 9:30 or so that evening, I started having some uncomfortable cramping that quickly turned into contractions around 11pm. They were coming on pretty fast (3-4 minutes apart), but they stated to slow down and become more regular as the night progressed. I knew I was in for no sleep that night, but DH went to sleep around 1 am, and I continued to labor at home by walking around and laying in bed until I woke DH up at 4:30. We really wanted to see DS open some Christmas presents, so we woke him up around 5:15 to open Santa gifts.
We said our goodbyes to my parents and DS, and we got to the hospital around 6am. I went straight to triage and they checked me at 5 cm dilated. I requested no IV, but they didn't go for it. They wanted to give me fluids, and after I was transferred to the birthing suite, they let me unplug and walk around. I couldn't walk around for long because the contractions were getting more intense, so I went back to my room. The doctor checked me soon after and I was only at 6 cm by this point (8am). We agreed to break my water to get things moving. And boy did it get intense after that!!
The contractions were coming on strong about 2 minutes apart, and around 9 am I was feeling a lot of pressure in my butt. I was sure it was time to push. But no, I was at 8 cm. Between 9-10am, I went from 8 to 10 cm, and that was absolutely the most pain I have ever experienced in my life. Before the doctors came back in to check me at 10, the contractions were never ending. I had constant waves of horrible pain to excruciating pain...not fun. My body began to involuntarily push on its own. DH kept telling me not to push, and I seriously wanted to punch him. I could not control the urge.
The doctors came in around 9:50am and got me ready to push. Pushing was painful, but not nearly as extreme as the transition part of labor. With three sets of contractions, it was all over. At 10:10am, our little surprise baby came into the world. William weighed in at 8 lbs 11oz and is 20 1/2 inches long.
I was so proud of myself fo going med-free. I had an epi with my first son, and things just progressively went down hill after that. I didn't want to go down that road again, and I wanted things to move seamlessly. And they did this time.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your deliveries!
Re: Christmas Day Natural Birth Story
I did absolutely nothing to prepare this time...lol. I just went in knowing that I wasn't going to get an epi. I did not want another 28 hour labor, and I have a couple of friends that have done it med-free, and they were a great inspiration. DH was also very supportive. I think that if you just make the decision to go without pain meds long before you have the baby, you just get in the mind set of "that's just how it's gonna be." Hope that makes sense.