Natural birth story (PIP)

joyfullyfound · March 2012

Hi ladies!

(this is a XP from March 2012)

I had my DD a few days ago and wanted to share my story with any of you who are wanting to try a natural birth. It's so worth it! After the birth, I felt great and DD was alert and happy. Breastfeeding went well right from the start

DH and I took one general prenatal class, but other than that I just read a lot (especially liked anything by Ina May)

Eliza Leah was born March 11th, at 6:45am. She weighed 6lbs 5oz, and was 19cm long. She's perfect.

On the 10th my midwife gave me a stretch and sweep, and by that evening I had bloody show and irregular, spaced-out contractions. I took some Gravol and went to bed but woke up at 4:00 am because they were too painful to sleep through. They were coming closer together but still irregular - every 3-5 minutes, varying.

So early labour was on, and I laboured at home all morning. DH and I went out and got smoothies and then my midwife came to check me around noon. I was 4cm and she said we'd have the baby by evening. Not so!!

We now know that Eliza was posterious and not fully engaging with my cervix, so that's why early labour went on and on... but at the time, it was pretty frustrating. It wasn't that bad though... I was just anxious to have my baby, but the early labour contractions weren't terrible. Painful, but definitely something I could cope with pretty easily.

Our doula dropped off a birth ball, and a TENS unit (if you haven't heard of them, look them up! HIGHLY recommend - amazingly helpful) since I wanted to labour at home (away from where the option of pain meds were) for as long as possible. I tried to go to sleep that evening, but sleeping through the contractions wasn't possible anymore and I dozed for an hour or so. By 11:00pm I woke up DH and asked to go to the hospital. When we called my MW, she told me to hop in the shower and call my doula instead of leaving right away.

The shower was AWESOME. I was having a lot of back labour, and the warm water on my back was great. I stayed in there, with my doula and DH crouched outside talking me through it, until our hot water ran out. Then it was hospital time!

We got to the hospital around 1:00am, and met my midwife there. My doula ran around, dimming the lights and putting out electronic candles. My MW checked my cervix and I was 9cm!! Yay! She said we were going to have the baby any time, so if I wanted to get in the shower this was my only chance. I took it. My DH pulled up a stool in the bathroom, and the others left us alone, so it was just me and him, and I laboured in there for another 2 hours. Evenutally (FINALLY) I had the urge to push, and my body started involuntarily pushing. Then my water broke, and my MW got me out to check the progress.

From then on it was push, push, push. It seemed like the baby would be coming any moment, but instead she just hung in there an impossibly long time. I tried pushing on the toilet, on my hands and knees, with the bar, on my side.... and her head was CROWNING for TWO AND A HALF hours!! I watched in the mirror, and touched her head - it was amazing.

Because of her position, I was having pretty short, spaced out contractions (like I had been all along), and that meant that I only got a couple good pushes in per contraction, making progress slow. They could have just given me an episiotomy, and I could hear the nurses urging my MW to do one, but she was so great and just kept encouraging me along and applying warm compresses.

Finally, amazingly, the head came out! The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, so I had to stop pushing for a second, and then the rest of the body slipped out. They put her right on my chest. My DH caught her and cut the cord, which he had no idea he would be able to do - he thought he wouldn't even want to see what was going on down there

And that's the story! I didn't tear, but I ended up with some hemroids haha. I feel great, and Eliza is going awesome. BF is going well!

Even with all that pushing, I would say labour was pretty... easy? Just easier that they make it sound. Getting to 9cm was no problem, really... and pushing wasn't so much painful as it was really hard, scary work. Scary because you just don't really want something that big coming out of your poor little vag lol. But to encourage any of you the want to try a natural birth - you can do it! Just stay home as long as you can, set yourself up with a great support team that understands your goals and wishes for the birth, and believe!

Eliza on mom's chest:

Getting shown off by dad: