Natural Birth
mlrafiki
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My Natural [Rapid] Birth Story: FTM!
mlrafiki
member
Our baby?s due date was 3/27. On Saturday, 3/23 around 6pm, my contractions, which had been irregular for 3 days, became stronger and noticeably regular. I started timing them and called my doula to ask what to do. She had me drink three big glasses of water, eat some crackers, and get in the tub. After I tried this for an hour to no effect, she then advised I take a walk with DH. After walking for a half hour, I found my contractions had intensified and were coming faster. I was also starting to feel nauseated, and my bowels had completely emptied over the course of an hour. I called our doula again and this time, she said I could try to slow the contractions with a small glass of wine so that I could get some rest before the main event.
I drank the wine and a few minutes later vomited it back up as the contractions continued to intensify. I crawled back into the tub, which was the only place I could handle the pain, while DH called another doula from the same group who happened to live closer to us (our assigned doula was about 45min away). She came over to evaluate me and after she helped me breathe through a few contractions, I told her I wanted to go to the hospital. She gently warned me that it might be early to go and asked if I was certain. I knew she was probably right, but decided I would rather make the trip while I could still handle the contractions, and then just labor in the tub or shower at the birth center.
At the hospital, the nurse noted that I had requested not to be told my dilation when she checked me, so she whispered it to the doula. I could tell it was low, because everyone immediately started talking about how I should just go home and try to progress there for a while. I had to stay for at least 20min so that they could check me again ?in case of rapid dilation? the nurse said. I snuggled with DH on the hospital bed while the doula talked me through each contraction. At this point, I was coping pretty well with the pain, but the pacing of the contractions was making it really difficult: there was almost no break in between. At the end of 20min, they checked me and found no progression, so they offered to give me morphine to take the edge off and send me home. I asked why I couldn?t just labor at the hospital, but when they told me that they would have to check me every hour, that made the decision for me. No thank you to the morphine and I?m going home.
I sat up to leave. WHAM! A contraction hit and I made a sort of gutteral scream. Everyone stared at me and I told them ?I think my body just pushed without me!? The nurse instructed me to lie back down and this time when she checked me, she said ?Well, THAT?s a progression. You?re not going home after all.? I later learned that I had dilated from 2cm to 8.5cm in only 10 minutes! The doula instructed me to get into the shower, but as soon as I sat on the bench, I started screaming because my body was pushing again. At this point, the details all become fuzzy to me, but I know I left the shower to get back in the bed, but because I was all wet, I slipped and fell on the floor. By some miracle, I didn?t hurt myself, but it was scary because in the middle of it all, I was still having the hellish contractions and uncontrollable urges to push.
I crawled into the bed, turned on my side and shut my eyes. I didn?t open them again until my son was born. Wave after wave of massive pressure hit me as I felt like the baby was trying to push himself out of me, and no matter how much the doula told me to pant instead of scream, I screamed like a movie birth. I heard the nurse in the background telling me that she was prepping a delivery cart (or something like that.... again, I was incoherent) and that she had called my doctor. Even though my eyes were shut tight, I could sense the room filling with people and activity, another nurse pressing at my stomach with a monitor, trying to get the baby?s heartbeat. My body kept trying to push and I kept struggling to pant instead of scream. People kept asking where my doctor was, why wasn?t she here yet, how close was she?
On one contraction, I felt my water break. I?ve often heard this described as a balloon popping, but for me, it felt more like an explosion. I heard the nurse say there was meconium in the fluid and that they were going to call a pediatrician to check on the baby. This probably should have scared me, but I?ve read so many birth stories in which there was meconium and the baby was fine that it didn?t really register. By this time, I was begging them to let me push, but they kept telling me to wait because my doctor wasn?t there yet. Finally, they gave me the okay to push (I assume my OB had arrived and was just getting scrubbed and gloved), and I gratefully propped my legs up and gave it my all. A moment later, I heard my doctor?s voice, and I think I said something inane like ?Hi, I keep you on your toes? before I was pushing again.
I could clearly feel the progress of my baby moving down, so I didn?t need to be told when they could see the head: I knew he was there. I heard the doula telling me I was pushing too much into my feet and that I needed to hook my hands behind my thighs and put all my energy into pushing the baby out. I grabbed my legs, breathed deeply through the next break between contractions, and then pushed with all my strength. I felt the baby slip out and in the next moment I could feel his warm, wet little body on my stomach. I opened my eyes and started crying ?Oh my God! Oh my God! He?s so tiny!? I had been so focused on the sensations of the birth that I had basically forgotten that the end result was a little person! He screamed his little lungs out and shook like a leaf and it was the most incredible, beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Afterward, I got the stats: we arrived at the hospital around 1:30am, I was still at 2cm at 2:50am, then at 8.5cm at 3:00am. Kenny was born at 3:39am, after 16 minutes of active pushing and less than 10 hours of labor, at 6lbs 15oz. This was classified a ?rapid birth,? and all the doctors and nurses kept talking about how unusual it was in a first birth. They commented that next time, I shouldn?t wait to go to the hospital in case the birth is even faster! I have no idea why my body chose to birth this way, but I admit that I?m grateful: even though it was intense, it was also exhilarating, and I?m pleased to have had a natural birth, even though the circumstances that made it so were completely out of my control. Because it was such an unusually quick birth, however, it leaves me without much useful advice for other Natural Birth hopefuls. That said, there are a few things that I feel may have helped me in some way. One was practicing meditation in advance: I had a "sensation control" hypnotic recording from my doula that I practiced most evenings for two months, usually while walking slowly around my bedroom, to learn to relax while upright. I also listened to the Hypnobabies affirmations during the last week before the due date. I made a point of getting plenty of sleep and removing all stressful elements from my daily life (or convincing myself that they were not important). Because of this, I went into the birth at my most relaxed and was able to react relatively calmly to changing events and sensations, particularly during the last 40min or so when there was so much activity going on around me and I had to focus on panting through the urges to push. Another was having a doula, because her calm support was invaluable when I was on the verge of panicking. And the last thing that really helped me was reading birth stories, because it removed so much of the fear from the experience. Everything in the birth seemed familiar, even though the pace was a surprise, because I'd read something similar in someone else's story. There are other factors, of course: I tried to stay active throughout the pregnancy, and I was doing a lot of natural induction methods (walking, pineapple, bouncing on a birthing ball, sex), but these ones seem to be a crapshoot to me in terms of success, even though they can be helpful. In any case, I wish all the natural birth mamas the best luck and success!
I drank the wine and a few minutes later vomited it back up as the contractions continued to intensify. I crawled back into the tub, which was the only place I could handle the pain, while DH called another doula from the same group who happened to live closer to us (our assigned doula was about 45min away). She came over to evaluate me and after she helped me breathe through a few contractions, I told her I wanted to go to the hospital. She gently warned me that it might be early to go and asked if I was certain. I knew she was probably right, but decided I would rather make the trip while I could still handle the contractions, and then just labor in the tub or shower at the birth center.
At the hospital, the nurse noted that I had requested not to be told my dilation when she checked me, so she whispered it to the doula. I could tell it was low, because everyone immediately started talking about how I should just go home and try to progress there for a while. I had to stay for at least 20min so that they could check me again ?in case of rapid dilation? the nurse said. I snuggled with DH on the hospital bed while the doula talked me through each contraction. At this point, I was coping pretty well with the pain, but the pacing of the contractions was making it really difficult: there was almost no break in between. At the end of 20min, they checked me and found no progression, so they offered to give me morphine to take the edge off and send me home. I asked why I couldn?t just labor at the hospital, but when they told me that they would have to check me every hour, that made the decision for me. No thank you to the morphine and I?m going home.
I sat up to leave. WHAM! A contraction hit and I made a sort of gutteral scream. Everyone stared at me and I told them ?I think my body just pushed without me!? The nurse instructed me to lie back down and this time when she checked me, she said ?Well, THAT?s a progression. You?re not going home after all.? I later learned that I had dilated from 2cm to 8.5cm in only 10 minutes! The doula instructed me to get into the shower, but as soon as I sat on the bench, I started screaming because my body was pushing again. At this point, the details all become fuzzy to me, but I know I left the shower to get back in the bed, but because I was all wet, I slipped and fell on the floor. By some miracle, I didn?t hurt myself, but it was scary because in the middle of it all, I was still having the hellish contractions and uncontrollable urges to push.
I crawled into the bed, turned on my side and shut my eyes. I didn?t open them again until my son was born. Wave after wave of massive pressure hit me as I felt like the baby was trying to push himself out of me, and no matter how much the doula told me to pant instead of scream, I screamed like a movie birth. I heard the nurse in the background telling me that she was prepping a delivery cart (or something like that.... again, I was incoherent) and that she had called my doctor. Even though my eyes were shut tight, I could sense the room filling with people and activity, another nurse pressing at my stomach with a monitor, trying to get the baby?s heartbeat. My body kept trying to push and I kept struggling to pant instead of scream. People kept asking where my doctor was, why wasn?t she here yet, how close was she?
On one contraction, I felt my water break. I?ve often heard this described as a balloon popping, but for me, it felt more like an explosion. I heard the nurse say there was meconium in the fluid and that they were going to call a pediatrician to check on the baby. This probably should have scared me, but I?ve read so many birth stories in which there was meconium and the baby was fine that it didn?t really register. By this time, I was begging them to let me push, but they kept telling me to wait because my doctor wasn?t there yet. Finally, they gave me the okay to push (I assume my OB had arrived and was just getting scrubbed and gloved), and I gratefully propped my legs up and gave it my all. A moment later, I heard my doctor?s voice, and I think I said something inane like ?Hi, I keep you on your toes? before I was pushing again.
I could clearly feel the progress of my baby moving down, so I didn?t need to be told when they could see the head: I knew he was there. I heard the doula telling me I was pushing too much into my feet and that I needed to hook my hands behind my thighs and put all my energy into pushing the baby out. I grabbed my legs, breathed deeply through the next break between contractions, and then pushed with all my strength. I felt the baby slip out and in the next moment I could feel his warm, wet little body on my stomach. I opened my eyes and started crying ?Oh my God! Oh my God! He?s so tiny!? I had been so focused on the sensations of the birth that I had basically forgotten that the end result was a little person! He screamed his little lungs out and shook like a leaf and it was the most incredible, beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Afterward, I got the stats: we arrived at the hospital around 1:30am, I was still at 2cm at 2:50am, then at 8.5cm at 3:00am. Kenny was born at 3:39am, after 16 minutes of active pushing and less than 10 hours of labor, at 6lbs 15oz. This was classified a ?rapid birth,? and all the doctors and nurses kept talking about how unusual it was in a first birth. They commented that next time, I shouldn?t wait to go to the hospital in case the birth is even faster! I have no idea why my body chose to birth this way, but I admit that I?m grateful: even though it was intense, it was also exhilarating, and I?m pleased to have had a natural birth, even though the circumstances that made it so were completely out of my control. Because it was such an unusually quick birth, however, it leaves me without much useful advice for other Natural Birth hopefuls. That said, there are a few things that I feel may have helped me in some way. One was practicing meditation in advance: I had a "sensation control" hypnotic recording from my doula that I practiced most evenings for two months, usually while walking slowly around my bedroom, to learn to relax while upright. I also listened to the Hypnobabies affirmations during the last week before the due date. I made a point of getting plenty of sleep and removing all stressful elements from my daily life (or convincing myself that they were not important). Because of this, I went into the birth at my most relaxed and was able to react relatively calmly to changing events and sensations, particularly during the last 40min or so when there was so much activity going on around me and I had to focus on panting through the urges to push. Another was having a doula, because her calm support was invaluable when I was on the verge of panicking. And the last thing that really helped me was reading birth stories, because it removed so much of the fear from the experience. Everything in the birth seemed familiar, even though the pace was a surprise, because I'd read something similar in someone else's story. There are other factors, of course: I tried to stay active throughout the pregnancy, and I was doing a lot of natural induction methods (walking, pineapple, bouncing on a birthing ball, sex), but these ones seem to be a crapshoot to me in terms of success, even though they can be helpful. In any case, I wish all the natural birth mamas the best luck and success!
"Can I call your baby 'Ze Munchkin,' or 'ZM' for short?" - my best friend
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Re: My Natural [Rapid] Birth Story: FTM!
Wow, what a beautiful story! Well done mama!
For both of my births I also asked not to be told dilation, I think it's a huge help. Particularly in situations like yours, it really doesn't matter because it could change very quickly.</
Congrats!