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XP: Natural Birth Story - Michael Gerald
saralicious
member
Michael Gerald was born at 1:21am on Wednesday, October 24th, weighing 7lbs 15oz and measuring 20 inches long.
I had my natural birth, and here is the short version of the story:
I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling some menstrual-like cramps. That's really the most accurate way to describe it. They were coming pretty regularly, though not very close together and not very intense at all. So James and I spent the day at home together watching mindless sitcoms while I switched positions every so often to make myself more comfortable. I was using my Hypnobirthing breathing techniques, staying very relaxed through each surge. As time passed, they got more intense, but James helped me stay relaxed, supporting me with the prompts and phrases we learned in our class.
After a fabulous dinner of macaroni and cheese, I thought I should call the midwife because there was a different feeling to one of the surges. They were coming about 3-5 minutes apart, lasting 45 second to 1 min. We decided that I should head over to the hospital to get checked to see if this was it. I was pretty sure she wouldn't be sending me home, but I was also afraid that I hadn't made much progress.
When we got to the hospital, registered and hooked up to the monitors, my midwife was surprised to find me at 6cm. This was at about 8:30 or 9:00 Tuesday night.
I labored in the room with very little interruption for a couple of hours, I guess, (nurses and midwife were very supportive of my birth preferences that way) until I called for the midwife because I was feeling some rectal pressure.
She came in to check me again and told me I was at 7cm. I was disappointed for about a milisecond until my waters released when she tried to check the postion of the head, which immediately took me to a 9.
I definitely felt when it was time to "push," though in Hypnobirthing, we were taught to "breathe the baby gently down." I'm not sure that's possible, at least it wasn't for me in the frame of mind I was in. I pushed hard, and made some animal noises, and I even screamed, but I was stil able to completely relax (with DH prompting) between pushes. I pushed for 45 minutes (I was later told... seemed like a lot longer), I got to feel the head crowning, though I was too focused in the moment to open my eyes and look in the mirror. My husband helped receive the baby and placed him on my chest. He didn't even think he'd want to watch, much less help, but he was amazing, and he even cut the cord after it finished pulsing.
The midwife announced the sex because James forgot to look, he was so excited. And he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I was so relieved to have him out that I didn't even cry, it was more like shock to finally see him.
I am so proud of all you mothers out there, and I hope that everyone has the birth that they want. I feel really great about my birth, and I'm very proud that I did it the way that I did, the way I wanted. It was really amazing because there honestly wasn't much "pain" at all. The worst part was between pushes when the head was stretching everything out. I had a 2nd degree tear, and getting the novacaine shots for the repair hurt more than the birth itself, including the stretching part.
Okay, so maybe that wasn't the short, short version, but we're all doing great. I have pictures on flickr.com under my screenname "saralicious." I'm trying to get some into the profile, but my boobs might be needed soon.
Good luck everyone!
~Sara
I had my natural birth, and here is the short version of the story:
I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling some menstrual-like cramps. That's really the most accurate way to describe it. They were coming pretty regularly, though not very close together and not very intense at all. So James and I spent the day at home together watching mindless sitcoms while I switched positions every so often to make myself more comfortable. I was using my Hypnobirthing breathing techniques, staying very relaxed through each surge. As time passed, they got more intense, but James helped me stay relaxed, supporting me with the prompts and phrases we learned in our class.
After a fabulous dinner of macaroni and cheese, I thought I should call the midwife because there was a different feeling to one of the surges. They were coming about 3-5 minutes apart, lasting 45 second to 1 min. We decided that I should head over to the hospital to get checked to see if this was it. I was pretty sure she wouldn't be sending me home, but I was also afraid that I hadn't made much progress.
When we got to the hospital, registered and hooked up to the monitors, my midwife was surprised to find me at 6cm. This was at about 8:30 or 9:00 Tuesday night.
I labored in the room with very little interruption for a couple of hours, I guess, (nurses and midwife were very supportive of my birth preferences that way) until I called for the midwife because I was feeling some rectal pressure.
She came in to check me again and told me I was at 7cm. I was disappointed for about a milisecond until my waters released when she tried to check the postion of the head, which immediately took me to a 9.
I definitely felt when it was time to "push," though in Hypnobirthing, we were taught to "breathe the baby gently down." I'm not sure that's possible, at least it wasn't for me in the frame of mind I was in. I pushed hard, and made some animal noises, and I even screamed, but I was stil able to completely relax (with DH prompting) between pushes. I pushed for 45 minutes (I was later told... seemed like a lot longer), I got to feel the head crowning, though I was too focused in the moment to open my eyes and look in the mirror. My husband helped receive the baby and placed him on my chest. He didn't even think he'd want to watch, much less help, but he was amazing, and he even cut the cord after it finished pulsing.
The midwife announced the sex because James forgot to look, he was so excited. And he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I was so relieved to have him out that I didn't even cry, it was more like shock to finally see him.
I am so proud of all you mothers out there, and I hope that everyone has the birth that they want. I feel really great about my birth, and I'm very proud that I did it the way that I did, the way I wanted. It was really amazing because there honestly wasn't much "pain" at all. The worst part was between pushes when the head was stretching everything out. I had a 2nd degree tear, and getting the novacaine shots for the repair hurt more than the birth itself, including the stretching part.
Okay, so maybe that wasn't the short, short version, but we're all doing great. I have pictures on flickr.com under my screenname "saralicious." I'm trying to get some into the profile, but my boobs might be needed soon.
Good luck everyone!
~Sara
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Re: XP: Natural Birth Story - Michael Gerald
Thanks for posting this! It is so important to see positive experiences with natural childbirth on here. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for an awesome adventure of natural childbirth and it seems there are not enough stories like yours circulating.