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Birth Stories
Claire's natural birth story-long
On Thursday morning I woke up with some bloody show. Two nights earlier I had some mild contractions but they fizzled out. I was supposed to head out of town for a wedding, but decided to stay put instead. I had the day off of work so I spent it relaxing and went to lunch with a good friend. That night around 8pm I felt some mild contractions again. Since they had fizzled out the night before, I decided to go to bed and not stay up timing them.
Around 1am I woke to more intense contractions and it hurt to lie down while I was having them. They were anywhere from 8 minutes to 15 minutes apart and were not consistent. I woke my husband up and he began timing them on contractionmaster.com. Every time I had a contrax, I would stand up and lean on the edge of the pack n play and sway back and forth. When they got intense I would moan a low moan. In between contrax I tried to cat nap to save energy. I also made sure not to look at the clock and instead tried to stay in the moment. During this time I was bleeding and would feel a small gush with every contrax.
Around 6am the contrax were 4 minutes apart and lasting a minute to a minute and a half. I called the midwife on call who suggested that because of the bleeding, I should come into the hospital to get checked out and if everything was ok, I'd be able to transfer to the birth center (which was on the hospital grounds). The bleeding ended up being a high leak of my water bag.
We arrived to the hospital around 7am and I was hooked up to the fetal heart monitor. They let me stand while I was being monitored, which I was grateful for. Lying in the bed during a contrax was absolutely horrible. I really needed to stand, sway and moan, through each contrax.
The midwife checked me and said I was between 6 and 7 cm. This was hugely motivating for me. I was so afraid I'd get to the hospital and I'd only be 2-3 cm. Knowing that I was almost 7 cm and I was managing the contrax well was really motivating. As we were waiting to get transferred to the birth center, we were informed that the midwife on call at the birth center was sick and they were calling around for someone to cover so I could transfer there. I was pretty upset that they didn't have coverage, yet I was also in no mood to transfer to another location. All I wanted to do was get into a tub. I had taken a shower at home before I left and the water felt soooo good. I really wanted to be back in a shower or a tub and I didn't really care whether it was at the hospital or birth center. I ended up staying at the hospital due to the staffing shortage. I was disappointed because I wanted a water birth which I could only have at the birth center, but I was grateful that the midwife at the hospital was my favorite one of the practice.
I finally got set up in a room with a tub and was able to hop in and relax. The warm water felt amazing and I was instantly in a better mood. Right before I hopped in the tub I threw up and my water broke at the same time. This was also a huge motivator since I knew it meant that I was heading toward the transition.
For the next three hours I labored in the tub with music playing. My husband and doula helped me relax between each contrax and I was able to stay in the moment and take them one at a time. I was in such a good mood and so comfortable during this time that I actually laughed, sang along to the music, and joked with the nurse and midwife. After about 2-3 hours I started to feel the urge to push with each contrax. It was a very different sensation than I was expecting. It felt like my lower body was throwing up at the end of every contrax. I don't know how else to explain it. At this point my midwife suggested I get out of the tub and get checked. It took some convincing from everyone since I was so comfortable. I made them promise that I could get back in if I wanted.
Once I was out of the tub my midwife checked me and said I was almost fully dilated except for a small lip. She offered to try to move it during the next contrax. This was so painful and I made her stop. She tried again on the next contrax and it hurt again. She asked me to try not to push for a few contractions so I wouldn't swell my cervix, but this was almost impossible. She checked again after a few more contrax and I was fully dilated.
Once she said I could start trying to push, I felt completely overwhelmed. It was as if the full weight of what I was about to do hit me like a ton of bricks. I kept saying I couldn't do it and that I was scared. My husband and doula were great at coaching me and my midwife suggested a ton of different positions. I think I tried 6 different positions before I finally ended up flat on my back. I found this ironic since all of the reading I had done said this was the most ineffective way to push. For some reason it was the best position for me and I was able to push effectively.
I had a hard time mentally wrapping my brain around what I was doing. I kept saying I couldn't do it and kept asking if I was pushing correctly. After a while I could begin to feel her head coming out with every push, and then it would slip back in. My midwife said I was stretching really well and let me push and stop when needed. The last few pushes were so intense and I screamed at the top of my lungs. It was the most intense experience and I felt myself totally lose control of my mind and body.
After 1 and a half hours of pushing, Claire was born at 11:29am weighing 6lbs 9oz and was 19.5 inches long. They put her on my chest and we opened her little legs to find out the gender. My husband and I were convinced we were having a boy and were completely floored when we saw it was a girl. I screamed, "is that a girl?!"
After a few moments of looking at her I asked my midwife if the placenta was going to be as painful to deliver. She said it was much easier and it came with "a handle." I now wish I had never asked that question since I feel like I jinxed myself. While my midwife was instructing me to push the placenta out, I heard her say, "sh!t." She turned to the nurse and said, "get doc so and so, and tell her we have a detached cord." All of a sudden things got quietly intense and the doc came running. The nurse started an IV on me and stuck me with a shot of pitocin. The doc came in and immediately reached her entire arm into my uterus to get the placenta. My midwife pressed down on my stomach while the doc's arm was in me. This was the single most painful experience of my life. I was screaming and scared and I was still holding my baby in my arms. After a minute or so of reaching in me to get all the pieces of my placenta, the doc stopped and said she was sorry, but I was bleeding at a high rate and they needed to get it out. I lost 500 cc's of blood and felt very weak after. My midwife explained that my placenta got stuck in my cervix and the cord detached, which is why they needed to manually remove it. She said it's not a common occurrence but could have been a major emergency had they not gotten it out. Unfortunately they did not get all the pieces out and I ended up needing a D&C two weeks later.
Aside from the scary ending to my birth, I could not have asked for a better labor and delivery experience. I wanted to go natural and I was so proud that I was able to. The tub was the best relief from the contrax and I never once thought of getting any pain meds. I felt completely able to handle the contrax and took them one at a time and made sure to relax and regroup between each one. I was so happy that I was able to labor at home through most of the labor and felt grateful that I had a relatively short labor and delivery (15 hours). I think the fact that I stood through each contrax (until I was in the tub) helped to dilate me. I was also 90% effaced at my last appointment so I know that helped as well.
For those of you thinking about going natural, I would highly recommend it. It was an incredibly empowering experience. I am someone who as NO tolerance for pain and would be the last person you'd think capable of going natural. I would not describe the contrax as painful, like a broken bone type of pain. Instead they were intense, uncomfortable, with lots of pressure. It's the type of pain or discomfort I'd imagine you'd feel when running a marathon. The contrax were like running stadium stairs with a minute break in between and the pushing stage was like doing squats or bench pressing 150 pounds. The pain was an athletic type of pain, if that makes any sense. The other thing to remember is that it's very short lived. The contrax are about a minute to a minute and a half long, but only 15-30 seconds of that is the most painful part. The contraxs are like a wave which gets more intense as the wave crests. Once you think you can't take it any more, it begins to come down. The breaks in between are the best part and if you're able to relax and regroup during them, it helps.
Recovery was much harder than I expected. The next day I felt like I'd been hit by a bus and every muscle in my body ached. It took a full week or more for my muscles to feel better. My girl parts felt pretty good after a couple of days and most of the swelling was gone within a week. I had one small tear that I never felt and didn't need stitches for.
My recommendation for anyone who wants to go natural is to read, read, read. Ina May's Guide to Natural Childbirth was the most helpful of all the books I read. I thought about her advice through my delivery. I'd also suggest reading as many positive natural birth stories as you can and to understand the stages of birth. I didn't use one technique more than another (hypnobirthing, bradley, etc) but instead listened to my body and tried to relax as much as possible. The entire experience was surprisingly do-able and I was really proud and inspired by what my body was capable of.
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Re: Claire's natural birth story-long
BFP 2/25/09
HCG 3/6=518 3/8=1230
1st Ultrasound 3/18 FHR=103
2nd U/S 3/20 FHR=118!!
3rd U/S 4/1 FHR=169
BIG U/S 5/22=IT'S A BOY! FHR-148
DS Born October 30, 2009
BFP 5/27/11 Stick baby, stick!
HCG 5/31=140 P=9 HCG 6/2=292 P=11
1ST Ultrasound 6/15 FHR=109!!
U/S 8/18=IT'S A BOY! FHR-141
Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring birth story. Congratulations on the birth of your little girl. The details you provided were excellent - I loved the comparison to athletic pain. Sorry your ending was scary, but glad it is was a good exp, all in all.
I am reading Ina May's book right now and touring a birthing center on Monday.
This was such a great description of the sensations of natural childbirth! I had a similar experience (minus the placenta part, and I did not spend time in a tub), and at so many points during your story I was like "Exactly!"
So: you others who haven't given birth yet, listen to this! It's a very apt description of what it's like.