Repost from April board: My Med-free birth story and PIP (long)

HeatherAA10 · April 2012

Ok, its taken me all day to find the time to write this, but here it goes (pics at the end)...

I woke up on Thursday disappointed that it was my due date and hadn't even had BH in a few days, but at 10am I started feeling slight contraction which I thought were BH, but they were coming about a 1 and 1/2 mins apart pretty consistently (btw, this was the furthest apart they were ALL labor!!!!) . i waited an hour before calling the dr and they told me to drink a lot of water and lay on my side to see if they go away....they didn't, they got stronger. Called DH told him to come home, jumped in the shower, then called the dr back again. They had me come in to the office and took their sweet time seeing me (while I waited as the pain was getting worse). 3hrs into labor and I was 5cm and 100% effaced!!! Went straight to the hospital and up to L&D!

They were totally awesome about my med-free as long as I could handle it plan, so they didn't even make me get an IV!

2 more hours, 2 more cm! Then I was at 7cm for awhile so the dr broke my water and that's when things got crazy! Contractions immediately got worse and closer together and continued to do this until it was time to push! Luckily with no IV and no meds (and no way to get meds even if I wanted them) I was able to labor however/where ever I felt I needed to. At this point I was totally delirious and EXHAUSTED like I have never known before! MIL, mom, DH, and a student MW were by my side the whole time (Shout out to my DH and student MW for being AWESOME and really getting me through this!)!!! Pushed for 15 minutes (the worst 15 minutes of my life) and James William (the 3rd) arrived crying immediately (8lbs, 3oz, 20.25 inches)! From start to finish I labored about 10 hours! It was the most amazing, painful, and surreal thing I have ever experienced!

Apparently dr did an episiotomy and I ended up tearing anyways - not sure how bad but he was down there quite awhile sewing me up. But on the bright side - no hemi's lol!

We are home now and DH and baby are sleeping - I am enjoying watching them rest! DH took instantly to fatherhood and it makes me teary watching him with our son! Here are some pics:

Our little family...

Three generations of James Williams...