Baby Lucas is here! Natural Hospital Birth Story LONG!

hamiltks10 · October 2012

I have been a long time lurker and want to thank everyone for the great advice and for being so friendly over the past 9 months. Baby Lucas was born on 10/19/2012 @ 12:12am weighing 7lbs10oz and was 20 inches long. We had a very successful natural hospital birth! Feel free to skip down for just the birth story.

Back Story: Until I got pregnant...my thoughts about childbirth immediatly put me into panic mode. All I knew were the horror stories that other moms told, and the images that I saw on television and in the movies. My heart would race just thinking about giving birth. I always thought that an elective c-section would be the way to go.

But once I got pregnant and began doing some research, I found that I really bought into the idea that my body was made to do this and if we are left alone (with as few interventions as possible), the birth experience should be normal and rewarding for most women.

Luckily, my DH was very supportive of natural childbirth from the start. One of the first things we did was watch The Business of Being Born. He was on board with hiring a doula. We took Hypnobirthing classes. I went to Yoga every week (loved it and would highly recomment it). We were all ready and our goal was to labor at home for as long as possible before heading to the hospital to give birth.

Once we found that I was positive for Group B strep, that put a little wrench into our plans. We talked for a long time and decided that if my waters were to break as a first sign of labor, we were comfortable with laboring at home still and getting to the hospital in time for at least 1 round of antibiotics. We just felt that the benefits of staying home initially outweighed the risks and wanted to avoid unnecessary interventions and the push to speed up labor.

As my due date approached, I began getting a little nervous because I knew that my OB/Midwife group and my hospital will not let you go past 42 weeks. My biggest worry was that I'd have to be induced and the cascade of interventions would give me a horrible labor experience and would end with me having a c-section.

So, we did all of the recommend natural induction techniques: sex, spicy food, walking, bouncing on the stability ball, etc. I began having contractions, lower back pain and cramping over the weekend. Finally, a sign that my body was getting ready!! On my due date, which was Wednesday 10/17, I went in for acupuncture thearpy.

Birth Story: My water broke on Thursday afternoon around 2:30pm while at work. Luckily, I was in the rest room already and I was wearing black pants...so it wasn't super embarrassing walking back to my desk to get my things. DH and I both were home by 4pm, just in time to watch the Detroit Tigers game against the Yankees. I bounced on my stability ball. DH made dinner around 5pm. My contractions were coming, but were not very strong and were inconsistent in length. I could easily talk through them. I was able to watch the entire baseball game in ease.

Towards the end of the game, we found that my contractions had picked up and were anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, but were still really easy for me to manage. Shortly after, though, I found that I was getting annoyed with the sound of the TV, so I decided to head up stairs to get in the bath tub. This would have been around 8pm. DH was wonderful...he filled the bath, put the lights down low, lit candles and found a great pandora station that had relaxing, yoga type music.

I sat in the tub for about an hour before I got chilled and decided to get back on the stability ball. I sat on the ball leaning onto the bed while my husband sat behind me and rubbed my back. Pretty quickly, the contractions got intense and difficult to cope through. They were coming every 3-5 minutes (good) but were lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds (not as good). We were both waiting for them to last 1 minute for for a full hour, like we had planned, before going to the hospital. But...they were getting really intense.

It was at this point we decided to call our Doula to have her come over to help me cope. She was on her way, but would take about 30 minutes...so I decided to try the shower. I got in for just one contraction...a HORRIBLE one! This one doubled me over and made me feel like I had to poop. I KNEW that this feeling could mean that my body was starting to push. I got out immediatly and told my husband that we had to go NOW. If I remember correctly, it was about 10:30pm. I put my clothes back on, and I noticed that I had quite a bit of bloodly show. DH got the car packed up, I got in the back seat on my hands and knees and we left before our doula even got to our house.

It only took us about 10 minutes to get to the hospital. I had at least two contractions in the car and with both, I felt like my body was pushing. We checked in downstairs first, where I stood bent over a wheel chair for one horrible contraction. Once it ended, we rushed to the elevator and up to the maternity floor where I had another contraction just inside of the triage doors. I remember the girls saying "she looks pretty shakey" as I stood there bent over and legs trembling like crazy. I told them "I really feel like I have to poop" and then said "okay....lets get you into triage now". I told them "if I'm not very far along, I am getting the epidural!". When she checked me and said I was complete...first thing out of my mouth was "*** right!" haha...I gave my husband a high five and then wheeled me quickly to the labor and delivery room.

Our doula got there just after we entered the labor and delivery room. I started on my hands and knees leaning over the back of the bed. After a few contractions, they had me get onto my back (his heart rate was dropping during my pushing). DH held my left leg and my doula held the right. I think I pushed through 3 or 4 contractions and he was born! DH cried like a baby. I felt great immediatly after the delivery. I ended up a 2nd degree tear and getting stitched up was difficult. Baby boy was nice and healthy and cried immediatly.

Everything went so well with the birth. The contratctions towards the end totally sucked and was really, really hard. But luckily for me, my labor progressed fast and once I was able to push, I felt the relief that so many other mothers talk about.

Recovery has been challenging. I had a scare later in the morning after he was born. They got me up to pee around 4am (I wasn't able to on my own because of swelling right after birth). I was able to pee on my own (yay), but I got super light headed fast and I passed out on the toilet. I woke up to 5 nurses holding me up and talking to me, trying to get me to come to. My poor husband was freaked out thinking that he was going to lose me. It was scary for everyone. I still got light headed the next few trips out of bed, but now I'm feeling great and even got a shower this morning.

We will be discharged tomorrow. Baby is doing great! I'm feeling much better. We are so in love with this little guy. I'm sure I'm biased, but he is so stinkin cute! We couldn't be happier.

Big yawn