- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Natural Birth
lioness13
member
Natural Birth story!
lioness13
member
Kori Josephine was born on July 1 at 12:36am, 7lbs 13oz, 20in after an all natural labor and birth. Here's her birth story:
Never had BH contractions that were worth remembering. I was 1cm and 60 percent effaced for 3 weeks prior to my due date. My doctor and doula, who also taught my hypnobirthing class, thought I would go into labor well before my due date. That made me a little impatient. My doctor even stripped my membranes one week before my due date and again on Thursday, the day before my EDD. I was starting to get impatient on Friday but I felt great and just kept moving around a lot. My mom and I went shopping and walked through malls nonstop! On Saturday around 5pm I felt a lightening bolt go through my vagina and thought WTF! After that they kept coming every 20 minutes or so. Around 6pm I lost my mucus plug. I called my doula and she said to rest and just don't worry about timing contractions because this could go on for days. DH and I were too anxious for that so we kept timing them but we went out to dinner and had a great last meal; a cheeseburger, fries and onion rings from Ted's Montana Grill, then came home and went to bed. Around 1am on Sunday it became hard to sleep through the contractions. We started timing them and were at 6 minutes apart by 9am. I was so excited because I knew that meant the baby was coming in the next few hours. I was so wrong about that. My doula kept insisting we stay home and try to relax. My birth plan was to labor at home for as long as possible. It was harder to do than I thought. I passed time through contractions by sitting in my tub in warm water, watching Sex and The City, Eddie Murphy Raw and Kevin Heart's Laugh at My Pain on Netflix. I relaxed my body, breathed deeply and hummed a song with O sounds to get through the contractions. They lasted 1 to 2 minutes long most of the time. By 6pm when I was closer to 3 minutes apart my doula agreed to come over and check me. She doubted I was very far along because I was so calm. She told me I could be at that stage for days. I was not happy about hearing that! At 8pm when she checked me, I was at 6cm! Woohoo! We started getting ready to go to the hospital. Upon arrival I was 8cm dilated and I progressed to 9cm quickly. My doctor broke my water and I progressed to 10 quickly. Those last few contractions were STRONG! They weren't very long but I struggled to get through them. I had been so prepared for a natural birth but I hadn't thought about pushing much and I started to get a little scared. I tried a few practice pushes but they were painful and I didn't think I could do it. Next thing I knew, I was lying on my side and my body started pushing on its own. I yelled to my doctor, "I'm pushing!" LOL They guided me to lie on my back and told me to push for 10 seconds. DH came by my head and counted loud in my ear to guide me through pushing and told me encouraging words. He let me squeeze his hand hard as I pushed. Originally he said he didn't want to be in the delivery room at all but he was awesome! Some nurses held my feet and I screamed loud with each push. After 4 pushes, my little girl was handed to me for skin to skin and I fell in love! I'm so happy I was able to have a natural birth. When friends ask me how it really felt, I just say that it was easier than people said it would be and almost as hard as I thought it might be. It was a wonderful experience!
PS just wanted to add that I'm a FTM. It can be done FTMs!!!
Never had BH contractions that were worth remembering. I was 1cm and 60 percent effaced for 3 weeks prior to my due date. My doctor and doula, who also taught my hypnobirthing class, thought I would go into labor well before my due date. That made me a little impatient. My doctor even stripped my membranes one week before my due date and again on Thursday, the day before my EDD. I was starting to get impatient on Friday but I felt great and just kept moving around a lot. My mom and I went shopping and walked through malls nonstop! On Saturday around 5pm I felt a lightening bolt go through my vagina and thought WTF! After that they kept coming every 20 minutes or so. Around 6pm I lost my mucus plug. I called my doula and she said to rest and just don't worry about timing contractions because this could go on for days. DH and I were too anxious for that so we kept timing them but we went out to dinner and had a great last meal; a cheeseburger, fries and onion rings from Ted's Montana Grill, then came home and went to bed. Around 1am on Sunday it became hard to sleep through the contractions. We started timing them and were at 6 minutes apart by 9am. I was so excited because I knew that meant the baby was coming in the next few hours. I was so wrong about that. My doula kept insisting we stay home and try to relax. My birth plan was to labor at home for as long as possible. It was harder to do than I thought. I passed time through contractions by sitting in my tub in warm water, watching Sex and The City, Eddie Murphy Raw and Kevin Heart's Laugh at My Pain on Netflix. I relaxed my body, breathed deeply and hummed a song with O sounds to get through the contractions. They lasted 1 to 2 minutes long most of the time. By 6pm when I was closer to 3 minutes apart my doula agreed to come over and check me. She doubted I was very far along because I was so calm. She told me I could be at that stage for days. I was not happy about hearing that! At 8pm when she checked me, I was at 6cm! Woohoo! We started getting ready to go to the hospital. Upon arrival I was 8cm dilated and I progressed to 9cm quickly. My doctor broke my water and I progressed to 10 quickly. Those last few contractions were STRONG! They weren't very long but I struggled to get through them. I had been so prepared for a natural birth but I hadn't thought about pushing much and I started to get a little scared. I tried a few practice pushes but they were painful and I didn't think I could do it. Next thing I knew, I was lying on my side and my body started pushing on its own. I yelled to my doctor, "I'm pushing!" LOL They guided me to lie on my back and told me to push for 10 seconds. DH came by my head and counted loud in my ear to guide me through pushing and told me encouraging words. He let me squeeze his hand hard as I pushed. Originally he said he didn't want to be in the delivery room at all but he was awesome! Some nurses held my feet and I screamed loud with each push. After 4 pushes, my little girl was handed to me for skin to skin and I fell in love! I'm so happy I was able to have a natural birth. When friends ask me how it really felt, I just say that it was easier than people said it would be and almost as hard as I thought it might be. It was a wonderful experience!
PS just wanted to add that I'm a FTM. It can be done FTMs!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Natural Birth story!
Our Surprise Angel due August 2014!