Tristan's birth story PIP

blondii428 · September 2013

I finally have a little down time to tell Tristan's med free birth story before I forget it!

I woke up Monday at 3 am with period like cramps in front and in my back. Since I was a day away from my due date I was hoping it was true labor. I walked the stairs and went for a walk before coming back to bed for a bit. When my alarm went off at 6 I realized they were still there so I called in to the nurse line and she said that since the back pain came in intervals to go ahead and head down--even though I had a feeling it was too soon or maybe even false labor.

We got to L and D at 9, they hooked me up and saw that I was having contractions about 6 minutes apart and was 3 cm dilated. After hours and hours of walking and the birthing ball I was still only 5.5 cm 12 hours later at 9 pm and contractions were still pretty painless and 5-6 minutes apart. Since I wasn't progressing I finally agreed to have my water broken.

That's when it got real. I got in the tub right away but they were so intense I wanted out fairly quickly. I struggled though the contractions and barely felt a break between them. I started wondering if I would be able to get though it but with the help of my husbands encouraging words and the nurses not mentioning it, I remained strong.

By 11 I was at 7.5 cm and by midnight I was at 8.5 cm but he was face up. She had me labor on each side for 30 minutes each to try to turn him. I was so tired by this point that I would softly drift off between the contractions that came every 2 or 3 minutes. The last half I started pushing uncontrollably with each contraction and when she checked I was at 9.5 cm so she started getting me ready to push. For about an hour I pushed with my husband on one leg and the nurse on the other. When the doctor and resident came in I pushed for another 20 minutes or so until he finally arrived at 2:21 am.

It was so tough but so worth it. Here's Tristan Anthony, 8.1 pounds and 20.5 inches long!