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After being pregnant three times this year and not being able to birth a single one of them after losing one after the other, I have decided to look back on the past and remember the good times. I wasn't on BnB when I birthed my DD so I've decided to share her story now. I think it is powerful to all moms wanting to birth naturally but are unsure about the whole process. I will try to remember as much as I can, considering that this was a few years ago.
As a background on my pregnancy with my daughter, she was a breeze. My LMP was on July 1, 2012. My BFP was on July 26, 2012. I have no idea how many DPO I was. I had no morning sickness whatsoever (though I did still have that nasty metallic taste in my mouth from week 9 to week 12) and felt good with no tiredness. In fact, I was the opposite in that I had trouble sleeping.
On April 5, 2013 I woke up at 10 am as usual and immediately went to the restroom when I first woke up. My daughter was due in two days. Though we were kind of expecting her, I was still very much surprised when, after months of no bleeding of any kind, there was some bright red blood on the toilet paper mingled with my cervical mucus. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I was hardly having any strong contractions, just some tightening and pressure.
Remembering that my midwife told me to only call when the contractions were so painful that I couldn't talk through them, I called my mother instead and asked her what she thought I should do since DH and I were planning on going to the store later that morning. She immediately told me to call L&D and that she'd meet DH and me up at the hospital that my midwife worked out of. I went to my midwife’s office first where she examined me. I didn't really feel like I was in labor and felt like I was wasting her time.
I was in for my second shock of the day when she told me I was already 8 cm dilated!
The nurse wheeled me from the office to the birth center. They put me in a room, gave me a gown to put on and immediately started monitoring my contractions. The contraction meter was going up to 100 and I still was not feeling anything more than the tightening I had been feeling. My mom came back in at this time from calling my dad outside since she couldn’t get a signal on her cell phone inside the hospital and we waited around until my dad came.
By this time my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was still not in the crippling pain they said I’d be in by this time. The nurse gave me a saline lock, so I was still able to walk around. They told me that I needed it in so that they could get a vein if they needed to, and asked me a bunch of questions for registration purposes. It felt like an eternity answering all my health information and medical history while in late labor before my midwife finally showed up, though in reality it was only an hour.
I was walking around when she came in and checked for dilation once more. She said I was 10 cm and asked if I wanted my water broken since it was bulging. I told her yes, not knowing that this would induce the labor process and speed things up even further. As soon as my water was broken, I felt an immediate release of pressure.
Unfortunately it was also after that when my contractions came on full force.
Now I knew what hard labor felt like!
There was nothing left to do now but push. I really wished I would have taken those labor classes because I had no idea what I was doing! I felt like I had to poop and I was afraid to give in to that feeling, afraid I would actually poop. Except it wasn’t really poop… it was the baby!
After a few pushes she was crowning already. What freaked me out even more was that my midwife was saying how much hair she had and stroking her head! Then she asked me if I wanted a mirror! No, I just wanted to get her out! I pushed and pushed and pushed but she kept bouncing back inside the birth canal. My husband was holding my hand, a nurse was holding one of my legs and my mom was holding the other. My dad was back and forth getting me a cold rag for my forehead, as I was literally working up a sweat. My abs were starting to burn.
After an hour and a half of pushing passed, my midwife suspected something was wrong. My pelvic bone was in pain after every push. It turns out that my daughter had turned her little body to work to my disadvantage rather than my advantage (this stubborness would continue until her toddler years hehe) and was getting her shoulder stuck on my pelvic bone. My midwife painfully began to run her finger between my stretched skin and the baby’s head and push up on my pelvic bone.
This was truly the most agonizing pain of the entire birth experience because I was in the midst of the ring of fire, plus I had not had any medications, either epidural or in my IV. As soon as she lifted the pelvic bone, DD came out in a big gush of amniotic fluid and blood flying everywhere. My midwife barely had time to catch her before she lifted her up and placed her on my aching abs. I screamed “ow!” from this huge baby being laid upon my sore stomach that endured nearly two hours of pushing, a total of three hours in the hospital in labor until birth.
I was in for one more shock: her weight. Expecting a small 7 lber since I have a small frame, I was greatly surprised when she tipped the scales at 8 lbs. 14.6 oz.! The nurse told me I had bragging rights and that I might as well say I had a 9 lber. I guess the difficult birth made up for the easy pregnancy.
I did get a third degree tear so they had to put stitches in before I delivered my placenta (which looked like a giant fleshy dinner plate if you can imagine that) and the needle was HUGE! Let me tell you that getting a shot in the V is one of the worst places to get one, especially to a person who has a phobia of needles like myself. I still felt some tugging after the numbing shot from the stitches, but I wasn't able to feel the actual stitches going in and they dissolved in about 2 weeks when I was healed.
During that 2 weeks though it was absolutely agonizing to use the toilet. The tear burned like hell as soon as the urine would hit it, and when I went poo, it would feel like my butt was going to fall out. As a tip for anyone who struggles with this after birth, I used compression like a rag (or in my case I used those bathing sponges) to hold against your bottom when you go. It kept the urine from completely touching and burning the cut, and I think it helped it to heal quicker too. It was pretty gross to do but hey... you lose your dignity after a dozen nurses see your bare bottom anyways
DD was perfect in every way. She slept good, she fed even better and she was born with big blue eyes and a head full of hair! I felt proud in giving birth to her all-naturally, the way I wanted to, without any kind of pain relief, the way I wanted it to be, and I couldn't ask for it any other way.
I intend to also post the birth of my DS. He was another natural, drug free hospital delivery but his story was a bit more complicated. If you would like to read it, here is the link: https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...y-natural-drug-free-hospital-birth-my-ds.html
As a background on my pregnancy with my daughter, she was a breeze. My LMP was on July 1, 2012. My BFP was on July 26, 2012. I have no idea how many DPO I was. I had no morning sickness whatsoever (though I did still have that nasty metallic taste in my mouth from week 9 to week 12) and felt good with no tiredness. In fact, I was the opposite in that I had trouble sleeping.
On April 5, 2013 I woke up at 10 am as usual and immediately went to the restroom when I first woke up. My daughter was due in two days. Though we were kind of expecting her, I was still very much surprised when, after months of no bleeding of any kind, there was some bright red blood on the toilet paper mingled with my cervical mucus. I guess it freaked me out mostly because I was hardly having any strong contractions, just some tightening and pressure.
Remembering that my midwife told me to only call when the contractions were so painful that I couldn't talk through them, I called my mother instead and asked her what she thought I should do since DH and I were planning on going to the store later that morning. She immediately told me to call L&D and that she'd meet DH and me up at the hospital that my midwife worked out of. I went to my midwife’s office first where she examined me. I didn't really feel like I was in labor and felt like I was wasting her time.
I was in for my second shock of the day when she told me I was already 8 cm dilated!
The nurse wheeled me from the office to the birth center. They put me in a room, gave me a gown to put on and immediately started monitoring my contractions. The contraction meter was going up to 100 and I still was not feeling anything more than the tightening I had been feeling. My mom came back in at this time from calling my dad outside since she couldn’t get a signal on her cell phone inside the hospital and we waited around until my dad came.
By this time my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was still not in the crippling pain they said I’d be in by this time. The nurse gave me a saline lock, so I was still able to walk around. They told me that I needed it in so that they could get a vein if they needed to, and asked me a bunch of questions for registration purposes. It felt like an eternity answering all my health information and medical history while in late labor before my midwife finally showed up, though in reality it was only an hour.
I was walking around when she came in and checked for dilation once more. She said I was 10 cm and asked if I wanted my water broken since it was bulging. I told her yes, not knowing that this would induce the labor process and speed things up even further. As soon as my water was broken, I felt an immediate release of pressure.
Unfortunately it was also after that when my contractions came on full force.
Now I knew what hard labor felt like!
There was nothing left to do now but push. I really wished I would have taken those labor classes because I had no idea what I was doing! I felt like I had to poop and I was afraid to give in to that feeling, afraid I would actually poop. Except it wasn’t really poop… it was the baby!
After a few pushes she was crowning already. What freaked me out even more was that my midwife was saying how much hair she had and stroking her head! Then she asked me if I wanted a mirror! No, I just wanted to get her out! I pushed and pushed and pushed but she kept bouncing back inside the birth canal. My husband was holding my hand, a nurse was holding one of my legs and my mom was holding the other. My dad was back and forth getting me a cold rag for my forehead, as I was literally working up a sweat. My abs were starting to burn.
After an hour and a half of pushing passed, my midwife suspected something was wrong. My pelvic bone was in pain after every push. It turns out that my daughter had turned her little body to work to my disadvantage rather than my advantage (this stubborness would continue until her toddler years hehe) and was getting her shoulder stuck on my pelvic bone. My midwife painfully began to run her finger between my stretched skin and the baby’s head and push up on my pelvic bone.
This was truly the most agonizing pain of the entire birth experience because I was in the midst of the ring of fire, plus I had not had any medications, either epidural or in my IV. As soon as she lifted the pelvic bone, DD came out in a big gush of amniotic fluid and blood flying everywhere. My midwife barely had time to catch her before she lifted her up and placed her on my aching abs. I screamed “ow!” from this huge baby being laid upon my sore stomach that endured nearly two hours of pushing, a total of three hours in the hospital in labor until birth.
I was in for one more shock: her weight. Expecting a small 7 lber since I have a small frame, I was greatly surprised when she tipped the scales at 8 lbs. 14.6 oz.! The nurse told me I had bragging rights and that I might as well say I had a 9 lber. I guess the difficult birth made up for the easy pregnancy.
I did get a third degree tear so they had to put stitches in before I delivered my placenta (which looked like a giant fleshy dinner plate if you can imagine that) and the needle was HUGE! Let me tell you that getting a shot in the V is one of the worst places to get one, especially to a person who has a phobia of needles like myself. I still felt some tugging after the numbing shot from the stitches, but I wasn't able to feel the actual stitches going in and they dissolved in about 2 weeks when I was healed.
During that 2 weeks though it was absolutely agonizing to use the toilet. The tear burned like hell as soon as the urine would hit it, and when I went poo, it would feel like my butt was going to fall out. As a tip for anyone who struggles with this after birth, I used compression like a rag (or in my case I used those bathing sponges) to hold against your bottom when you go. It kept the urine from completely touching and burning the cut, and I think it helped it to heal quicker too. It was pretty gross to do but hey... you lose your dignity after a dozen nurses see your bare bottom anyways
DD was perfect in every way. She slept good, she fed even better and she was born with big blue eyes and a head full of hair! I felt proud in giving birth to her all-naturally, the way I wanted to, without any kind of pain relief, the way I wanted it to be, and I couldn't ask for it any other way.
I intend to also post the birth of my DS. He was another natural, drug free hospital delivery but his story was a bit more complicated. If you would like to read it, here is the link: https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...y-natural-drug-free-hospital-birth-my-ds.html
