My first birth was a difficult one, I was not educated or empowered.
I had an epidural, he went to NICU, I was exhausted, nursing was difficult, and the experience didn't even seem real. It wasn't until we got home (7 days later) that I was able to start bonding with my child. Four years later PG again, I read everything I could get my hands on and was going to do everything I could to have a different experience.
I hired a doctor that really believes in the power of a women's body, and the importance of natural child birth.
I hired a doula to help me through the labor.
I was excited for the challenge to come.
When I was 37 weeks I started with prodomal labor. Every other day I would have 3-5 hours of regular contractions and then they would stop. After a week of this I was exhausted and fed up. I started evening primrose oil.
At 8:00 pm the night of 38 weeks I rubbed black cohosh on my feet and lower back, and went for a walk with my family. I went to bed at 10pm and at 12am woke with contractions. Since I had been doing this a lot I elected to let my husband sleep. They poor guy had been up so many nights with me, I wanted to make sure it was real this time. To make things more interesting our electricity when out so I had to time my contractions by candle light. The contractions became more intense and I woke up Jim at 2:30, shortly there after we called our Doula.
I walked and rocked on my hands and knees. At 5:30 we decided it was time to go to the hospital. My father arrived at our home to stay be with my older son while we were gone.
6:00 am we arrived at the hospital, the ride over had been difficult, and I was glad to get out of the car. As we were getting a room our doula asked that we be assigned a nurse that liked working with natural child birth. When we got the nurse she was great. When we tried to show her our birth plan she laughed and said, "I know what you want...NOTHING" then she quickly got a birth ball, hot water bottle, and anything else she thought we might use. I was 4cm when we arrived at 6am then at 7am they checked me again and I was 7cm.
I just relaxed and let go. I drifted off to labor land. Later, my doula said she could not tell when I was having a contraction and when I wasn't. At 7:20 my water broke while I was sitting on the birth ball.
Then, at 8:20, I was complete and started with small little pushes. I really took my time experimenting with my body and what different pushes felt like. The doctor recommended that I get on my hands and knees. I then really got into some hard pushes. He was crowning at 8:50 and was born at 9:15. I was in control the whole time, and came away with my perineum intact. The first thing I said after he was born was.."I DID IT!"
I wore my own clothes,
I had no IV,
No meds,
No one counting to 10.
I did it my way and it was awesome! I wanted a hospital birth-just in case- but I wanted a non intervention birth. You can have both. It has been two years now, and I am a different woman because of this experience.
I knew we were done having kids but that birth high was too great to let go. So, I became a birth doula. I now try to help others get what I did.
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