Our Birth Story {Part One}

Part One is not really touching on the natural birthing experience, just the events leading up to active labor. The natural birth experience will be posted soon...

If you know me or read my blog, you know that from day one I wanted a natural birth. Along the way I was asked quite a bit about why I decided that and it was hard to answer because I had SO many answers.

• Our bodies were meant to do this so why shouldn't we at least try
• This is exactly how women did it back in the day before everyone opted for epidurals
• I despise needles and knew that I had a high pain tolerance 
• I wanted to feel each part of birthing my child into this world
• I wanted to keep my baby safe from any drugs (I am aware there is little effect on them)
• My mom did it so I wanted to do it too
• There is a much shorter recovery period
• And lastly, everyone thought I was crazy or incapable and I wanted to prove it's possible

I've prayed and prayed since day one that I'd be able to find the strength to do this. As you can see in my above points, it was something that was very important to me. Although I'm no earth girl who lives off of seeds and nuts, I do tend to lead toward the natural lifestyle and find inspiration in organic, natural things. 

And labor and delivery is natural. 

So here is the first part of our birth story...

On Monday, May 6, I woke up around 5:15 am with damp panties and was sure my water was leaking. Per my doctor's orders, I was to go get checked out at the hospital for any rupture or leak. We grabbed our final bags, took out the trash and set the AC because I knew we weren't coming home for a few days. I knew that labor was starting. 

Once we arrived at the hospital things took a different turn than expected. Nurses couldn't find any leak and I was still just 1cm dilated. The heart rate monitor showed our baby was fine but her heart didn't have enough accelerations so they sent me to do an ultrasound. This is where things turn a bit differently than planned. During the ultrasound they noticed my fluid was low and my placenta was possibly aging, but most of all they noticed our baby wasn't moving a whole lot. I could tell by the tech's face that she was concerned and my heart just kept sinking in. She began buzzing a noise maker over my belly and after about 15 times our baby never responded. Later when we were alone my hubby and I both said the same thing, "What if she is deaf?" My heart ached to knew if she was okay. {To keep you from wondering, our baby girl was perfectly healthy.} 

I was then wheeled back to the room and we waited for results and news. The next thing you know, I was told we were having a baby that day and although I was excited to hear that, my heart dropped because I was now concerned about what they saw and upset that I would be induced. The baby was fine but they wanted more movement from her. I was so overwhelmed with emotions, but also upset because I knew receiving Pitocin for induction could possibly make the pain too unbearable for a natural labor. Thankfully after we had already let our family know that we were having a baby that day, we then received new news that her heart rate suddenly showed more accelerations and the doctor knew my birth plan and decided to hold off on the induction. I'd like to thank that doctor again for that. We were admitted to a room and I had to stay overnight for continuous monitoring. At this time it was about 9 am and the nurse said "Well you are contracting on your own right now; maybe you'll just go into labor on your own." And that's what I prayed for.

They sent me to a labor and delivery room for monitoring and then decided around 4pm to move me to another room. At this point I was still having regular contractions, no more than about six minutes apart. I knew this was the beginning of labor. On a normal day, I never had that many contractions. Eventually my new nurse in my new room told my mom that she didn't understand why they took me out of the labor room. She believed I was having a baby by the next morning. That lady gave me hope that my body was really doing this.

They were pumping a lot of fluid into me, I look quite swollen here!

That night after midnight sometime, we finally decided to go to sleep and that's when I say my labor began. I slept hardly any that night as my contractions were increasing in pain and were about 4-4.5 minutes apart. Little did I know that I'd go into active labor by morning time. The sleep I missed sure would have been useful to help me get through the next day. 

Late Monday night before the "no sleep" began. At this point the contractions varied from 4-6 minutes apart.

Around probably 10 am on Tuesday the doctor checked me and knew I was definitely in labor on my own. So she painfully stripped my membranes to just help speed up the process. Boy did that hurt. I also think that led to much more painful contractions in the beginning. It wasn't long after that that my water ruptured. Talk about a strange feeling. Warm water just running out and all you can think is "Dang my water just broke or I seriously just peed on myself." It's something you can't quite control. There's no stopping it. It just keeps pouring out. 

The doctor I had for labor and delivery was not actually my doctor as she was out of town. But boy did I love this new one. She knew how bad I wanted a natural labor, but she also needed to get the baby out after a certain period. So she gave me checkpoints where at a certain hour I had to be a certain centimeter dilated otherwise she'd start the Pitocin to induce me.

As I said earlier, Pitocin scared me. It's just a drip that makes you contract more frequently and more painfully. The last thing I wanted in a natural labor was to receive something that would just make it worse. When you're in pain, you don't want to increase it!

So I soon began a journey, a long journey, towards delivering my baby naturally and helping my body believe that I COULD DO THIS. I was ready to endure the pain, relish in the moment and have a beautiful baby.

Stay tuned for my next post all about Natural Labor and you can learn whether or not I received the Pitocin. I can't wait to share the next post with you and I truly hope it inspires you!

Men have it so easy...

Stay tuned for my Natural Birth Post

which will go live on Monday!

Hope you enjoyed Part 1!

Sasha