My Natural Unmedicated Birth Story!

Well, I don't have a lot going on this week, because I can't work out and I haven't had time to make anything food-wise, so I will post my birth story for anyone who is interested.  It was a really long labor (43 hours), because I had some emotional hangups that were stalling me.  But in the end I got my healthy baby boy and my unmedicated birth, which is what I wanted.  Next time I am planning on doing a home birth so I have a better shot at getting the peaceful, relaxing birth that I was really planning on and looking forward to.  Honestly, I'm really excited for next time, and I'm kind of sad that I have to wait until I finish grad school to do it again...


DOB: August 20th at 12pm
EDD: August 15th
Weeks pg: 40+5
Weight: 8lbs 12oz
Height: 21in

            My contractions started around 5pm on Thursday, August 18^th.  They were around 8-10 minutes apart, and strong enough to make me head home from the grocery store, thinking this might be the start of early labor.  I timed contractions off and on all night, and while they got more intense, they didn't get much closer together than 8 minutes.  I had back labor from the start, because of course my stubborn boy didn't turn from posterior until the very end.  I went to bed early that night, hoping to rest up for active labor, but unfortunately I couldn't sleep through the contractions, only between them. 

The next morning I got up early, because I wasn't really sleeping much anyway.  I wanted to do some walking to hopefully get things moving.  The contractions were intense enough that I had to focus during them, and were 6-7 minutes apart.  I made cupcakes, and then my parents came over and we went shopping and to my school, and really anywhere we could think of that we could walk, since it was storming out and we couldn't walk outside.  My contractions were getting more intense, and finally getting closer together.  They got to every 4-5 minutes and lasting for 45 seconds.  They were also so intense that it was extremely uncomfortable to sit in the car during a contraction, or walk through it.  I finally decided to call the birth center.  They told me I was overdue to come in, so I told my husband to leave work and head to the birth center, and me and my parents headed over.

I got there, and as soon as they hooked me up to the monitors, my contractions slowed down.  I was afraid that would happen, which is why I had been so reluctant to call.  They checked me and found that I was only about 1cm dilated, and 50% effaced.  I almost cried when they sent me home.  My husband and I decided to go out to eat, and then to go mini golfing (my parents had already headed back to their hotel).  The game of mini golf was intense, because I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes that were very strong and lasting around a minute.  I couldn't do anything during them other than lean on my husband and try to relax through them.  We finally made it through the course, and headed back home to labor some more.

I spent most of the night alternating between bouncing/rocking on my exercise ball, rocking on my hands and knees, and eventually soaking in the tub.  Around midnight, my contractions were incredibly intense, lasting at least a minute, and coming about every 4 minutes, so we decided to head back to the birth center.  I was really optimistic that this was it.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and my contractions slowed slightly, but not as much.  The peaks were extremely high, shocking my husband with their intensity.  They checked me again, and much to my dismay, I was still 1cm, but 100% effaced this time.  They sent me home again, and I cried.  I had a mini-breakdown on the way to the car, telling my husband that I didn't want to go home, and I couldn't do this.  But ultimately I had no other choice, so we went slowly back home, stopping the car for every single contraction because I couldn't handle the bumps on the road during contractions.

We got home around 1am, and I tried to sleep on the couch between contractions.  My husband fell asleep next to me.  Unfortunately the contractions woke me up rather violently every 3-4 minutes, so this wasn't at all restful.  Eventually I gave up on trying to sleep, and alternated between taking baths/showers and bouncing on my exercise ball.  My goal was to make it to 5am, giving my husband 4 hours to sleep, but by 4am I could not handle the pain anymore.   The contractions were every 3-4 minutes and lasting for about 90 seconds.  I also got a little bit of bloody show on one of my many trips to the bathroom.  I called, and then we headed back to the birth center.  The 15-minute trip ended up taking almost an hour, since we had to stop through every contraction again. 

We got there, and walked slowly up to the birth center, stopping for every contraction.  I didn't bring any bags in at all this time, fully expecting to be sent home again.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and my contractions didn't seem to slow down this time.  I was desperate to be out of the bed, because lying there made the back labor so much worse, so they let me up as soon as they checked me.  I almost hugged the super-nice nurse who told me that I was 2-3cm and 100% effaced, and that they would keep me now that I was making progress.  Just knowing that the contractions were finally doing something made them so much more bearable!  The nurse gave me the okay to get in the Jacuzzi tub while she got the antibiotics for Group B Strep ready.

I sent my husband out to the car to get our bags, and called the parents to let them know that I was finally being admitted.  This was around 6am.  When my husband got back, I put on my maternity bathing suit, and climbed into the tub, IV pole and all.  The jets felt amazing on my back labor.  I don't know how I would have made it through my labor without the Jacuzzi tub.  I was really nauseous, but felt I should have something more than water, so my husband went and got me some trail mix from the vending machines.  I snacked on that between contractions, and stayed in the tub, doing my best to relax during every contraction and visualize my uterus contracting and dilating my cervix. 

After my IV was done I got out of the tub and tried to walk around, but that didn't go very well.  I stayed out long enough to let them monitor the baby, although they had to do it while I was standing because I couldn't get back in the bed.  Every time I went to the bathroom I was losing chunks of my mucus plug, and it was bloody (and gross!), so I was pretty sure things were moving along.  At some point my parents and mother in law got to the hospital and stopped by to visit.  All I remember is telling everyone through every contraction that I couldn't do it and that I wasn't strong enough.  I really relied on my mom and husband throughout labor, because I was so tired, which made the pain so much worse.

I was pretty sure I was in transition at this point, because I was convinced I couldn't do it anymore.  I actually asked a nurse to check me, because I was so tired I was going to get an epidural just so I could sleep.  She checked, and everyone was shocked to find out that I was 8cm.  It was around 9:30am, only about 4 hours after I had been admitted.  This re-energized me to keep going without pain meds.  I got back in the tub, and they hooked up my second round of antibiotics, a little early, but they were pretty sure I would be pushing soon.  The contractions were extremely intense and close together at this point, and they were lasting for a very long time.  I was vocalizing loudly through contractions at this point, trying to keep my throat open and relaxed like I had read about in books by Ina May.  In between contractions, I was reading birth quotes, and focusing all of my energy on relaxing. 

I know that my mom and husband were in the bathroom with me at this point, along with my mother in law and midwife.  My husband and mom were being very helpful, encouraging me to relax and continue vocalizing.  I kept telling everyone that I couldn't do it, but they wouldn't let me give up.  I got out of the tub, and asked to be checked again, because I was starting to have an urge to push.  I was 9.5cm, which was discouraging for me.  I was ready to start pushing.  I felt like transition was supposed to go faster, even though it hadn't even been an hour at that point.  I tried laboring on the birthing ball at this point, but I couldn't do that with the back labor.  I ended up on my hands and knees on the bed, with the back of the bed up for me to lean on between contractions.

My awesome midwife checked me around 10:30am and said I could start pushing through contractions if I felt the urge.  I tried pushing for a while, but I didn't really have a strong urge to push, and I was uncomfortable with everyone in the room.  I ended up kicking my mom and mother in law out of the room, so it was just my husband, my midwife, and a nurse with me.  I felt a little less self-conscious then, and I felt even better after the nurse climbed on the bed behind me and started applying counter-pressure to my lower back.  It was amazing, and really helped with the back labor.  Eventually the urge to push got to be so strong that I couldn't fight it, and my midwife and nurse encouraged me to push correctly through the contractions. At some point my water broke rather forcefully mid-push, which kind of freaked me out.  I didn't know it hadn't already broken, and I must have looked concerned because the midwife and nurse reassured me that it was just my water breaking! I also took off my gown at some point, because I was so incredibly hot. 

At this point, I was going on two nights without sleep, and I was completely exhausted.  I kept asking the midwife to vacuum the baby out, and begging for an epidural so I could sleep.  Thankfully the midwife did not agree to either of these, and I kept pushing through the contractions.  I felt like it was taking forever to get the baby out, especially once he started crowning.  I was convinced I was going to need a C-section.  I tried changing positions at the suggestion of my midwife, but my back labor was so bad that I couldn't do anything but my hands and knees.  I kept pushing, and I could feel him stretching me, but I couldn't push him out.  My amazing midwife was massaging me with mineral oil the whole time he was crowning, and she kept me from having any tears that required stitches.  I finally managed to push his head out, and I thought he'd just slide out after that, but his chest was bigger than his head, and I had to push that out too.  He was finally born at 12pm on August 20th.

I turned around, and saw my adorable, purple, screaming baby.  I kept reaching for him, and they were trying to tell me he was still attached, and trying to get me on my back so I could take him.  They handed him through my legs to me, and flipped me over onto my back.  He was so slippery and warm and screaming so loudly, and I was so happy to have him on my chest, skin to skin.  The midwife delivered the placenta and had my husband cut the umbilical cord.  She also checked me for tears, and didn't find anything requiring stitches, thankfully.  I didn't really notice much of this going on, because I was so wrapped up in my son.

I'm pretty sure I held my son up against me on my chest until they made me get up to go to the bathroom, at which point I handed him off to my husband.  I tried breastfeeding him early on, but he wasn't interested (he loves it now!).  Getting up for the first time was awful.  I bled a lot, and passed out.  They had to give me Pitocin and Cytotec to stop the bleeding, and I shook so hard afterwards that I couldn't hold my son.  My husband held him until they came in to weigh and measure him a while later, and I took a nap, finally.

It wasn't at all the peaceful birth I had been preparing for.  I was so tired at the end that I was begging for an epidural to get some sleep, which is not something I thought I would do.  I also never thought I'd be yelling at people or begging the midwife to vacuum him out.  But I made it drug and intervention-free thanks to my husband, mom, and midwife, and gave my son the unmedicated start to life that I wanted him to have, so it all worked out.  Next time I'm thinking a homebirth might be the way to go.