My Birth Story

When I found out that I was pregnant I was in disbelief and shock. My husband, N, and I had decided that we were not going to try for kids, but we were going to stop trying not to have kids. We were both at a point in our lives where we would be mentally ready to add a child into the mix. So, we knew what we were setting ourselves up for. Between you and me, I was secretly hoping that we would be one of those couples who could take years to actually conceive a baby.

[It's not as bad as it sounds. I am in no way glamorizing that kind of situation and my heart goes out those who desperately want children, but, for one reason or another, cannot.]

I was simply overwhelmed with finally taking that step to try for children. One, because I still had at least two years left of classes to take for my Bachelor's degree. Two, because that's a big decision and not one to be taken lightly anyway.

I doubted all the way up until my first ultrasound, which was the Monday before Thanksgiving. The first time I heard my lo's heartbeat it brought me to tears. I was so bogged down with emotions that I didn't know how to feel at that point. It took a few more months before I began to feel the joy of motherhood. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to have a natural birth. I am not against having medication for childbirth. Not everyone can handle that kind of pain and that’s okay. The reason I had decided not to use it is because I don’t like how it effects my mind. I wanted to be able to have as much control as possible. During my research I found a great website that gave me valuable information on natural birthing. They give you breathing and relaxation techniques. There’s information for the people who you want to be with you in the delivery room, too.

birthingnaturally.net

The next step was to make my birth plan, which I did make. The only thing it did was help me get my thoughts in order. Speaking of which, this is a true example of life not turning out how we expect it to. We hear story after story about women who spent hours, or even days, in labor with their first child. So, naturally that’s what I expected.

 

The two days leading up to the day I gave birth, my temperature was soaring, low-grade, but still my face was quite flushed. I didn’t get the usual nesting urge, since I had been doing so for the past several months. I did however get really moody and slightly depressed.

I went to bed Saturday night without any thought about what was coming my way. Sunday morning, I woke up at 3:30 am to what felt like menstrual cramps. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I waited an hour before I went to my mother in the other room. She put her hand on my almost ten month swollen belly and determined that I was indeed having contractions. They were about 4-6 minutes apart and at about a 4 on the pain scale. I wasn’t completely convinced that I was in labor and I didn’t want to show up at the hospital just to leave because I was in false labor. So, we stayed at the house. I took a shower to try to relax my muscles. It didn’t work. Afterward, I went to sit on the couch and had to stand right back up because of a contraction. My husband slept through all of this, thinking that we were just getting ready for church early. We ended up not waking him up until about ten minutes before we left the house. I didn't want to get him up until we knew that we were actually leaving the house.

We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 am. As we walked through the doors of the hospital my mother hands me her pillow to squeeze and I ended up biting the pillow to get myself through another contraction. My doctor was not on duty at the time and the nurses were taking their time, expecting no more than we were. I kept thinking to myself, "This had better be real labor because I can't handle this kind of pain, again." Shortly after we arrived a nurse checked me and I was dilated to 1cm. My pain was quickly getting worse, at about a 6 on the pain scale.

At 7:10 my water broke, gushing out onto the hospital bed that I was sitting in. At this point the nurses became frantic. They began attaching my IV and getting fluids and antibiotics into my system. My nurse checked my dilation again and I was at 9cm. My mother kept telling me to breathe and while I didn't mind her talking since it kept my sanity intact. At one point though she was breathing in my face and I looked at her and told her stop. I probably sounded possessed at that point, but I was in a lot of pain. The only painkiller I ended up getting was one shot of Demerol and all it did was take the edge off the contractions. Believe me, those last few contractions, before I began to push, were excruciating! Once the nurse let me start pushing, (the doctor had not arrived yet, by the way), the pain subsided and it actually gave me relief. It’s amazing how my body knew exactly how to react to all of this. I hadn’t taken any classes for childbirth. It was instinct. I knew when my body was telling me to push out that baby and I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life than at that moment.

(The doctor did finally arrive. After I had started pushing, btw.)

 My son was born at 8:29am on a Sunday in June. He was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20.75" long. He had dark green eyes and light brown hair.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my birth story. I would love to learn about yours. Please share your story, if you want, by leaving a link in the comments below.

À bientôt! :]