Early on in my pregnancy, I did some research and decided adamantly against a routine hospital birth, unless in case of an emergency. I also decided that a home birth wasn’t what I wanted either because I didn’t want to give birth in an inflatable pool and I was nervous about complications arising. A birthing center was the perfect Goldilocks choice for me with its big beautiful birthing tub and it’s proximity to one of the best women’s hospitals across the street.
I was almost positive I would go three days past my due date all pregnancy long. Call it a premonition but I never thought I’d go early. That is, until Jackson began dropping a couple of weeks before my due date and I began experience symptoms of what they call prodromal labor. I readied myself with oils, energy work, and by meeting with my backup doula because my hired doula was out of town. Sure enough, on the morning of October 8th (four days before my due date) I awoke with what I thought were contractions—not the period cramps I had been experiencing before. I began timing them on my app and sure enough, they were already 5-6 minutes apart.
What the?! My books, my pregnancy forums, and my childbirth classes all said to prepare for 3-12 hours of early labor. But now the contractions were pretty intense and almost 5 minutes apart?! I guess we kinda skipped early labor. So I texted Sally, my backup doula, and she was over at our house within the hour. Labor progressed way faster than I thought with me hearing a pop at 4 am (just two hours after I woke up) followed by water coming out in the toilet. And then all over the floor. After that, shit got real fast and I found myself on my way to the birth center where they could check my cervix and baby’s heart rate. Three centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. Heart rate good to go!
6 am. Contractions stronger and more painful now. They wanted me to walk down the stairs and around the birthing center. I told them I couldn’t. They gently cajoled me into it so my labor would progress even more and I took two very excruciating trips around the birthing center, pausing every 3-4 minutes to moan in pain.
We made it back inside and they admitted me into the only birthing room I didn’t want to be in—the one without windows. I complained and they said they would clean one of the other two rooms once the women in there went home with their babies. The birth center doesn’t keep you more than 12 hours after you give birth. Around that time, I got super nauseated. I was sitting on the bed and I eyed a trash can in the bathroom. I calmly told Erik to grab it because I was going to throw up and I did. I lost everything I had in me. I hadn’t eaten much since labor started because I didn’t have much of an appetite. This would prove to be a horrible idea later on down the line.
I labored in the cave room in the garden tub, on a birthing ball in the shower, and on the bed. Everywhere I went, the contractions were excruciating—worse than any other period cramps I had experienced. I knew an epidural was not an option so I moaned and breathed rapidly through them. Eventually I got word that one of the other women left so they cleaned the room and transferred me to a room with big beautiful windows. It was lightly raining outside and I felt relieved to see nature through the glass. It was probably 10 am by that time I guess.
Noonish? Contractions were out of control intense. I went from the shower where Erik sprayed my back with hot water to the bed to the tub again. The warm waters of the deep garden tub were my happy place, still the water had nothing on the freight train contractions—spaced very close together at this point. Erik got in the tub with me and held me and spoke words of encouragement while my doula gave me cold water to drink and applied oils to me at my command. I used peppermint on a wet rag to cool me down, lavender on my chest to calm me, and Copaiba on my lower back to help with back labor.
Eventually the nurse asked me to do some more walking and I said “I CAN’T!” At that point every minute or so I was in excruciating pain so walking seemed like a dumb idea. She got on my eye level and firmly looked at me saying, “you are right there. Walking will make him come faster.” I almost cried and slowly got up and forced myself to walk. Every other minute I was down on my knees with Erik holding my arms from above as a wave of muscle spasms took me down to the floor. The noises I made were guttural—primal. I can’t describe it. Animal.
I only walked down the hall and back before I was back on the bed, grabbing the pillow and yelling into it. At this point, I was exhausted. I had had nothing to eat in hours and they kept trying to feed me honey sticks to give me energy. My bladder was full from all of the cold water I kept demanding but my body wouldn’t void it. My throat was sore from yelling and my lips were dry from the breathing. (At this point you’re probably thinking a natural birth sounds like a wonderful idea aren’t you?!) I began wondering why I opted for it and thought twice about asking to go to the hospital but told myself not to let myself utter the words. This is what I wanted and by God I was gonna get it.
After hours of labor I finally felt the urge to push. This stage only went on for 45 minutes but it. Was. Intense. I ended up on an inflatable birthing stool with my legs shoved up against the midwife whose back was against the tub on the floor. I hardly had any physical energy left but the midwife, nurse, my doula, and Erik were all cheering me to push again...and telling me to bear down because I kept wanting to breathe, push, and scream from my chest. Finally when they said they could see his hair (and I finally understood what they mean by the ring of Fire) I gave one last humongous shove and out he came. Seriously. Once his head was out, his shoulders and the rest of his body slid out effortlessly. I was spent but elated. A part of me thought I wouldn’t be able to do it—give birth to this boy vaginally without an epidural. But I did it!
They placed him in my arms, Erik behind me, and I stared at this miracle child in disbelief. We held him and cried; it was so beautiful! I was assisted to the bed where I learned that he came so quickly in transition that I suffered 4th degree tears. After I had just finished pushing a baby out of my nether regions, they were gonna sew me up with nothing but lidocaine. In other words: UGH. It was as fun as it sounded. Erik got some skin to skin with Jackson while I was being doctored up, and I got some baby snuggles as well.
Up until now, I got the birth I planned for except for the significant tearing. Now is where it’s not so gravy. Two problems came up. Because my blood sugar was so low and I had just been through birth on very little energy reserves, I became lightheaded and lethargic. The midwife decided to put give me a glucose IV because wasn’t looking too good. Erik took care of Jackson while I sipped soup and built up my blood sugar.
#2, and the worst part: Jackson’s breathing was faster and more labored than the midwife liked to see. We stayed skin to skin with him for a few hours while they monitored him. Eventually, she decided that instead of sending us home, she would feel more comfortable if St. David’s NICU across the street took him in to monitor him overnight. So around 1:30 am we were wheelchaired to the hospital, exhausted and worried.
As it turned out, I had drank more water during labor than anyone the midwife or nurse had ever seen. Remember when I said I couldn’t void my bladder? When they catheterized me to drain my bladder, they couldn’t believe how much liquid came out. A full bladder blocks the birth canal and makes it difficult for a baby to navigate around and come out. So I shoved him out so quickly that he didn’t have time for the fluid to be forced out of his lungs resulting in rapid breathing called transient tachypnea. This led to a 5 day stay in the NiCu until we were finally released.
So there ya have it. I got my natural birth...just some postpartum scares I hadn’t planned for (like you ever do!). If I’m blessed with another pregnancy, I will do two things differently during childbirth: EAT MORE FOOD before labor gets too bad, and DRINK LESS WATER. All in all, we made it. I’m proud of myself for what I endured and thankful for my birth team—especially my supportive husband. Thanks for reading! I hope this doesn’t scare you away from a natural birth, as it was a very beautiful and life changing experience! You live and you learn!
