My Natural Hospital Birth Story

Let me just say up front that this might be a long post! But for all the mamas out there wanting to have a natural birth or who are nearing labor and love reading birth stories (like me) then I want to give you all the details that allowed me to have a successful and natural hospital birth and a birth story that I love. I can’t wait to share this with you and I can’t wait to read and here about your birth stories too! No matter how baby got here, healthy baby and mama are most important!

Preparing for a natural hospital birth

When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to do everything naturally. First, for me it was the direction I was pulled in. It’s how our bodies intended to birth and it’s what we were made to do. I’m not big on taking medicine in the first place, so turning to bigger drugs and anesthesia that I didn’t know much about scared me. I really try to be informed on anything I do, which is which I grabbed these books to begin reading and preparing for labor. A quick Pinterest search let me know right away that labor is a mental and physical marathon, not to be taken lightly. Sure, we were made to birth babies but that doesn’t mean with a little education it can’t be a whole lot easier.

** RELATED – THE BEST NATURAL LABOR & PREGNANCY BOOKS

I prepared and studied for birth like it was my job. I read books, listened to podcasts and did a lot of research to know what questions to ask my doctor, breathing techniques, natural remedies to help with labor and contractions, what labor really feels like, I talked to older colleagues who had natural births, and so on. As my pregnancy progressed, I was feeling pretty confident that I could do it, but I was so nervous.

Of all of our friends and people I knew who had kids, only a very select few had natural labors, and be select few I mean two people. I didn’t want to tell many people about my natural wishes because I didn’t want to be embarrassed if I couldn’t do it and I didn’t want to let them down. I figured I had to be missing something! If no one is having natural births, what is someone not telling me! But I read all of the books and took a firm stance on why I didn’t want Pitocin, the side effects of anesthesia, the cascade of interventions, and the effects it potentially has on mama’s healing and baby (you can read all about these in books on and two here). So I kept it a little secret that only my husband and close family knew.

Early Labor

Maybe this is a secret I’m new to but did you know that you can be in early labor several times and several days leading up to birth? I thought I was in labor like a million times. Especially since I was nearing and then went past my due date! Every spot in my undies HAD to be my mucus plug and every little cramp was definitely a contraction. I even went to the hospital because I thought my water broke…nope..just peed myself!

At my due date doctor’s appointment, they said everything is looking good and my doctor said “HOW have you not had this baby yet?!” Just what I wanted to hear. So she scheduled me for an induction in a week and I just about cried. Baby didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave his cozy home but the doctor’s were ready. She swept my membranes, and I left and waited and waited and waited.

** RELATED – NATURAL INDUCTION METHODS THAT WORK!

Three days later and I was started to get really nervous. If I didn’t go into labor on my own, they would medically induce me and I was so afraid that it would be over from there and I would end up with an epidural, a c-section and a birth story that deviated way from my plan. I decided to do some hard research on natural induction to engage baby and move labor along.

It was a Wednesday, and I was working but I did every single thing I read that would help speed up going into labor. I made and ate labor cookies, ate dates and drank red raspberry tea until it was gone, walked 3 brisk miles, ate spicy pizza and jalapeños for dinner, bounded on a medicine ball, and took a warm bath. When I got out of the bath, I felt this slippery and slimy thing plop out and it was definitely my mucus plug. No questioning that thing the second time around! But then I read it could still be days before labor started. Ugh.

We watched T.V. And I thought I felt some cramping, so I started timing the cramps. I didn’t say anything to Kirk because I had “been in labor” like ten times already and wanted to just see what happened. After and hour I said to him, “I think I’m having contractions and they are about every ten minutes.” YAY! He suggested we go to bed because if I was really in labor, it was going to be a long few days. I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to and was tired but I was uncomfortable. I wasn’t in pain and the contractions were still every ten minutes but I couldn’t relax. I was so excited, my body felt weird and I was ready.

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We wanted to labor in the comfort of home as long as possible, but we lived an hour from the hospital and there was an ice storm coming through. So in the morning, we grabbed our hospital bags, got in the car and headed to the hospital for our natural hospital birth. At this point, I had been having contractions for about 12 hours. I timed them and took long breaths on our drive and talked about what we would name our baby if she was a girl. At the hospital, they checked my cervix and is was 3 cm dilated. I had no idea how I was only 3 cm and how if 12 hours meant 3 cm, it would be days before I had this baby.

** RELATED – NATURAL BIRTH QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DOCTOR

Natural Hospital Birth

The doctors knew about our natural hospital birth plan and were very accommodating. One nurse told me in here two years working at the hospital she had only seen two mamas have a natural birth. Not a confidence booster, but I was definitely going to be the third. To pass the time and help the birthing process, I walked and walked and walked the hospital halls and bounced on a medicine ball. We had fetal monitoring every hour or so, and every few hour they checked my cervix, which usually showed little progress.

In the waiting room, mine and Kirk’s whole family was there and it was amazing knowing they were out there waiting and supporting! Up until about 2 or 3 pm, the contractions were okay but not horrendous. When I was walking, I would stop and let me belly hang and relax as much as possible to let my body do the work it needed for baby to come. In bed, laying on my back for monitoring was harder and the contractions were awful. It felt like a leg cramp, but harder and all around your belly and back. The contractions were steady either every 3 minutes or one right on top the other. In between, I had jello and Italian ice for sugar to keep me going. I made sure to drink lots of water and Gatorade to stay hydrated to avoid an IV drip and to keep my body ready for each contraction. (I really wanted a protein bar or one of those goos you take when your run long races!)

** RELATED – FOURTH TRIMESTER SURVIVAL CHECKLIST

Around 5 o’clock, I was feeling tired and weak. They broke my water to speed things along, which felt necessary but made me nervous because U I had read that your water breaking really speeds up labor. This speeds up contractions, making it harder. It felt so weird and I was shocked how much warm fluid came out. I was also shocked how there is this bag that scoops everything away and it looks like nothing happened! I was ready for it to get harder because I knew! I accredit all of my success to my reading (and my husband and family). This lovely nurse suggested I get in the shower to help relax and have a change of pace. I was 7 cm when I got in the shower and it felt SO good and allowed me to really relax. Kirk still complains that his feet froze off haha but it’s all relative..

Afterwards, the contractions were getting intense. Not more intense than before the shower but closer together. I wasn’t getting any break. I started crying, sobbing, to Kirk. I didn’t think I could do it. I was tired, scared, feeling weak and had no idea how much longer labor would be. My mom came in and they both assured me that it was okay if I got an epidural, but they both knew I could do it and said I was almost there.

Kirk stepped out for some food and my mom played with my hair during contractions, which allowed me to relax and let my body work without me accidentally fighting it. I pretended like I was on a wave and it carried me up over the hardest part of the contraction and back down again. A nurse suggested I bounce on the medicine ball a little more to keep baby engaging to help dilate. They checked me first and I was 10 cm. PRAISE THE LORD!

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My sister grabbed Kirk who had been eating Chipotle and I said to him, “Do not breathe on me.” In the moment, it made me sick smelling it! Haha. Kirk was the only one in the room, along with the nurses. They said two other women were pushing at the same time, but the doctor came to me first since my labor was natural, I’d be faster. (When you feel the contractions, you know when to push. Where as if you have an epidural, they wait for it to come on the screen, which could be seconds later than you’d feel, to tell you to push. So naturally, natural birth goes faster because you push longer.) Each contraction I felt, I pushed with everything I had in me. In hurt a lot. Not only were there the contractions but now I felt this burning and stretching down below.

In between pushes, I gulped a sip of water and got ready for the next. I often asked, am I getting anywhere!? I couldn’t see and didn’t know if my laboring was working. During each push, they would say, “Push through your bottom” because labor feels like pooping (sorry). So I would push so hard through my bottom and Kirk would praise me and give me the best accolades every time and tell me how proud he was of me. After one push, I reached down and felt baby’s warm, squishy, hair head!

The burning ring of fire is no joke, and it feels exactly like it’s called. When I felt this, I remember reading that some women push through it to get it over with, but they normally tear, so I let baby slip out naturally and once his little head was through, his body followed. I have never felt so much relief and excitement. As baby was coming into our world, I reached down to bring him up to my chest. I pushed for an hour of pushing and 24 hours of labor later and we met our baby. We chose to be surprised by the sex, but were so in love and awestruck that for a long time, we didn’t even look! A nurse said, do you want to know what you had!? Kirk told me he was a boy, and ran out in the waiting room and told everyone there too!

While we were admiring our little boy, the placenta came out (they gave me Pitocin for it, which helps bleeding and afterbirth, which I knew in advance and was okay with), which felt like a bowl of warm jello, and I got a little stitch were it was attached. And you know what, after Jackson was born, all of the pain of contractions and labor vanished. I was sore. But, just like that, it was over and we did it. It was exactly the natural hospital birth I hoped we’d have. At 9:33 PM on November 15, this 7 lbs and 4 ounce little nugget change everything, and just like that, life will never be the same.

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