For me, the birth of my son, Trent, was a turning point in more ways than one. Of course, his birth made me a mommy, and for that, I will be truly thankful. But his birth also made me realize how naive I was about birth. I trusted my doctor to help me have the best birth possible for my son, and I don’t believe I got that. I was tired of being pregnant – I was fat, I was swollen, I was emotional, I was ‘overdue’ – and that was all I was focused on. Not that my baby was healthy nor that he didn’t know he was ‘late’. I wanted him out, and my doctor agreed that it was ‘time’. All signs of my body actually pointed to me not being ready, and labor on June 30, 2009 was a drama-filled day. I almost had an emergency c-section, Trent came out breathing poorly and had to be observed in the nursery for several hours. I didn’t really put two-and-two together until I watched the documentary The Business of Being Born. I realized all the complications we had that day were due to me being over being pregnant. Most likely, the trauma he endured that day was due to bad reaction to Pitocin and the epidural medicine. Which is altogether too common. It was selfishness on my part.

So while pregnant with our daughter, I started pondering the idea of natural childbirth. I was really scared that I wasn’t strong enough to do it, but after not giving Trent the best, I wanted to do better for our daughter. I honestly didn’t believe I could trust my doctor anymore {I genuinely felt she likes inductions, and given our due date of 12/26, I strongly thought she would invent reasons to push for an induction before Christmas}, so at 28 weeks pregnant, I switched OBs to Nurture OBGYN. Best decision ever. Dr. Campaigne and Liane {Certified Midwife} were 100% supportive of my plan for a natural, non-induced delivery. I was so excited to welcome our daughter with a new team!

And so the wait began…

I was 41 weeks pregnant on January 2, 2013. The holidays had come and gone WITHOUT a baby. I was bummed. I needed to start back to work that day since Baby Gurl {as we affectionately called her} seemed to still be cozy inside. That morning I woke up a little before 7:00 and willed myself to go back to sleep. I dozed for a bit and then felt something. I tried to doze some more and felt another something. I proceeded to feel little surges every 5-10 minutes. They weren’t painful but they were definitely something. I decided I’d give them at least an hour before I woke up Brent to make sure there was consistency. I mean, at 41 weeks pregnant, it has to be labor, right?

At 9:00, I went and told Brent what was happening. At 9:30, I asked him if I should call Nurture and doula group. We decided it couldn’t hurt since I was still contracting less than 10 minutes apart. Things still were not painful at this point…but they were definitely there. I also texted a few girlfriends to say we might be in labor! That was fun. Everyone was getting excited!

At the OB’s office, Liane {midwife} recommended I go ahead and go to the hospital since I did test positive for Group B Strep. I was a little surprised by that because the OB {Dr. C} had said originally that I could still labor at home for a while even with a positive test result. I called the doula group and Cary was the doula of the day. She agreed I could probably labor at home for a little bit since I was still feeling okay, could talk through my contractions and WANTED to be at home. She said she could meet us at home or at the hospital, just to let her know.

I decided to get in the tub for a bit and I started timing my contractions with a phone app. I wanted to see if they were closer together like I thought or if it was my imagination/hope. I filled the tub up super full and climbed in. 2 contractions later I was OUT. I did NOT enjoy those contractions in the tub and just couldn’t get comfortable. {Later Brent told me he was like WTF when he saw me get into the tub, he wanted to go to the hospital!} I started timing contractions at 10:00. They were on average a minute long and about 3 1/2 minutes apart – definitely moving in the right direction and starting to be painful.

I got into the shower because I wanted to be clean and fresh at the hospital. Brent took over timing the contractions. At this point they were definitely getting worse. I was using visualization and prayer to get me through each one. I ran the 400m in high school which is about a 1 minute race. I kept thinking about each contraction like a 400, kind of funny. I said lots of Hail Marys too and realized they were starting to get bad when I couldn’t finish the prayer because I couldn’t remember the words.

When I got out of the shower, I still wanted to fix my hair and make-up but Brent was really pushing me to GET.IN.THE.TRUCK. I got dressed and realized there was no way I could get ready quickly as the contractions were coming and were getting painful, so I pulled my wet hair back and threw everything else we needed into the suitcase and Brent loaded the truck.

I randomly remember paying for my placenta encapsulation service (Cary laughed at me about this later because she saw the email come through with my payment info) and answering an email from a co-worker (No, sorry I can’t chat today, having contractions…ha).

I took one last bump picture, called Cary to tell her to meet us at the hospital and out the door we went!

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It took me a few minutes to actually get into Brent’s truck as contractions hit me. He just wanted me IN THE TRUCK so we could get going! In the truck, I called my mom and the OB to let them know we were heading to the hospital. By this point, it was 11:30 AM.

The drive to the hospital was pretty brutal (and only 15 minutes). Contractions every 3 minutes sitting were not pleasant. I remember cursing the bumps in the road. Finally, Brent turned onto the road the hospital was on. In between contractions, I voiced a fear that I NEEDED to be at a good number. I wasn’t sure I could make it if we weren’t. Brent told me to not worry about a number, we’d be where we’d be and we’d make it. Love that man.

And with that, we made it to the hospital!

Walking into the hospital was horrible. I had a contraction in the elevator and am so thankful no one was there when the door opened as I was leaning on the wall and moaning. Ha! I heard Brent come in downstairs and ask about me. The woman at information asked ‘Was she wearing purple?’ Yup, that was me! She pointed Brent upstairs and I shouted ‘Hey’ at him from the balcony. I didn’t wait for him though – I went into L&D without him and figured he’d find me. I needed a room NOW!

Brent met me in L&D and a nurse got assigned to take us to a room. She asked if I wanted a wheelchair. The thought of sitting down again was absolutely awful. We got to our room, and I got changed into a gown and gave the nurse my birth plan. It was now 12:00 PM. The nurse mentioned her shift being over at 1:00 and a new nurse would be assigned to take us through delivery. Little did she know…

Just a few minutes later, doula Cary arrived. I started laboring on my hands and knees on the couch, and she began coaching me through each contraction. It was wonderful. Her voice was so calming, and she really helped keep me focused on my breathing through each pain.

A few minutes after that, Liane {midwife} made it! She came over and helped Cary get me through a contraction. I will forever love both of these women. Liane told me I needed to be checked, and I know it sounded awful, but I had to lay on the bed. Here was the moment of truth. Would I be a 2 and want to die? {I had only had 1 cervical exam – at 39 weeks – and had been 1/2 cm.} Honestly, the 2 minutes I was on the bed were the worst of the whole day. I had 1 contraction on my back and could barely handle it. Cary and Liane kept me together, and then Liane checked me. The way it felt, I knew she was going to say 2. She said ‘8 cm, 80% effaced, water bag bulging.’ Wow!! Looking back, this is why the truck ride was so bad – I was probably going through transition.

Brent said at this point the room jumped into motion. Liane got really serious. People started swarming in, Liane got herself suited up, and I began laboring on the side of the bed. Cary and Liane kept coaching me through each contraction, and Liane said I had already been through the worst and it wouldn’t hurt anymore than it already did. Those were magic words.

Liane then started discussing my water. Given Baby Gurl was 41 weeks, it was highly likely there would be meconium in my water, and if that was the case, we would not be able to delay cord clamping because we would need to get her suctioned immediately. Liane must have a 6th sense because on my next contraction, my water broke and, sure enough, there was meconium in it.

Liane told me to let her know when I felt like I needed to push. The next contraction I started to feel the urge to push, so I climbed up onto the bed and leaned over the back of it (it was elevated) and began pushing when the urge hit. These contractions didn’t hurt anymore, but the feelings were so intense. That’s the only way I can think to describe them. It was overwhelming how my body took over and just made me push.

I started to lose control a little and was saying ‘I can’t, I can’t’ over and over again. Cary kept encouraging me that I could and I was. She said every time ‘She is almost here. You are right there.’ Brent told me {I didn’t hear this or don’t remember} that Liane told me to stop talking and use that energy to push. Ha. Brent said he almost got in my face at that point to pep talk me, but I got myself back under control.

At this point, Liane wanted me to turn onto my side to push to give Baby Gurl more room to come out. It took me a little bit of time to move into that position, but once I did, I looked down and half of her head was out! On the next contraction, I pushed with everything I had and out popped her head! Liane then worked her body out and she was here!!!! The time was 1:02, 1 hour after we got to the hospital.

She came out screaming which was awesome because that meant she didn’t have to be suctioned and we could delay clamping her cord. Happy mama!

We did not expect labor to go that quickly, but I’m so thankful I was able to labor at home some and wasn’t at the hospital very long. We pretty much got our ideal birth and have a healthy, beautiful baby girl.

The moral of this story is to be prepared. Do your research on pregnancy, labor and delivery. Know how you want your delivery to go. Do NOT trust that your doctor will have you and your baby’s best interest at heart. You are a mama as soon as that sweet little one is formed inside you, and it is your job to be prepared.

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