Joshua Allen's Birth Story and Natural Childbirth

I'm going to be totally honest: I remember very little about Tuesday, April 2, 2013. A) I have a terrible memory in the first place, and B) When women say you forget about the pain of labor as soon as the baby is in your arms, it's true. 

However! There are a few highlights (and lowlights) I'd like to share/record for next time, and for if he ever wants to know. (Not too likely.) 

It started Monday. Had he waited till Wednesday to make his appearance, we would have officially been two weeks "post-date." (Which, let's be for real here, babies cook at different speeds, it's really a due month, so back off, yo.) In any case, because we were "overdue," we went in for a sonogram just to check things out on Monday afternoon. They give a score for the amniotic fluid, the baby's movements, and a few other things, and our technician told us it looked like an 8/8! Sooo we texted a handful of you to say apparently he was going to be in there a while longer (since I hadn't had any contractions at that point), headed to the mall to get new cell phone plans, and got a phone call from our doctor's office. The nurse told me that apparently the doctor who looks back over the ultrasounds was not as happy with our results and gave us a 4/8 instead and we needed to go into the hospital to be induced that night. Hmm, dramatic difference there, wouldn't you say? (And he came out fine, so I'm pretty sure we could have chilled out a bit.) Sooo we spent probably an hour and a half getting our phones set up (I wasn't in a big hurry to be at the hospital), went home to round up the hospital bag(s) and eat something quick, and headed to St. Joe. (Originally we had planned on the Wesley BirthCare Center, but since we were induced and it was our first, we had to go to a hospital anyway.) 

This is the first thing I would remind myself to do differently in the future. At that point, we were obviously trying not to freak out (Oh, my gosh, the baby HAS to be born ASAP!), so I really wanted to finish our task of getting the phones figured out. However, a better plan probably would have been to go home and try some of the natural labor induction techniques we had learned about at our Bradley classes. ALSO I should have eaten more. I knew I should have, but I just wasn't feeling hungry and was in a hurry to get to the hospital by the time we got home, so I just had a few crackers with ham and cheese.

In any case, we made it to the hospital around 8:00, and they inserted Cervadil (meant to get the cervix started; I was barely dilated- which I didn't know, because I didn't want the numbers to be a distraction). It came out halfway through the twelve hours it was supposed to stay in, and Dr. Jensen then recommended Cytotec. Another thing that next time, I'll do more to avoid, but by the grace of God, it did its job safely and kicked me into a normal progression of labor.

Obviously after a great night's rest (ha!), I realized I was having contractions. Some time in the night after the Cytotec was placed, I started feeling crampy, but didn't realize we were on our way until mid-morning. From then on, (as I learned later), I dilated about a centimeter an hour, aided by Bradley relaxation while pacing the room, "slow dancing" with Bryant, leaning over the back of a chair, walking the hall, using the birth ball, and relaxing in the whirlpool. We trusted my body to do its job, and God to get us through safely, and it did and He did! Joshua Allen was born after about fifteen minutes of pushing in the squatting position (NOT lying on my back) at 11:47 P.M. with a head full of hair and ready to try to nurse.

I did skip one part. The part I will DEFINITELY do differently next time. There was an hour and a half in there of trying NOT to push first. The resident checked me and told me I was at a 9, and I needed to wait, and then, when I finally was at a 10, we had to wait another half hour for the doctor. When I was at a 9, my body was 100% ready to push, and next time, if something like that happens, I'm pretty sure I will just tell whoever is in there, "Sorry, not doing that again!" and start pushing, because that was the worst hour and a half of the whole process (I might even say my life!).

Buuuuuuut I still think it's a beautiful story! Bryant and I got to enjoy our baby (I had him skin-to-skin right away) for about an hour while they got me all put back together ("first and a half" degree tear, according to Dr. Jensen) and the room cleaned up (natural childbirth is MESSY and one of the reasons I'm hesitant to consider homebirth, haha), and, SURPRISE, our families were already at the hospital waiting, and had been for hours before we'd even told them to come. Imagine that. But all four grandparents, an aunt, and an uncle all got to see him and hold him before we even moved to the recovery room. 

Side note: we had some EXCELLENT nurses. They were very considerate of our birth plan and our vision of the process, stayed out of the way as much as possible, but were there to support when we wanted them. If we do another hospital birth, we will probably be going to St. Joe again.

Speaking of support, my husband. Bryant not only went to twelve weeks of the Bradley Method classes with me, read his homework, and humored me every time I wanted to go back over some detail of the birth plan, he also was there to truly coach me through each contraction. He reminded me to relax, HOW to relax, different positions to try, and why we were doing this in the first place. He told me how well I was doing and how strong I was (although my response to that at one point was, "I don't want to be strong, I want to be done!"), and pretty much was just awesome. I still don't think I've thanked him well enough.

Other than having a rock star for a husband, if you're wanting to have a natural birth, the two things I can tell you are: 

1. Be informed! Be over-informed! Learn all you can about your body and how it will do its job if you let it. Learn about the "routine interventions" that, sadly, the majority of doctors do but aren't really necessary. We took the Bradley Method classes, which are wonderful and I highly recommend them, but if you can't do that, read "Husband-Coached Childbirth" and "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way."
2. Have a birth plan. Obviously you can't do number 2 without doing number 1, but having it laid out helps you to have realistic expectations (if you're informed), and gives your hospital staff something concrete to work from. Have your doctor approve your birth plan before you go in to have the baby, so you know everything on it is allowed/not against any policies.

Of course, nobody can promise everything will go according to your birth plan. Being induced definitely wasn't on ours. But when something does need to be altered, it's definitely good to have something to come back to.

And #3 would have to be: Do it!  It's better for your baby and it's better for you, (unless you're the small percentage of actual complications) and it's a real initiation experience into womanhood! Very empowering, and a very huge blessing.