I birthed without fear with my first baby.

3 months late but I wanted to share my birth story! On May 9th I birthed without fear with my first baby. 

Little bit of back story...I started going to the hospital to birth with the midwives there and told them specifically I wanted a water birth. I went there for half my pregnancy when finally at one of my check ups I

was told I was not able to have a water birth because my BMI was to high for the standards of the hospital. This didn't make sense to me and when I asked they said that they want to make sure people are able to get out of the tub once a they have the baby to deliver the placenta and apparently overweight people can't do that? It was at that moment I decided to go to the birth center instead. I was pretty sure I wanted to do it naturally without pain meds and when I made the jump to the birth center it was decided for sure and I was really happy about my decision!

On Thursday May 4th I was getting my hair done and started feeling very mild contractions here and there. The next day I went to work and they progressively got worse throughout the day, still sporadic and bearable (although noticeable to my employees). Saturday I decided they were too painful and that I should probably start my maternity leave. On Sunday my MIL paid for all of her daughter in laws to get their toes done, my contractions were more regular and more painful this day but I decided to try to go about my day normally and went to family dinner. After dinner I went to my sister in laws house because the brothers were having a last "get together" before our baby was born. Contractions all the while getting more painful but I wasn't sure when I should go in, I was so nervous about going in and it being a false alarm! I drove my brother in law home that night, and that was quite the experience! Driving while contracting! 

Later that night around 1am I couldn’t sleep and was nesting like crazy! I called my doula to come over and my sister in law who is a doula in training! After them hanging out with me for a while we decided to go in. I thought the contractions were so bad! We got to the birth center at about 3:30am and I labored for quite a while in the tub and walked around a lot thinking I must be dilated a lot! Well when my midwife checked me I was so sad to find out I had only dilated 1cm, but! I was fully effaced and at 0 station so she told me she thought my baby would come within the next 24 hours! Yay! We went home at 8:30am from the birth center to labor some more at home. My sister came over and spent the day with us, we watched The Business of Being Born (love this documentary), and took our 3 dogs to the park so we could all get some exercise. All the while having very hard contractions. At 7pm my doula came to check me (she was also a midwife in training) and found I was still at 1cm! Ugh! At about 10pm it was becoming unbearable and I had a 10 minute contraction. It was the most pain I have ever felt and I seriously thought something was very wrong, my husband called the doula and she talked me through breathing till it stopped. I don't know how she did it but I was able to catch my breath and let it go. Very shortly after that the contractions were so strong we decided to go back to the birth center. I was even more worried it was another false alarm this time, waking those poor ladies up in the middle of the night! 

When I got there it was 11:30pm they checked me and I was at 5cm!! Woohoo! I was so excited! I got into the tub and labored for a while. My doula arrived shortly after but my SIL couldn't be reached! I was so worried she was going to miss it! At about 1:00am they checked me again and I was at 9cm and they told me I could push! I was so excited but also so nervous because I was about to have a baby! This little human that I was going to bring home! About 20 mins later my SIL came (I was so relieved!), and I was in full swing of pushing. What a crazy sensation that was....it's truly like you are trying to poop the biggest poop of your life! I pushed for about 1.5 hours in the tub and she was moving but not much. I got out of the tub and tried some different positions and then tried in the tub again because it was so much more comfortable. At about 3:30 they decided that a water birth might not be the way my baby was going to enter this world because she just wasn't progressing down enough. I was bummed but in the end just wanted her here already! I tried the birthing stool for about 10 minutes which was the most uncomfortable way to push ever and then finally went to the bed. While they were checking me once I got in the bed my midwife noticed my cervical lip was over my babies head and was not helping, she pushed it back (which hurt so bad and was the only time I cursed!) and then my husband held one leg and SIL held the other leg back. With each push all the ladies around me (2 doulas and 3 midwives) were so encouraging and wonderful, they gave me the strength to go on! I finally had my baby at 4:20am after 3 hours of pushing with all I had! I will say the ring of fire is a real thing! What an insane feeling! Stella LaRue was placed on my chest and it was the best feeling I have ever felt in my life. She had the sweetest low cry and she latched on quickly. I was so proud of myself and so exhausted, I hadn't slept much in 3 days! I didn't tear either! That's what I was most afraid of. She was 7lbs 14oz, 21" long, and totally perfect.

We all 3 slept for a long time and went home at 4:30 that evening after a couple of visitors. The whole experience was incredible and hard and sooo worth it! I look forward to having another baby in the future and only hope it's just a little shorter! Definitely at this birth center though!