My son just celebrated his second birthday and I found myself reflecting back on his birth. It was such a pivotal time as my whole world changed after he was born. As a first time mama, I look back at this birth and know I did the best I could with the knowledge I had. It was a beautiful, uncomplicated, natural, hospital birth.
We’re Pregnant!
I found out I was pregnant the fall of 2021. I had felt “different” and hadn’t gotten my menstrual cycle on time. I thought that was maybe because I was training for my first marathon, which I was running the weekend after I took a pregnancy test. I took a test on a Sunday morning, before a work shift, and was so surprised when it was positive! After my work shift, I of course headed to the closest Target to get a baby onesie to announce the pregnancy to Lukas!
It was while I was delivering field meals, during harvest, that I told Lukas the news. I brought out tacos and in his to-go container, instead of food, I had a onesie and the positive test with the words “Newest helper arriving Spring 2022!” written on the lid. I was so nervous and excited to tell him! He was driving semi that evening and in between loads is when I surprised him with the news! I’ll never forget that time!
I believe the training I completed for the marathon set the tone of my entire pregnancy. I was healthy and active and remained that way throughout, thankfully! And because I was healthy and had no underlying medical conditions, I decided to follow with a group of midwives. I’m so grateful I made that decision because following with them allowed me the greatest chance to have the birth I envisioned, which was a natural, unmedicated hospital birth.
My entire pregnancy was very normal with no complications. It was everything I hoped it would be. When June came around, I went into labor on my own and delivered a healthy baby boy at 40 weeks and 4 days.
Beginning Signs of Labor
Labor started on June 18th in the wee hours of the night. At 1:30am, I woke with a few contractions. I went back to sleep until 3:30am when contractions woke me again. And then at 5:40am, after a few more contractions, I decided to stay up and go down to the living room. Contractions continued throughout the morning coming every 20-25 minutes. Around 11, contractions started to come every 5-7 minutes. Intensity started to progress and I had a few contractions on top of each other that were challenging to get through by myself.
Lukas had been working around the yard that day since early labor had started. I called him to let him know things were progressing and we were nearing the time to go to the hospital. I called the labor unit at 3pm and let them know how my morning had gone and how labor was progressing. They said it sounded like I could come in as things were progressing well. After that call, we slowly got our things loaded into the car and headed to the hospital.
Off to the Hospital
The drive to the hospital was not the most comfortable. It was about a 30 minute drive and not being able to move when having a contraction was challenging. We got to the hospital at 5pm and I was placed into a triage room. There a nurse got me checked in and then checked my cervix. I was disappointed to hear I was only 2cm dilated but was encouraged that I was already 80% effaced. AKA cervix was thinning and starting to dilate. The nurse told us to wait in triage for a couple hours, to see how I progress, and then decide if I was far enough along to be admitted to a labor room or be sent home to wait a bit longer.
Lukas and I really did not want to make the drive back home and thankfully, during those two hours of waiting, things progressed nicely. My body and baby were working hard together. I had a few more contractions close together which made me nauseous and I did ultimately get sick. When those two hours were over and the nurse came back in, she checked my cervix again. At that time I was 3.5cm and 90% effaced. She told me my bag of water was a “bulging bag” and that “baby’s head is right there”. She had said that once my water broke, things would move quickly. She also told me that doing a membrane sweep could help move labor along so I consented to that. After she swept my membranes, I was nearly 5cm.
Admitted to a Labor Room
I had made enough progress in those two hours that I got admitted to a labor room. Contractions were hard. I asked if I could get into the birthing tub shortly after getting into our new room. Laboring in the water was something I deeply looked forward to. The nurse began filling the tub while I worked through more contractions. Out of the water, I used the birthing ball to lean on and had Lukas do some hip squeezes, which did help.
Once the tub was filled, I entered it and felt relief. The warm water was relaxing and it was everything I hoped it would be. The lights were dim in the bathroom and Lukas put on the birth playlist I had made, which was mostly worship music. Lukas was by my side the entire time and when each contraction came, he was right by my head, where I wanted him, supporting me. At one point, I was in tears because I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude knowing that this was the work, that I was doing the work. We were really going to have this baby and it was playing out just how I pictured it.
After some time in the tub, I got out because I thought I had to go to the bathroom. The nurse thought it might be baby’s head that I was feeling. So instead of going to the bathroom, I had another cervical check. I was 8cm. Contractions felt even harder out of the water so when I was only 8cm, I headed back to the tub.
Second Stage of Labor
The next time I got out of the tub, it was 11pm and I was fully dilated and effaced. I was told I could push whenever and however I wanted. I had to stay out of the water at this time because I had COVID 19 days prior and water births weren’t allowed until 20 days post illness (they couldn’t prove COVID wasn’t spread through the water (face palm)).
Once I was told I could push, I did with every contraction I had. I was not aware that just because you are 10cm doesn’t mean baby is ready to be out, it just means my cervix is fully open. I moved in and around the bed to find positions of comfort. I leaned on the head of the bed, labored on all 4s, and on my side. I tried lots of different positions to help try and speed things along. I knew the only position I didn’t want to push in was on my back because anatomically, that does not make sense, as baby would then have to work against gravity. I told my nurse this and she said that the OB that was on wanted me on my back for my final pushes(another face palm). (There was no midwife coverage the weekend I went into labor so I had OB coverage)
Once I stayed near the bed, I was hooked up to continuous fetal monitoring even though baby showed no concerns throughout my labor when the nurse would doppler check baby. A few different times, I was offered an epidural even though they knew an unmedicated birth was what I desired. They told me it was never too late but I never thought about taking it.
After, when talking with my husband about what I was like during contractions at this time, he said I was really loud, moaning and breathing through each contraction. Breathing, moving, and having Lukas by me really got me through the hard work.
Meeting My Baby
I knew we were getting close when the OB came into the room and stayed. More nurses arrived and although I had my eyes shut nearly the entire time, I could tell the room was more alive with activity. The OB was kind and talked through everything he was doing. He did ultimately rupture my water because at this point, it still hadn’t broke. That was a lot of fluid when it was ruptured!
By the time I was close to delivering, I was pretty tired and allowed the nurses to guide me. I allowed them to coach me and help with positioning. During my final pushes, I was on my back with my legs up, like you see in movies. The nurses were having me bear down and push for 10 seconds with each contraction. This really wasn’t what I wanted, but like I said, I was tired and would do anything they suggested.
After a few pushes on my back, they told me to reach down and feel baby’s head. I’m so glad they told me to because that was the encouragement I needed and I felt like I could actually do this. Baby was SO close and I was about to meet this little one.
At 1:46am, I gave birth to a healthy baby BOY! My husband announced that it was boy which was really special. I remember looking up at the clock and seeing it was after midnight which meant it was, Sunday, Father’s Day. Our little guy was born on Father’s Day. It was perfect!
Third Stage of Labor
My bleeding was pretty well managed. Because I desired a natural, unmedicated birth, I did not have an IV placed. After Baby was born, they wanted to give me Pitocin. I didn’t want to receive that but I remember the OB saying, “it’s time to take care of you now”. So I consented to the Pitocin but they had to give it IM, in my thigh. Looking back, I had a very normal amount of bleeding. But IM Pitocin was the only medication I received during labor and delivery.
I was able to have skin-to-skin with my little boy right away. Nursing was established and that “golden hour” was what I wanted it to be–pretty undisturbed with low stimulus. My nurse was great and didn’t push the newborn screening. She had told us that whenever we were ready, she would take baby and weigh him and complete his exam. We moved into a postpartum room after the screenings were all completed.
Postpartum
It was so surreal pushing my baby in the bassinet down the hallway to our postpartum room. I was grateful to be able to walk the hall right after birth. Once we were in our new room, we quickly got comfortable and tried to get some sleep. That morning we made calls to announce our son’s arrival and got to enjoy his newborn snuggles and time with just the three of us. Again, because I had COVID now 20 days prior, we couldn’t have any visitors which we didn’t mind. We got discharged home the following afternoon.
Looking back at this birth, I think it is a really beautiful birth story and I’m proud of myself for having an unmedicated birth. I’m grateful!
With Love, Megan
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