I'll start with the day before. I had my weekly appts every monday at my midwife Cathy's house. I went there pretty discouraged because I was 10 days overdue at that point and super ready to have my baby here. Everything still looked really good though. She checked me and I was in between a 1 and a 2. She stripped my membranes a little and said she was sure I would go in the next few days.
I went to bed that night a little crampy, but that was nothing new. I woke up around 4 and was having really little pressure waves (which is what you're taught to call contractions in hypnobabies) I had some cereal and watched some avatar the last airbender. Aaron got up around 6:30 and I told him he should probably stay home from work. At that point my pressure waves were about 6 mins apart but only lasting about 30 seconds. We just sat around watching more cartoons until about 8. I decided we needed to call Cathy because she had told me the day before that she would be going to huntington to do a post delivery check up unless I called her to tell her I was in labor. So she came over and checked me. I was still just a 2 but she said she could tell we were having a baby that day and she wouldn't be going to Huntington.
For the next few hours I used my hypnobabies meditation, did some dishes, and even took a nap. When I woke up we timed my pressure waves. They were still about 5-6 mins apart but lasting about 1 minute. It was about 1:00 pm and we called Cathy to come check me again. (Let me just get on my soapbox for a minute and say how much I LOVED laboring at home. It was so calm, I was able to feel completely comfortable and relaxed in my own home and rely completely on myself and Aaron to get through any tough pressure waves.) Cathy came and at that point I was between a 3 and a 4. I had to wait until I was a 4 to go to BellaNatal because they want you to be in active labor. She said I could go any time I wanted so we said we would meet her over there in an hour or so. We finished up our last minute packing and chilled at home for a little while longer than started heading to orem at 2:00.
When I got there they were filling up the tub for me. I waited a few minutes then got in. Let me also vouch for laboring in the water...another love. My midwife and her two assistants stayed in the background while Aaron helped me through everything. Right after I got into the water I kinda started heaving with each pressure wave. I wasn't naseous or anything, it was just a natural thing my body was doing. Cathy said it sounded like I was pushing and checked me again. Just an hour and a half after I had been a 3 I was now at an 8. I stayed in the water for probably another 10-15 minutes and then was fully dilated but had a little rim of cervix that had to move before I could start pushing.
At this point I got out of the water and moved to the bed so that I could get in different positions that would help get that cervix out of the way. This was the most difficult part of my birth experience because my body REALLY wanted to push but Cathy told me I couldn't push till the cervix was gone. It wasn't painful, just hard to hold back those natural urges. We tried a few positions and about 20 minutes or so later the cervix was out of the way and it was time to push. I wanted to do a water birth so I walked back to the tub and got in. I pushed for about 40 mins and out she came! She was born at 5:02, only 2 and a half hours after we got the Bella. There was no screaming, no swearing, no "you did this to me." Just a little grunting. She was handed right to me and stayed there until the placenta was delivered. Then they handed her (and the placenta becuse she was still attached) to Aaron while I got out of the tub and dried off. Then we went back to the bed (which was a queen so Aaron was able to be right there with me) and I started feeding her. We stayed till 10 that night then went home. She has been perfect ever since! :)
Another soapbox: I know there are exceptions for everything, but I truly believe most every woman is capable of having a natural birth. It DOES NOT have to be like what you see in the media. God made our bodies to have babies and most of the time if you don't interfere with nature, it will do the job perfectly. I would just encourage everyone to make sure they are very well informed on different options and the risk and benefits that come with them. I thought I was well-informed when I chose to have an unmedicated out of hospital birth, but by the end of my pregnancy I had learned SO much more and was even more positive I had chosen the best option for me and my baby. There really are some scary things that can happen when you start intervening that you won't know unless you do some digging. Plus I absolutely loved going through most of it with just my husband, and being so connected to what was happening with my body and my baby. Did it hurt? Yeah it was uncomfortable at times. But honestly, right before I found out I was at an 8 I told Aaron that my pressure waves weren't that bad, but wondered how much stronger they were going to get. They didn't get stronger, and actually once I started pushing I don't remember feeling pain, it was actually a huge relief to push. If you have the right state of mind and chose to look at things positively, it makes all the difference.
