Our Birth Story

I realize I'm very far behind on life, but I wanted to share our birth story as a follow up to my last post, and hopefully to be an encouragement to other women. When we found out we were pregnant in February of last year, I had a hard time wrapping my head around what was about to happen to my body and how this little girl was going to make it out into the world.  I had some previous experience listening to birth stories from natural deliveries, but quickly thought I was not strong enough to handle that. I have never had any surgeries, broken bones, or even my wisdom teeth removed. I'd never been hospitalized, never given blood, and was certain that my pain tolerance of zero would eliminate me from natural birth. But the more I read and researched, I decided I wanted to do this without any pain medications. I wanted to experience every part of birthing this little girl into the world.

Now, many of you might say I'm crazy and that's okay. I also want to pause and say that babies come into this world in a plethora of scenarios and circumstances, all of which are out of our control. What matters is that our babies get here safe, sound, and healthy! There are many reasons a birth doesn't go as planned or interventions may be needed for the safety of mom or baby. And honestly, I had pretty low expectations of myself for this whole process and was completely willing to bail on the "plan" and go another route to meet our baby girl.

(Ignore all my chins and just look at that daddy's face!)

I've had many conversations about birth lately (all my patients at work want to know how mom and baby are doing), and women of all ages and generations are shocked that I would choose a natural delivery. Here are a few reasons I made the decision to go natural and my thought process behind it:
-  I did not want to be induced, as contractions by induction are much stronger and more difficult to handle than natural contractions. My pregnancy was very comfortable, even until the last few weeks, so I was happy letting Brenna come on her own time.
- Women have birthed babies without meds or intervention for all of time. Our bodies are made to do this. I'm surprised by the statistics on C-section rates and scheduled inductions, many of which are done out of convenience instead of necessity.
- I wanted to be a part of the birthing experience, so I didn't want to get an epidural in fear that I would be dead-legged on the bed, not knowing when to push. Epidurals can sometimes slow contractions. This slowing of labor can then lead to a C-section, and I wanted to avoid surgery if at all possible.
- My logic read like this: If induction leads to strong, difficult to bear contractions, that could lead to caving to an epidural, which could slow labor and lead to a C-section. I wanted no part of any of these, so the alternative is natural labor. My decision was as simple as a process of elimination - and there was only one other way out of this situation.
- In studying labor and delivery, I realized that more than anything else, labor is a mental challenge. Now, obviously there is some pain involved. But if you can mentally make it through each contraction until you're fully dilated, then mentally make it through the pushing, you're done!

Now, the hardest part about this for a first pregnancy is that you have NO IDEA what to expect and no idea what you can handle. Since I've never birthed a human before and Jesse had half as much knowledge as me about doing so, we decided to hire a doula to help us. Doulas are amazing assets to childbirth. They provide pre- and post-natal support and help coach you through the birthing process. They are there to hold your hand, tell you how awesome you're doing, and make suggestions such as positions to keep you comfortable and focused while in labor. They also act as a third party that are not connected to you emotionally and also not part of the hospital team (typically) - so they make sure you stick to your birth plan if possible. Our doula was wonderful and I would recommend a doula for every unmedicated birth!

So I had all these plans to do it all by myself (with support!), and am pleased to report that it went as smoothly as I could have ever imagined.  One week past my due date, I began having contractions at 7am, which quickly began coming every 3 minutes. By 10:00 we were calling the doula to meet us at our home. By 11:30 we were headed to the hospital. And by 2:11 Brenna was in our arms. This seven hour labor was no rival to my own mother who birthed me in an hour. Hats off to her. I'll spare you all the really fun details, but am more than willing to indulge you if you ask. :)

Believe me, I realize I am so blessed and thankful to be able to tell this story this way. There are many very difficult births that require even more strength and will power than I exhibited. There are many women who have to bail on their plan and surrender to interventions to get baby here safely, and every single one of these experiences are worth applauding. There are no failures in childbirth when that precious life breathes air for the first time.

A few words of advice if you are expecting or planning a pregnancy (or just some tidbits to tuck away for the long haul):
- EDUCATE YOURSELF! You can attempt to have the birthing experience that you want. Learn all of your options in detail and discuss with your doctor. If your doctor is not reasonable with your wishes, find a new one. There are many OBs skilled in natural delivery, so if you feel pressured (for no medical reason) into a different plan, find a different doctor.
- I recommend reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Ignore the few really hippy sections; otherwise it's a very thought-provoking and informative read.
- Believe you can do it! (This one is so important!)
- Then read this series of posts so that you know what to expect after birth. It ain't pretty ladies.
- And if you plan to breastfeed: take a class, read a book, watch a tutorial on youtube or something beforehand because it's not easy either.