Hannah’s Birth Story

Aug 15

Welcome to the story of my daughter Emerson’s birth. If you haven’t already, go back and read my pregnancy story and see how we ended up here.

We left off with me getting a phone call from the birth center saying I was a good candidate for their natural induction process. With the car loaded my mom and I drove to the birth center where the midwife on call met me with a warm cup of tea. I peed in a cup, had my blood pressure taken and was hooked up to the monitor to check on Emmie and see if I was having any contractions (I was not). She then explained the process, we needed to gather the rest of the ingredients for the midwife’s brew, I needed to drink it within 10 minutes and let them know when I finished it. She had also mentioned that I should stay in contact with her and we would decide if I should drink a second dose of the brew or have a foley bulb to help my labor progress. The midwife gave us a few of the ingredients for the drink and a zofran because it can cause an upset stomach. My mom and I headed out to collect the rest.

Once we got the rest of the ingredients we headed to my grandma’s house. I had decided I wanted to spend my early labor there because it was much closer to the birth center and I wanted to spend the least amount of time in the car while I was in labor. We ordered Taqueria Tsunami for dinner and I ate as my mom made my midwife’s brew. I started drinking it at 7:00 and was done by 7:05. I let my midwife and my doulas know and then just waited for it to kick in. Around this time my husband arrived from work, I could tell he was super anxious. We all sat in the living room watching TV when I asked my mom if I should be timing the cramps I was feeling. Both my mom and husband were shocked because I hadn’t mentioned anything until that point of feeling any change. It was around 9:00 when I started timing my contractions, just two hours after I finished the drink.

I spent most of the night laboring by myself, I wanted everyone to be rested and I was perfectly fine being alone. I moved back and forth from the shower to the bed all while timing my contractions. They were still pretty inconsistent at this point and never really lasted a full minute. Sometimes I would go 15+ minutes without a contraction and that would make me nervous that my labor would stall so I would use nipple stimulation to bring one back on. I was still in constant contact with my doulas and they were super encouraging. Laying over the bed and swaying was probably the most comfortable position for me at this point other than being in the shower.

At around 11:30 I called the midwife and we decided since my contractions were semi regular I did not need another dose of the drink and we would touch base in a couple more hours to see if I should come in for a foley bulb. I continued laboring in the shower and tried to rest as much as possible.

By 4am I was pretty uncomfortable and decided to go into the birth center to be checked and make sure Emmie was doing alright. I woke up my husband and told my mom and we headed out. I was again greeted with tea and a warm hug. The midwife did a cervical exam and said I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was SHOCKED. I was honestly expecting to be only 1 maybe 2cm dilated. This was super encouraging to me, we monitored Emmie for around 20 minutes and then we headed back to my grandma’s.

We left the birth center and got back to my grandma’s. As soon as we got back I got in the shower because I was feeling so nauseous. I felt my contractions start to pick up and I was left with some lingering back pain after each one. At around 6am my mom got me a heating pad and then went to go get Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. I couldn’t sit while having contractions because I felt so much pressure. Laying down or being on all fours was the best position for me.

At 7:25 I texted my doulas that I was going to go take a shower and then head into the birth center because the pressure was getting so intense. On my way to the stairs my water broke, right next to my grandma’s Persian rug. My mom was outside and my husband was still asleep and no one could hear me! I felt like I was calling for them for over 5 minutes, lol. I called the birth center and left a voicemail and went to take a shower. At this point I was very uncomfortable and could no longer talk during contractions.

At 8am on May 5th we made our way back to the birth center. Contractions in the car were the worst. I texted most of my friends to give them a quick update and let them know we were on our way to have a baby. My husband made it to the birth center in record time and my doula met us at the door. I was well in the labor zone at this point and don’t remember much details.

Once we walked in the door I was brought to the triage room where they monitored me while they got my room ready. I had chosen the water themed room (surprising, I know). Everything was looking great and they brought me to my room and I immediately took my clothes off and got in the shower where I stayed forever. Again my timeline is a little fuzzy here because I was in the labor zone, I have no concept of time from here on out. Everything feels like 10 hours and 10 minutes all at the same time.

My labor playlist was put on and I was able to sit on the birth ball in the shower and my husband used the detachable shower head on my back. I had some small bites of granola bars and some coconut water. During contractions I would feel more gushes of water come out which always caught me off guard.

I got to the point where I was begging to get into the birth tub, so they started to fill it. I felt so great once I got in. I was in for a couple hours when things started to slow a little so I got out and tried a contraction on the toilet… I HATED IT. I felt so much pressure sitting on the toilet so instead I got back in the shower and did some bouncing on the birth ball.

Soon I got back in the tub and was feeling the urge to push, I also was starting to feel like I couldn’t do it. I was begging for relief. My midwife offered me nitrous oxide gas and I decided to use it. It helped so much, I was able to relax enough to let Emmie really move down into the best position. At this point my doula was exhausted, she had been to three births back to back so she called in a back up. The back up doula was amazing, she came in and just immediately got to work fanning me and diffusing oils.

I ended up pushing for almost 3 hours. It was exhausting but also felt amazing to push. I honestly love pushing, it was probably the best part of labor for me. I felt her drop under my pelvic bone and soon she was crowning. Once she started crowning I was told to stop pushing, I felt like she was hanging out of me for hours!! But in reality it was probably only one contraction. Everyone told me she had so much hair and asked if I wanted to feel it, I said no just because I was so ready to be done. A couple more pushes and she was out and a huge sigh of relief came over my body. I did it! I got the birth experience I fought so hard for and my beautiful baby girl was here!

Emerson Daly (Emmie Day) was born May 5th 2021 at 4:55pm she weighed 9lbs and was 21 inches long.

We rested at the birth center until about 11pm, they brought me some bone broth, helped Emmie latch and got me prepared to heal postpartum. At around 11pm we loaded the car and went home.

I loved every bit of my birth experience and I know how lucky I am to be able to say that. Knowing how great birth can be and how many women do not love their birth experience is what really pushed me to be a doula. I want to make sure you look back on your birth experience and feel good about it!

Hannah Ashby

Hannah’s Birth Story

Marlea’s birth story pt 2

Marlea’s Birth Story (part one)