Makayla’s Birth Story
When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have an unmedicated natural birth for not only my health but the health of my baby. A few of my friends have had medicated births leading to needing more and more medical intervention which ended with a traumatic birth experience and I just did not want that for myself.
I wanted my birth to be an amazing, spiritual experience, not a scary one! Everyone around me seemed very supportive in my decision, especially my husband. I had a few comments here and there about how I wouldn’t be able to do it or that I was crazy but that only fueled the fire for me to really want an unmedicated birth to show that more women can advocate for themselves to have an amazing birth story!
My water broke around midnight at 38 weeks and 5 days. I started having light contractions that soon got pretty close together every 5-10 minutes but only lasting about 15-20 seconds long. I tried to rest but the contractions kept waking me up. I was a little in denial at first that I was in labor since it was pretty early and I thought I was going to go past my due date since most first time moms do. I was going to the bathroom a lot so then I knew my body was preparing for labor.
My husband woke up and I told him I had been having contractions since midnight. He was ready to go to the hospital but I knew I had some time and did not want to rush. I wanted to labor at home for as long as I could, because I was nervous that labor would stall once I got to the hospital. I was walking around the house, changing positions during contractions. I was squeezing my birth comb but my husband doing the hip squeezes on my lower back really helped with counter pressure. I was also listening to the christian hypnobirthing app which helped me to rest in the bed a little bit before heading to the hospital. By 1pm my contractions were every 2-3 minutes apart lasting for almost a minute long. I decided it was time to head to the hospital. It was uncomfortable to sit in the car so I was kind of side laying in the back seat, still having multiple contractions.
Once we got to the hospital, triage was full so I was laboring in the waiting area for probably about 45 minutes. I stayed moving around, changing positions leaning against the wall and the chairs during the contractions which by this point were back to back. I was moaning and groaning in front of everyone but did not care at all ha! They finally took me back to triage. I tried to lay on the bed but then felt A LOT of pressure and told my husband to get someone quick! They checked me and said I was about 9.5 cm dilated (I was shocked) and quickly wheeled me to our labor room. The pressure was so much that I could not lay down so it felt better to labor on my hands and knees on the bed. Once we got to the labor room, there was only the midwife and nurse in our room during the whole labor. Apparently, there were 10 other babies born around the same time so the hospital staff was stretched thin! It was nice though since there weren’t a lot of people in the room or coming in and out. The lights were dim and the midwife just let me listen to my body and do what felt best in the moment and gave me guidance when I needed it.
Once it was time to push, I was still trying to labor and push in different positions. I tried standing/squatting but my legs were shaking pretty bad, so I mostly pushed on my hands and knees on the bed laying over a peanut ball. As I was pushing my husband had christian music playing in the background while he and the midwife were encouraging me and reminding me that God made my body to do this! I pushed for about an hour and half then the midwife said let’s try to get on your back I think he is about to come. I could see his head crowning and then came the ring of fire! This was the hardest part and the most painful. But with a few more hard pushes he came out and the midwife said to grab him and pull him out. She helped me bring him onto my chest! Praise the lord! The most amazing moment! We are so grateful for our precious baby boy.
Things I did to prepare for a natural, unmedicated birth:
#1 pray. God made our bodies to birth our babies. I would constantly pray for a spiritual birthing experience and the health and safety of my baby and myself. Mindset before and during labor is everything. During every contraction, I would remind myself that this is getting me closer to meeting him and the pain is only temporary!
#2 Educate. I read blogs, positive birth stories, listened to podcasts, followed multiple instagram accounts that were empowering and encouraging. I also met with a doula. Hannah from birth on the daily did a birth class for my husband and I which was very educational, helpful, and gave us more confidence for birth! Thank you Hannah!
#3 body work. Staying active is SO important and I truly believe this played a huge role in having a smooth birth and quicker recovery! I would also encourage you to see a prenatal chiropractor. My chiropractor helped me to have little to no pain during pregnancy and made sure my baby was in the proper position for birth. It also just feels great to get adjusted!
#4 hydrate. During pregnancy and labor it is so important to drink plenty of water and electrolytes. I also drank red raspberry leaf tea almost every night starting at 36 weeks and I think this helped to strengthen my uterine muscles and helped me to have more efficient contractions resulting in a quicker labor! I also ate 3 medjool dates a day to help ripen my cervix. I still tore during labor so I’m not sure if these helped but maybe!
I am so proud of myself for advocating for the birth experience that I wanted and hope to encourage other women to do the same! It is SO worth it!!
