My side of the story

I thought some of you might be wondering how it happened that I didn't realize that I was so close to delivering a baby, so I thought I'd share my side of the birthing story!

For several nights previous to Spring's arrival, I had been going into early labor in the evening, waking up with contractions around 2 or 3 in the morning, only to have my contractions taper off and stop by mid-morning. So Wednesday evening, when I started having contractions again, I didn't think much of it. When I hadn't slept at all be 1 in the morning, I consulted my doula and midwives, took a Nytol and tried to get some sleep (still thinking I wasn't going to stay in labor).

My mom had come to stay the night and I was really thankful for that at 2 am when my contractions got strong enough that I couldn't cope with them on my own. She and I had gone through childbirth classes together so that she could be my labor coach. I got in the guest bed with her, and was shaking hard, which can be a sign of transition (the last part of labor before pushing). But transition is often a very difficult stage for women and this didn't feel all that difficult. Thankfully my mom decided to call our doula.

I labored without too much pain for an hour or so but I was really tired (bear in mind, I hadn't slept well for the last three nights and I had taken nytol not long before) so my doula suggested that I try laying down through my contractions so that I could doze in between. This worked well for me and I did it for an hour or so. Not super comfortable, but I was glad not to be getting up and down. Then, out of the blue, I felt the urge to push! I thought I would get some sign from my body that I was getting close to pushing, but nope! It took fewer than 10 pushes for Spring to be born, and for most of those, my doula was coaching me not to push since we still thought we might make it to the birth center.

I really think that all the work I did preparing for this birth helped me stay calm and relaxed through labor, which helped labor progress so quickly and easily. The only morsel of regret I have is that I was looking forward to delivering at the Birthing Inn and having a water birth, but I wouldn't trade the experience I had for anything!!