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First time pregnancy , First time moms

My Birth Story 🥰

I posted about a week ago talking about how I felt I could not share my birth story because it wasn’t negative, but I had a number of people in my comments who wanted to hear a positive story, so I felt inspired to share. For those who need to hear a positive birth story, my story is for you 🤍🤍

I want to preface this by saying I am a sufferer of chronic pain. I have fibromyalgia and very painful periods so I am very well acquainted with pain all over my body. I don’t say this to brag, I say this so that people can understand how and why I was able to cope with the discomfort of labor and delivery. Please do not hold yourself to this standard or feel disappointed in yourself if you need/needed help with your labor pains. Every birth and body is different, please do what is best for your birth and your body 🤍

I went into early labor on the night of February 21st, but genuinely I did not realize it was labor because it didn’t really feel any different than my Braxton hicks. I slept through the entirety of my early labor and woke up the next day with a bit more cramping than I had the night before. Throughout the day the cramps progressively got stronger and closer together but quite honestly the pain level was very similar to that of my regular periods. I still thought I was in early labor because everything I read about early labor said the cramps would feel like a period and you would have back pain as well. I went to the bathroom a little later and saw blood and I got worried so I called my OB’s nurse line and they said to come in to get checked out just in case. The blood was a completely normal part of labor, it was the “bloody show,” I just didn’t realize that at the time. Drove an hour to my hospital, having contractions about 3 minutes apart the whole way there and I used HypnoBirthing to breathe through them. When we got to the hospital I was still able to talk through my contractions and I was able to stand but if I had one while walking I needed to stop walking and just stand for a moment until it passed. We got checked in and the triage nurses came to look me over and when they checked my cervix I was 6cm dilated! The whole time I thought I was in early labor I was actually in active labor. They got me ready to go to my labor & delivery room, placed a hep-lock (IV catheter) in a very inconvenient place lol, they put it in my wrist and man that hurt 😭 We walked up to my room, got me settled in, and then the waiting game began. I kept using the breathing techniques from HypnoBirthing during my contractions and my labor kept progressing. I made it to about 8cm dilated before I asked for the lowest dose of the epidural. I was starting to get tired and I felt like the epidural would help me save the last bit of energy I had for pushing when the time came. I wasn’t able to walk around or anything with that low dose but I was still able to move my legs and turn to different positions in my bed. I could also still feel the contractions in my back and I could feel the pressure of baby’s head coming down. By 9cm my waters still had not broken on their own surprisingly. My nurses who had checked me prior said I had a “bulgy” bag of waters and that it was ready to pop any time. But it didn’t! My OB came in and popped the bag for me when I was 9cm and ooo boy the pressure was real after that! I could feel baby’s head pressing down and it was intense but not really painful because of my epidural. All of the pain I felt at this time was actually in my back as I had a lot of back labor. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable. About thirty minutes after they broke my waters I was 10cm and at 0 station so I was ready to start pushing! Pushing was longer for me because my baby wasn’t in optimal position, she was sunny side up and tilted slightly sideways so we both had to work harder to get her out. My nurses actually told me after baby was born that moms who have babies presenting like that usually need c-sections so I’m really glad we were able to avoid that even if it took a bit longer to push. (Not that C-sections are bad, but I have a general fear of surgery and I was aiming for a vaginal delivery.) I pushed for a total of four hours and while it was very tiring, I had a good experience. My doula and my partner were so supportive and comforting and my nurse was also brilliant and supportive. They all encouraged me through my pushes and talked with me/comforted me in between pushes. When my OB got there because baby was crowning, she was equally supportive through my pushes. Once baby’s head came out, the rest of her body slid right out after. The room felt so joyous at that moment, everyone was smiling and my doula actually got pictures of those moments and I’m so grateful for that. I did end up tearing but most first time moms do tear so I wasn’t worried about it. My labor at the hospital was about 12 hours from check in to birth of the baby. We got to the hospital around 15:00 on February 22nd and baby was born at 02:43 on February 23rd. The only parts of my birth that weren’t in my birth plan was the epidural (I had originally wanted to go unmedicated but I got too tired.) and my OB breaking my bag of waters but at that point it wasn’t even a membrane sweep it was more like popping a bubble. The only unpleasant/uncomfortable parts of my birth honestly was just not being able to eat anything other than clear liquids & popsicles, (I was RAVENOUS by like the middle of it) throwing up while switching positions, the placement of my hep-lock, and the intensity of the pressure as baby was coming down and out. My back also hurt quite a bit but I think that might have been more fibromyalgia related than anything. All in all even though the birth was long and tiring, I had a good experience. My staff and birth team was so encouraging and literally everyone was telling me how well I was doing for being a first time mom and that I was a champion. Even my OB came in and she looked at my contraction monitor and said “Oh yea, your body knows what to do.” And hearing that made me smile because that’s exactly what HypnoBirthing taught me. My body was made to do this, it knows what to do, I simply had to let it. And that’s my birth story 🥰 I hope that I was able to put some of the other first time moms here at ease and to just share a positive story amidst many birth stories that don’t go as planned. Every birth is unique, and I hope those of you who have yet to experience it end up having the birth experience you dreamed of and you leave your birthing place satisfied and at peace with the wonders your body performed. And to those who had a harder birth, I hope that you are able to process it the way you need and that you still feel empowered and beautiful 🤍🤍