My Natural Birth Story – Labour and Delivery

My Natural Birth Story – 13 Hours Of Labour

Natural birth is something I always wanted to try but was terrified of.  If you have read my other articles I wasn’t against getting an epidural again, even though the first one did not go totally as planned (you can read about what happened here). An Epidural truly is a great alternative too dealing with endless hours of pain.  However, my natural birth story was completely unplanned and I am going to dish on all the details of how I did it naturally!

Preparing for Labour

May 18, 2018, was my estimated due date for baby girl no. 2.  At the 38 week mark, my doctor had noticed that my fluids looked a little bit low so she scheduled me for an ultrasound just to check things out.

Turned out that my fluids were low but nothing drastic.  My doctor decided we would just keep our eye on it and I would have to be cautious of leaking fluids.  Basically constant monitoring of myself.

When I went in for my 39-week appointment she noticed my fluids were still low.  She suggested another ultrasound to weigh out the severity of the leaking fluids and then based on the outcome, discuss a possible induction to be safe.

Outcome Of My 39 Week Ultrasound

At this point,  I am only three days until my due date.  After the ultrasound was completed to check on the fluids, we did a fetal monitoring test. The baby was doing fantastic but my results for the leaking fluids came back as very low.  Out of safety for the baby and myself, they deemed it best to do an induction being as I was only three days away from my due date.

Surprisingly I was so ecstatic to hear this because that meant BABY TIME!  I knew in just a matter of 24 hours, I would finally be meeting my little girl!  My first pregnancy I was induced as well, so knowing what to expect put me a little more at ease with an induction.

My mom was already with me as she took me to the hospital.  Everyone else, including my husband, sister, and dad we’re all on stand by anticipating a call that it was once again that “time.”

It’s Show Time

With everyone leaving work and en route to the hospital, the whole experience was getting REAL.  The crazy thing was how similar it was to my first pregnancy.  I was admitted around the same time of day, I was induced, I had the same nurses, I was in the EXACT same labor and delivery room… It was all very surreal that it was happening again.

Everything was all very calm.  The nurses got me situated in my private room and my husband brought me a few burgers and fries to scarf down before things really starting happening.  Here in Canada, if you choose to get an epidural, you can’t have anything but liquids and popsicles.  Being as I was pretty sure I’d be getting an epidural I thought it would be wise to eat as much as possible (haha).

Induction Time

After eating and getting situated, the doctors came and checked me.  I was still about 2-3cm dilated and my cervix was slightly softened.  They opted for Cervidil this time as my form of induction instead of Pitocin which was great as this allowed me to be mobile.  For those of you who don’t know the difference, Pitocin is in an IV form and gets injected into your system according to how you’re progressing.  Basically it is very hard to move around as you are hooked up to a machine, and when you’re in labor, moving around really helps with moving things along at a good pace.

Cervidil is similar to a tampon and it just gets placed inside the vaginal walls to soften the cervix.  This allows you to still be very mobile.  Out of the two, I preferred Cervidil because I was able to labor in the bath and keep moving.

Around  1 pm they inserted the cervidil roughly an hour or two after it was inserted is when I started getting regular contractions. There was SO much pressure when I would walk around it was unbelievable.

I stuck to using the birthing ball and then moved into the bath to help relax the contractions.  I labored in the bath for almost an hour which felt so good!  It kept me calm, relaxed and feel as comfortable as I possibly could.  I highly recommend this as a natural pain reliever if you can.

Contractions Were Starting To Intensify 

Things felt like they were really starting to progress so I got the nurses to check me.  My contractions were getting pretty intense and I wasn’t getting a lot of time in between to catch my breath.  At this point, I was feeling ready for an epidural.  They checked me and I was still 3cm dilated so they tried to get me to hold off.  The pressure and pain were intensifying so much and with induction, your pain goes from 0 to 60 in no time.  The other thing you have to take into consideration is how long it will take the anesthesiologist to even get to you when you order an epidural.

With my knowledge of this, I got my husband to go track down the nurses and demand an epidural.  Keep in mind, I was one of the rare ones to get a post-dural headache from the epidural with my first baby.  Because of this, I was scared and wanted to get the epidural at a time where I still felt like I could properly breathe through contractions so as not to move or jolt and get punctured again.

The nurses sent in the call for the anesthesiologist to come and by the time they got to my room I was dilated another cm (about 4 cm now).

How did this epidural experience go?

Well, although the epidural happened quick, easy and with very little pain, I was waiting to experience that immediate relief like the first time I ever got one.  But I didn’t…

If you’ve never experienced an epidural before, they usually check how it’s working with an icy glove.  They test out different areas of your body to make sure you’re numb in the right areas and this way they can move you or adjust you so that it properly flows through your body.

When the doctor tested me, I could fully feel the icy cold glove which meant my worst nightmare… They would have to redo the epidural again.  Every time an epidural is redone, you increase your chances of a post-dural headache.

At the time the anesthesiologist almost went to redo the epidural, my toes starting to feel tingly and I was SO hopeful the epidural was finally kicking in.

I Told Him To Refrain

Although I could still feel my contractions, they were getting easier to handle.  The anesthesiologist left the room and I was feeling like the epidural was finally starting to do its job.  This did not last long though.  During that same hour, I noticed my contractions were coming back STRONG.

The only thing left for me to do at this point was start preparing myself for natural labor and start doing the steps I had read about to keep my body relaxed and calm so I could focus on my breathing.

As each contraction got more intense and pain increased I knew the epidural was just not going to work.  Another hour had passed and I got checked by a nurse.  In that small amount of time, I had gone from 4 cm to 7 cm!

Everything was now happening quite rapidly and my intense contractions went into HARD back labor.  I honestly don’t know how to even express back labor, but as I read through many other articles BEFORE going through it... IT IS BRUTAL.  I basically felt like my back was breaking through each contraction (sorry ladies who haven’t gone through this yet, just being honest).

Here Come’s The Natural Part Of My Birth Story

As the contractions were deeply intensifying, my breathing was getting faster and I was getting nauseous and profusely sweating.  The nurses were trying to put wet cloths on my forehead to cool me down.  Everyone in the room was trying to talk to me.  And I was getting so irritated because I just needed to focus!

The nurses checked me and said I had now gone from 7cm to 9 cm dilated.  They called the anesthesiologist back to try and see if I could get some relief before I started pushing.

Long story short, the anesthesiologist tried everything he could and basically said I would need a horse tranquilizer for anything to work on me because the highest dosage of what he was giving me still wasn’t numbing anything.  That left me with ONE option.  Continue to do this naturally.

Here I am, rolling around in the hospital bed in extreme pain, frantically breathing through each intense contraction, wondering how in the world I was going to push through this pain…

The nurses kept encouraging me to push as I was fully dilated.   They tried to explain to me how it would immediately relieve the pain and pressure.  The pain was just so intense already I couldn’t fathom trying to PUSH through it… So I didn’t.

Basically, after almost TWO hours of the nurses said it was ok to push if I wanted to and that it actually HELP with the pain, I finally gave in and pushed as hard as I could…

The nurses were absolutely right.  I felt a HUGE relief in pain and pressure, so much so, I almost didn’t feel anything anymore.

I pushed For 3 Minutes

The nurses and my family were all yelling at me that I was doing an amazing job and to just KEEP PUSHING.  I pushed for about two minutes and our sweet little girl’s head popped out.  Then I heard the nurses yelling “shoulders!  shoulders!”   Turns out she too, had shoulder dysplasia (this happened with my first as well).  This basically means they have broad little shoulders and the shoulders get stuck while trying to push.

The nurse had to shove her hand in, grab the baby’s shoulders and twist them to pull her out.  It was incredibly painful as I felt EVERYTHING this time.  But, I only pushed for a total of THREE minutes and she was born!!

Our beautiful 7 oz 11 lb baby girl.  The 13 hours of pain and discomfort had perished already as I was just enthralled with our new baby girl.  She was FINALLY here!  Little miss Tennessee Rose!

To my surprise, the nurses looked at me and informed me that I didn’t even tear!  I was so incredibly proud of my body for doing this labor and delivery naturally.  It was not easy, it was so challenging and it WAS painful, but my goodness is it ever empowering.

You Are Amazing!

Women are amazing!  Our bodies are amazing!  If you haven’t gone through your labor and delivery yet and are reading this, YOU’VE GOT THIS!  Whether you have a natural birth or not, there is no judgment.  Do whatever it takes to bring that baby into the world.  Make the best-educated decision for both of you to be happy and healthy.  Please feel free to write some of your experiences below!  I absolutely love hearing from you all.  Please keep comments respectful and positive too, please!

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XO, Asia