Birth has been on my mind A LOT lately. Seeing that I am 14 1/2 weeks pregnant, I still have a ways to go but all I can think about is the day I get to meet my little "bun in the oven." Since I have been thinking a lot about how I want this birth to go, I go back and think of how it went with Eli. I loved his birth. It was emotional, spiritual, hard, peaceful (when the nurse wasn't asking me a million questions), empowering, and so much more. Yes, there a little things when I look back, that I might want to do different with this labor in the future, but overall it was a great experience. That being said, I have been thinking and researching of ways to make it even "easier" when it comes to a natural, unmedicated birth. So here are my tips;
1. Make sure your husband or support person is on the same page with you when it comes to what you want for the birth. If you want an unmedicated birth, you will NEED someone to tell you that you can do it and encourage you to keep going. There was a point in Eli's labor, during transition, I looked at AJ and said, "I don't think I can do this anymore. I think it may be too hard. What do you think?" And he told me exactly what I needed to hear; "Babe, I believe you can do this. Lets try a little longer and if you still want to change your mind then I back you up. But I know you can do this." Within 45 minutes Eli was out. I am SO thankful he said that.
2. Have a supportive OB or midwife. My OB has a high C-section rate and I know some has to do with unneeded medical interventions. That being said, I believe C-sections are blessing when they are needed. I do not judge moms for however they choose to birth their baby(ies) into the world, I just am a big believer in being educated in the risks, pros and cons, and so on, when it comes to making decisions about birth. For me and my birth, I loved having it naturally. I know with each medical intervention I get, my chances of a C-setion sky rocket up. (No matter how a baby is born, I believe the mother should feel empowered.) Anyway, back to my OB, he was very supportive when I told him I wanted a natural, unmedicated birth. We talked A LOT about what my expectations were and if plans change, which they sometimes do, how we would deal with that and make educated decisions from there.
3. Wait as long as you can to go to the hospital. I was only in the hospital for 4 hours before my son was out. Dr's say come in once contractions are every 5 mins. This labor I am going to try and wait a little longer. Only being there for 4 hours, I still had a nurse that kept pushing for intervention after intervention which I had already told her that I did not want. We still had a good amount of time before Eli was here when my contractions were every 5 mins. Heck I was at my little sister's high school graduation when contractions were every 5 mins apart, which I do not recommend doing when contractions are getting stronger and stronger. We finally left half way through when the contractions were every 4 mins and were getting VERY strong. To the point I needed to me vocal. So then we headed to our apartment to grab our bags and then go to the hospital.
4. Try to stay away from unnecessary medical interventions. I had medical interventions: I had an IV, monitors were on my belly, my Dr broke my water. If you can stay away from pitocin and go with more natural inductions, that will help, and there are a lot of natural ways to try to get labor started or moving along a little faster. Pitocin makes your contractions unnaturally long and much harder. No judgement on you mamas who have had to get the epidural with pitocin! I don't blame you one bit! I can't imagine.
5. Move around! I had to move. I couldn't stay in one position for very long at all. I sat on the birthing ball, was on all fours on the bed, standing, swaying, sitting and swaying, moving, moving, moving.
6. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I can't stress this enough. If your body is telling you to be vocal, do it! If it is telling you to move, do it! If it is telling you to lay down and rest, do it! If it is telling you to push, do it! My body starting pushing on its own. We called in the nurse and she took one look at me and goes "Oh no hunny. You're not there yet. I've seen plenty of women when they are ready to push and you are not. I'll be back in 45 mins." She left the room and I couldn't stop pushing. Called her back in and she checked me and I was 10 cm and his head was almost all the way out. So please, listen to your body!
7. This one I did not have with Eli but I will have with this baby. We have chosen to hire a doula. A doula is someone who is there to help support mama and daddy during birth. She can suggest different positions to help with moving baby down, help with back labor, and overall help mommy to be more comfortable. She IS NOT there to push my husbands out of the way and take over, but instead to be that extra support and hands when we need them. If I need to just hug AJ, she can be behind me massaging my back, or getting something warm/cold to put on my neck, and many more things.
Anyway, this was my long post of what helped me with the pains of birth with Eli. I wanted to jot them down for myself and thought to share them with those who want to read it. I love birth and want each mom to feel empowered with the birth of her child. I am a strong believer of being educated about birth and finding information so me and Aj can make the best decisions for our family. In no way am I judging those moms who have medicated births or C-sections. These are just some tips for those who want an unmedicated birth. Thanks for reading :) And if you have any more tips, I'd LOVE to hear them!
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