Labor Done My Way {Our Birth Story}

If you have read my journey through infertility, you know that it took seven years for my husband and me to have our first child. So, we wanted to go as natural a delivery route as possible to make sure things would be okay.

We signed up and took Bradley classes with someone local in Corpus Christi and read several natural childbirth books. My husband and I felt very prepared for labor, when the time would come.

I was due with our first child on February 6, 2012 (I remember this date very well because I remember thinking I would miss the Super Bowl game and have to watch it in the hospital! But our son came at 37 weeks on January 16th.

I woke up in the middle of the night (around 1am) with contractions. I did everything I was supposed to do to make sure it wasn’t ‘false labor.’ I took a shower, ate and drank something, even did the little bit of dishes that were in the sink. But the contractions just became stronger, and I knew he was going to arrive that day!

I woke up my husband and told him I was having contractions, but not to worry because I was going to labor through them until I felt that it was time to leave. I began timing contractions and breathing through them. Around 8am I told him that it was time to go.

We arrived at the hospital and gave our nurses my birth plan, and my back up birth plan. (You know, in case things didn’t go the way we wanted them to.) I got hooked up to all kinds of equipment, which was hard because I wanted to remain mobile and birth wire-free.

I remember labor pains getting harder… more intense… and I remember crying and trying to work through them. My husband was great! He coached me through them and got me anything I needed. He had specifically told our nurses not to ask me if I wanted pain relief, but the charge nurse came in while I was in major pain and said something like “why doesn’t she have an epidural” and in the middle of my intense pain, I lost my labor coach, who began talking to the charge nurse and telling her our wishes. In that small window of desperation, I looked at my nurse and begged for an epidural. The doctor came in, administered the pain relief, and at 1pm our son was born.

I don’t regret that decision at all, because I actually got to rest and take a nap while the contractions came and I had a hard time pushing our son out. (It took almost two hours.) So, I was glad that I got that small window to relax. I was super tired and having that extra energy to push, I think, saved me from having an emergency c-section.

I went on to have two other vaginal births and a scheduled c-section with our last child. My babies were not small at birth. (The smallest weighed 8lbs 2oz and the heaviest was 10lbs 9oz). All of my labors were over 16+ hours and I had pain relief for every single one.

I think it is important to not beat yourself up on HOW you labor your child, but that you DID labor your child. You brought a human being into this world and that is not an easy task!

How did you labor your child? I’d love to read any comments!!

In honor of the upcoming Labor Day weekend, we’re sharing our birth stories. Though each of our experiences are different, childbirth is beautiful in all its forms. It creates new life, both in our newborns, and in the lives changed forever through motherhood.

Read more “Labor Day: Birth Stories” from Corpus Christi area moms.