Here is the natural birth story of my second child in hospital. It is positive, simple with nothing scary or too painful. It is very affordable with no birth center, no dual, but only one midwife already included in the hospital labor team.
Contents
Why a natural birth?
The process really doesn’t matter that much as long as you and your child are healthy and happy. But after my first labor with an epidural, I just couldn’t help wondering what a natural birth would be like. I felt strange when the nurse told me that I should push according to the equipment. And then I pushed but could not feel a thing.
My later failure of breastfeeding added to my urge to know more about nature birth and breastfeeding. So I really want to give it a try!
Learn about natural birth
If you want a natural birth, the very first step is to build up your faith and knowledge about it. You can start with some positive natural birth stories just like this one online or from people around you.
I heard of the book “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way” from a YouTuber Lisa Bass, and read it as a text book during my second pregnancy.
Unlike other popular pregnancy books focusing on the fetal development, this book mainly explains how a woman’s body is designed to give births and how to actively cope with physical and mental changes during a delivery. It describes how a childbirth process can be an enjoyable journey if you keep in mind that contractions come and go with a rhythm and a purpose. Labor is literally the process you and your baby work together in order to meet each other.
What’s more, the book walks you through a delivery several times to help you get familiar with potential body changes and emotional changes during each stage. And dedicated suggestions are given for different stages and various situations.
For example, I learned how to deal with my lower back pain by facing down with pressure in place. It was just impossible for me to manage a natural birth without this book. But do remember to practice those relaxing methods and positions before labor!
My natural birth story
Stay at home until contractions really pick up
My contractions started after 1 am. Being a little excited about this, I decided to stay up for a while to see what was going on. After 2 hours watching one of my favorite TV series with snacks, I was still too excited to sleep. So I decided to prepare my son’s sleepover bag during our stay in hospital. There were times when contractions were like 6 to 7 minutes apart and lasted 40 seconds long. But then they grew apart to more than 15 minutes apart.
Around 4 am, I was really sleepy and thought no labor was going to happen soon. So I lay down in the Bradley position and was able to rest for one hour or two.
After 6 am, I woke up because my contractions started to get more intense but no way near to “4-1-1” (Contractions are 4 minutes apart. Each one lasts for about 1 minute. This pattern has lasted for 1 hour).
I continued to prepare the sleepover bag until my husband and son woke up after 7 am. After telling them about my contractions, as usual I followed my son around and tried to help him with diaper change. This was when contractions really started to pick up. They were pretty intense and getting closer.
In order to reduce the tension on my low back, I stood bending over onto bed, rocking my belly gently without any support. Meanwhile I asked my husband to press his palms against my lower back. And eventually I put my knees and hands on the floor while my son ended up sitting on my lower back. Guess what. It was surprisingly effective!
Head to hospital as fast as we can
Around 8 am, my husband told his colleagues about me giving a birth. And I called our aunt to pick up my son. We just randomly grabbed some things for our hospital bag, and finally rushed out of the house around 9:30 am.
On our way to hospital, there was no way I could be seated with seatbelt on. So I was again bending over on the back seat. When a contraction came, I grabbed the seat back and tried to breathe through it. This 20-minute drive was awfully awkward. However, I do believe the rocking movement on the car actually distracted me a lot from the pain and probably speeded up the process.
Feeling really hungry, we got some bars and juice at a gas station. When we were able to see the hospital at the exit of high way, my water broke.
Follow the instinct of your body
Honestly I don’t have much to say during the pushing stage because mine was very brief. My husband dropped me off in front of the hospital and was asked to park his car. A kind hospital worker pushed me with a wheelchair, directly headed to the delivery department.
In the triage room (the temporary room to assess and determine whether to accept you to a labor/delivery room), when a nurse was trying to examine me and the baby, I felt the urge to push. Literally she was saying “I can’t get baby’s heartbeat. Do you want to climb up onto the bed?” That was the moment I felt the urge to push. So I replied “It’s coming” in a weak voice. At the same time several doctors and nurses rushed in like a magic.
The first push was a short and easy one like a rehearsal. After a brief break, the second push started. I could feel something got out under there, probably the baby’s head. When I was thinking about taking a breath for another push, the baby clearly had a different plan. The second push didn’t end there. It just continued (picked up again) and the whole baby got out. This was when I realized my husband was still parking the stupid car. So the doctor put the baby in my arms and helped cut the cord. It was 10:20 am.
The last stage was to get placenta out. The midwife from the hospital delivery team was really helpful. It took a while, but I didn’t mind at all with a newborn on my chest.
That’s basically my positive natural birth story. Hope you can find some encouragement and information here, and possibly give it a try.