“What was it really like?”
That was the question I was asking all my girlfriends who’d gone before me. I learned that woman have such a wide variety of experiences, even between their own children. No labor and delivery is quite the same as the next. Each one is unique. Some women made me a little nervous with their stories of 48 hour labors and 4th degree tearing. Fortunately, my story is not so traumatic. That is why I’m sharing my childbirth story: if one woman can take a breath and relax after reading this, I’ve done my job. I’m here to say you can have a positive experience giving birth to your baby, and you don’t need drugs to do so.
I had a healthy pregnancy with no complications aside from some light spotting in the first few weeks. In the weeks leading up to delivery, I became incredibly miserable as my body grew increasingly sore from the burden of carrying a full term child. The only thing holding me together was an incredibly supportive husband and the reassurance that the pains were a normal aspect of late pregnancy and I had nothing to worry about. If anything, they were an indication that I would soon meet my baby boy.
On a late Wednesday evening, I started experiencing chronic Braxton Hicks contractions (or perhaps they were real, I’ll never know) that were severe enough to break out the stop watch and take a hot shower to relieve the discomfort. Around midnight I thought for sure we’d be heading to the hospital, but around 1am they stopped altogether. This story repeated itself over the next few days. Saturday night, it happened again but with much more regularity. In fact, for two hours I experienced contractions every 3-5 minutes, which is what finally sent me to the hospital. I was a few centimeters dialated already and the nurse predicted we’d have our son the next morning. I asked if I could go home and rest for a while and she agreed. I ended up staying home all day on Sunday. By Monday morning, labor had halted once again. Frustrated, I headed to my weekly appointment on Monday morning and told my OB what had been happening. He told me to head over to the hospital and he would call in some Pit. Previously I had been against getting induced, but at this point, I didn’t care if they used the jaws of life to get my son out. That was how desperate I was to give birth!
To make a long story short, they ended up giving me the Pitocin around 1pm, and just 8 hours later, my son was born after less than a half hour of pushing. It took me until about 7pm or so to dilate to approximately 5 centimeters, and I managed to dilate the rest of the way in a little over an hour. They had to repeatedly lower my dose of Pitocin because my contractions were practically overlapping. I had a minor episiotomy because my son’s head was a little bit too big, but aside from that, he came out like a little lightening bolt, face up with his jowls shoved up around his ears like an adorable sumo wrestler.
Labor was not scary, it was exhilarating. I was in awe of the sheer amount of adrenaline that pumped through my body, giving me strength and endurance that I could never have mustered otherwise. The contractions were no more painful than a severe headache until I reached the transitional stage of labor. Then they were very intense, but in a different way than I had expected. They weren’t “pounding” or “cramping” as I had anticipated, but were more of a searing pressure. They definitely pushed me to the limit, but never passed my threshhold. Just when I thought I could not take any more pain, the nurse announced I was fully dilated and ready to push. Here’s the truth about pushing: it feels good. When you watch women yelling and screaming during this stage of labor, it’s not because we’re in so much pain, it’s because we’re putting forth so much effort. It takes 40 to 60 pounds of pressure to push a baby through the birth canal. I realized, while waiting for the doctor to arrive and fighting off my pushing contractions, that your body applies much of this force on its own. And the pain of the child’s head crowning and passing though? I would describe it as a hot, stinging sensation.
The incredible relief and emotional surge I experienced the moment my son was born is enough to justify all the pain in the world. I would never want to be numbed and miss out on feeling his little body slide out and being able to sit up and hold him on my own.
After giving birth to my son, I was convinced that childbirth is something every healthy woman can achieve if she is supported and prepared. It is exhilarating, empowering, exciting, and nothing makes you feel more alive. If you are thinking about giving birth drug-free, go for it. If you believe you can do it, you probably will.
Miss Parts 1 & 2?
My Experience With Natural Childbirth, Part 1
My Experience With Natural Childbirth, Part 2