My Natural Birth Story

After eight years of trying to conceive, filled with lots of hope and prayers, our little boy finally came. My pregnancy was surprisingly smooth – no morning sickness, decent sleep, and stable moods, with just a bad bout of sciatica pain towards the last few months.

From the get-go, I was fascinated by the birthing process. Despite the nightmare stories I’d heard from friends and family, I believed in my body’s natural ability to give birth. Side note – don’t listen to those stories and take them to heart, everyone’s story is SO different, and you don’t want to walk into delivery with fear. This curiosity led me down a rabbit hole of documentaries, leaving me determined to have a natural, intervention, and pain med free birth, but I think it also gave me a negative feeling towards the hospital system. I found a midwife group that delivers at a hospital in Salem, Oregon which is where I lived at the time, hoping for the best of both worlds.

I’ve shared a list of my favorite go-to resources on all things pregnancy at the bottom, be sure to check it out. But alright, on to my labour and delivery!

9 Days Overdue

My due date came and went, and I was still very pregnant, leaving me trying every trick in the book – from spicy foods, pineapple, dates, you name it – to induce labor. Then, nine days overdue, a friend introduced me to the wonders (and grossness) of castor oil. That night, my contractions started again, but not without some unpleasant side effects (hello, diarrhea). The next morning, they fizzled out, only to come back stronger after another dose of castor oil. I was experiencing stalled labor, where the contractions would start, and then stop, and this went on for a week!

Pre – Labour

That same day, during a routine appointment, my midwife noticed some concerning heart rate decelerations in my baby, which led to an immediate hospital visit. There, labor finally kicked into high gear. Despite initial progress, the baby’s heart didn’t respond well to a brief stint on Pitocin, but it seemed to help progress my labor. 

Active Labor

Active labor was intense and messy, with back labor and baby coming out head looking up instead of down. I begged for an epidural, but it was too late. The pain was excruciating, I kept praying to God for it to be over, and kept asking for anything “Just give a freaking tylenol, or laughing gas!” But nope, they had nothing for me LOL.  At one point, I looked down and saw a tiny blood-stained cross on my ankle, which gave me a sense of peace, and actually it was the reminder I needed that God was with me, and that I COULD do this. 

Delivery

After almost two hours of active labor, and another two hours of pushing, I delivered my baby, and was even able to reach down and pull him out – a truly empowering moment. I felt like a crazy mad woman! Here is the thing, with my first, my water never broke, and they actually had to break it before I started pushing, so I guess during active labor. 

Baby #2 Natural Birth Story

My second pregnancy was a whole different story. Since with my first, I had such bad sciatica I decided to find a chiropractor who specializes in pregnant women. Let me tell you, it was a night and day difference, I had no sciatica pain, and felt great all throughout my pregnancy.  With no insurance this time, and living in Texas and not knowing much about the hospitals in my area, I opted for a birth center and focused heavily on breathing and visualization techniques in order to prepare for another natural delivery. 

False Labor

Everyone I knew, including my midwives, kept warning me that the second baby comes much faster. So this was what I was anticipating, little did I know just how fast it actually was going to be. My due date was December 7th, and I started getting sporadic contractions three days before. My midwife would check me and let me know that I was 1 cm dilated but that it felt super soft and because of that labor could progress very quickly once it actually started (boy was she right.) 

So despite a few false starts with contractions, the real deal kicked in 2 days after my due date. My mom had flown in from Oregon the day before, and since I was feeling okay, even though the day before my contractions were getting so bad I thought it was the real deal! We spent the following day shopping, we even walked down to the lake near my house which has a super steep hill. 

Miles Circuit For Stalled Labor

After a long day of walking, I was feeling a little bummed that I wasn’t having any contractions, so I took a hot bath and remembered a series of positions called the Miles Circuit exercises. Which if you are experiencing stalled labor, I would HIGHLY recommend you do them, here is the link to the PDF: https://www.milescircuit.com/uploads/4/8/1/4/4814341/miles_circuit.pdf 

I decided to try them out, and OH. My.  Word. Not even 20 minutes into the first position my contractions came on strong. Like it felt like active labor contractions. I was texting with my midwife and she insisted I wait a full hour of these contractions before coming in. I just knew I couldn’t wait that long, with each Miles Circuit position that I would do, they would come on stronger and stronger. I finally said “God if you don’t give me a sign right now of when to go to the birth center, I’m afraid I will have this baby at home.” Immediately after saying that prayer, my water broke!  We rushed to the birth center. Once we got there, I was almost 6 cm dilated. I labored in the tub, and had my birthing playlist going on my phone, and was doing my deep breathing. The tub got too irritating for me, just felt too hot, even though the water was fine. So I moved to the bed. 

Labor

Once I got to like 7 cm, I was screaming and roaring like a lion, but once she told me I was like at 8cm, my body instinctively started pushing. My husband remembers texting my family telling them I was at an 8,  2 minutes later, our sweet baby girl was out, and it took like 3 pushes. The labor was intense but so much more manageable, and in less than two hours from water breaking, I was holding my baby girl. Such a dramatic difference than with my first. 

Comparing Both Natural Births

Comparing my experiences, the birth center was a calm, empowering environment, though it lacked post-delivery amenities like food. The freedom to move and the supportive atmosphere were definite pluses. At the core of a birth center is the belief that delivery is a natural occurrence, something that your body was literally built to do, and that the majority of births, when allowed to progress at their own pace, with no interventions, will result in a healthy delivery for both baby and mom. I got a completely different sense at the hospital. In a hospital setting, there is this very present looming fear in the room, that something will go wrong at any moment, and that a c-section is needed if you don’t get this baby out fast enough – and don’t get me wrong, in many cases that IS probably very necessary. Thank God for modern medicine, they are great for emergencies and surgeries, but when they start viewing EVERYTHING the same way, and not embracing and understanding the woman’s natural ability to deliver, I think in a way you rob woman of the chance to experience something that is so unique to us woman, and so empowering. 

That’s why I think if you are a healthy woman, with no health complications,  if you decide to give birth in a hospital setting, there are still things you can do, and practice to try and have a natural birth. AGAIN, only if you have that inclination. For some women, getting an epidural, and getting induced is very calming to them, and it helps them progress very quickly, and it works for them. So listen to your gut, and don’t be opposed to it, but also don’t let the hospital staff push you into doing something that you don’t feel is right. If you don’t want to get induced before your due date, or right on your due date, then say so!

My Go-To Pregnancy Resources

In order to have an ALMOST Pain free pregnancy for my 2nd baby, I was VERY consistent about doing my visualization and deep breathing videos. I truly believe they made a huge difference in keeping me calm and focused on getting my baby down and out FAST!

1. Built To Birth by Bridget Teyler is a God send. Her FREE meditation style delivery videos were on my playlist the entire time, you can find a ton of her stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2bUz_06MnlvUW4j-mtU5JO9TkeOnndh6
2. The Miles Circuit is a series of simple yet very powerful stretch positions that help kick start labor if you are over due or having stalled labor like I did with both babies. Do THEM! (Obviously consult with your doctor, and for some of the positions, be sure someone is watching and assisting as necessary.)
3. I mentioned that with my first baby I had really bad sciatica during the last two months of my pregnancy. A chiropractor recommended that I find someone who is Webster Technique Certified, which is basically a way of adjusting specific for pregnant women, this website here helps you locate someone near you: https://icpa4kids.com/find-a-pediatric-chiropractor/