Length of labor (not pushing)
8 hours
Length of pushing
45 minutes
Who was with me
My doula
What I would do differently next time
Use a birthing stool
What I did to prepare for birth
I went to childbirth classes
How my birth happened
I woke up in the morning feeling dull pains in my back and a little pressure on my cervix. A few minutes later, I felt mild contractions and just went back to sleep. A few hours later, the contractions were much stronger and were about 5-10 minutes apart and lasted about 2-3 minutes long. I called my doula and she had me squat on the bed. She said it would help bring the baby down. But as I went into that position, I had terrible back pains that were more painful than the contractions. So my doula massaged me and she checked my cervix. I was about 7 cm dilated so I breathed through my ever-growing painful contractions until I was finally dilated enough. I pushed with all my might and for about 20 minutes her head did not appear. But as I continued to push, I started to feel the ring of fire and my hand automatically wanted to touch my baby's head that was barely showing through my vagina. I wanted to get the baby out of there so I PUSHED. And I really went at it. Good thing I had a biggish vagina because I would've tore my doula told me. So, her head emerged about 10 minutes after I felt the ring of fire. I cupped my hands around her head and pushed as another wave of contractions hit me. I screamed and her shoulders got caught. So I pushed again and she slipped out of me onto the bed. I named her Anabelle. She weighed promptly 7 pounds. I held her close to my breast and she started to feed. I watched her suck on my nipple until she fell asleep.
Lessons learned
- I learned that labor was painful, But it is so worth it.
