Length of labor (not pushing)
27 hours
Length of pushing
40-60 min
Who was with me
My husband, two best girlfriends, the midwife and her assistants
What I would do differently next time
I don't think there's anything I could have done differently.
What I did to prepare for birth
After interviewing two OBs and two birth centers, I chose a Certified Nurse Midwife at a freestanding birth center across the street from a hospital (where the midwife had privileges). I did all my prenatal visits with the Midwife. We met the OB who would perform a C-section if we ended up needing one. My husband and I took a Hypnobirthing class together, read many books and watched countless youtube videos of normal natural waterbirths. My husband and I prepared my two friends for what to expect and how they could help during the birth. They were a huge source of comfort.
How my birth happened
At 41 weeks, I finally started feeling regular contractions. I labored all night, playing video games and napping between contractions on our recliner with a heating pad on my back. At 7AM, my midwife asked me to continue laboring some at home and to come in around 3PM. Contractions became stronger, but I was still able to laugh and joke in between.
When the midwife checked me at 3 I was at 1cm. After several years of births with no overlaps, the birth center was overwhelmed with three simultaneous labors, so I had to wait to be admitted to the birthing suite. We were prepared for this and went to a nearby hotel that had a jacuzzi tub. I labored there for another 4 hours, and this is where things started getting tough. Between contractions I had some intense back pain that could not be completely managed through my hypnobirth breathing or hot water. I had to switch between several positions and between shower and bath just to manage. I was ready to call it and head for a hospital, but the midwife came to the hotel and announced that I'd gotten to 6cm, and knowing that I'd made that much progress helped me push forward.
I finally got into the birthing suite around 9PM, where I labored in their tub for a while. I had not realized that the back pain between contractions was due to my son's posterior positioning. Nobody had told me for fear I'd get discouraged and my labor would stall. Instead the midwife let me labor to 8cm and manually broke my water, then turned baby around in utero. Laying on my back was terrible pain but necessary to get the right angle for this maneuver. After that the back pain was lessened and the remaining contractions were tough, but not as bad. I spent the rest of the time walking, bending over a yoga ball or the bed, or sitting on the toilet. I had a full bladder but could not pee.
The midwife let me labor a little more, but by then I was exhausted and needed some help to move baby down. My husband brought them back in and the midwife coached me to push with my breath, but also to push extra so that we could get the baby into position. After about 20min on the toilet, baby was crowning, and we got back into the birthing tub. Although this slowed things down I was determined, and with coaching from everyone I pushed baby's head out. His shoulder was stuck briefly, but my midwife quickly delivered baby's shoulder and within seconds he was on my chest, sputtering his first breath. 3 hours later we were home.
Lessons learned
- Back Labor sucks! But all the pain is temporary.
- It is far more useful to breathe through contractions than cry or scream.
- Do not hesitate to change positions frequently, and ask for help if you need it. Good friends can help by providing counter-pressure and back massages.
- In the middle of it all nobody cared if I was stark naked and messy, least of all me.
- An experienced midwife has mad skills that most OBs don't even learn anymore (if they ever did). If my birth had happened in the hospital I would have surely had a c-section.
