Length of labor (not pushing)
18 hours
Length of pushing
2 hours 17 minutes
Who was with me
Husband (Jeff), cousin (Brandi), cousin (Alison), my mom (Dawn)
What I would do differently next time
Not get an epidural
What I did to prepare for birth
Well, first off, I began reading my pregnancy books that I really, really enjoyed. I read books such as The Thinking Woman's Guide To A Better Birth by Henci Goer, Naturally Healthy Pregnancy by Shonda Parker ( I LOVED THAT BOOK ! ), Homebirth by Sheila Kitzinger. I read a lot of books. I also did research on the internet about cesarean sections, vaginal births, water births, home births, hospital births, and many different positional birthing positions that I could try while in labor and I tried a lot of them and they worked!
How my birth happened
On August 31st Noah was born!! On the 30th August at 12:39 a.m., my water suddenly broke. That's when things got very scary. I was at my grandma and grandpa's house with my husband for dinner, when I suddenly felt wet. I knew something was up! I hurried to the bathroom and noticed it was my water. I was terrified. I told my hubby that my water had broken and we needed to go to the hospital. We were actually staying at my gma and gpa's house. By 1:10 a.m., we arrived at the hospital and it took 2 hours to finally get to the birthing room. 337 floor 2A elevator 63B. We took 63B a lot. After we arrived in the birthing room, I met up with Dr. D who told me I had to wear a gown. I was very mad at that point. I sat there in a very sad situation. I got into my gown, an i.v. was started at 4:17 a.m. and at 4:38am on the 31st my 8lb3oz baby boy Noah Matthew was born!! He was beautiful and I loved him the minute I saw him. he was PERFECT!
Lessons learned
- Epidurals are not great while in labor
- They make you lay flat for 6 - 8 hours
