Natural Childbirth
Stories

The natural childbirth story of Eve.

I was working that Wednesday and knew something was going on with my body, so I decided to leave early to get things done before labor started. I woke Thursday morning and had 5 bowel movements, an indication to me that I needed to be completely empty for a very good reason! I had a feeling she'd be born on Friday, so I did everything on Thursday that we were told to do in birth class to ignore contractions. The contractions were not painful just like uncomfortable menstrual cramps. I went to see my midwife for a scheduled appointment around 1:00 and told her I thought I was starting labor. She said maybe, maybe not, but if so her backup midwife would be delivering because she was going out of town and wouldn't be back until Monday. I went to the grocery store and then home and continued to try to "ignore" the discomfort. Let me just say.. that is very hard to IGNORE, plus I was so anxious to meet my little girl!

My husband came home around 6 p.m. and we finally decided to time the contractions to see where we were and around 7:00 we were 15 minutes apart. I finally told my husband at 11:00 that he'd better get some sleep because I had a feeling it was going to be a long night. We both went to bed, I didn't sleep one second and the contractions got stronger and more intense. I went to use the bathroom at 2:22 and felt a water balloon pop between my legs. I immediately yelled that my water broke and got in the pool we had set up in the living room. He tried very hard to keep the water warm for me. Even after using the entire hot water heater, he boiled water! I was screaming at every contraction and about 3:00 a.m. I told him to get my midwife there NOW because I felt like I wanted to push! OK, contraction over, hang up and let her sleep. 3:30- Once again I was begging him to get my midwife there because my body WAS pushing! He called her this time and we waited for the call back. My midwife called within minutes and said that there was someone else in labor and since it was just her we'd have to go to the birth center. Crap! We hadn't prepared for this! My poor husband was running around trying to get things together as I was either screaming or trying to get out of the pool, dry off and make my way to the garage. I think my husband drove 100 mph but to me it felt like it was taking forever to get there and I was pushing and wailing!

When we arrived no one was there yet and I was started getting really anxious! My midwife showed up a few minutes later and I ordered someone to get the bathtub filled. Before they could, I was collapsed on the bed pushing. I think that was about 4:30a.m. I was on my side for awhile but was very uncomfortable so I got on my hands and knees. I felt so drained with each contraction that my mind was in another world. I remember my midwife’s assistant coaching me to push low and then my midwife said we were going to change positions because the baby kept slipping back inside. This must have triggered something because there was no way I was moving around again until this was over. I pushed hard and it burned like hell but once her head came the rest of her followed immediately. I remember thinking it was taking forever but to my amazement it was over before I knew it and she Eve came into this world at 5:27.. that was only an hour of hard labor! I never did call my husband anything bad but I think his wrist was sore for awhile. Eve was immediately placed on my chest and began breastfeeding 30 minutes after birth; she knew just what to do. Daddy held her while I took a shower and we left the birthcenter just before 8:00 a.m. I thank God for the birth we had being what we desired & prayed for. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but we got the most important.. a natural birth, healthy Mama and a beautiful healthy baby. She is the most amazing little person and it's so miraculous how this little doll bebe came to be. She is the joy of my life.

Annabelle's Birth

It wasn't the birth I had envisioned, but I wouldn't change anything about it...except to get to the birth center a little earlier, lol.

Please read below for Kevin's twisted (and slightly humurous) version of events (eyes rolling now)...=D

The REAL Story... at 12:31am my wife started having painful contractions that she had never felt before. In my mind if this was the onslaught of early labor I would at least have 10-22 hours before the real action would start. Could I have been more wrong? Gosh. All I could think about was that we need to get some sleep because we both had to go to work in the morning. After a series of painful conractions, us getting in and out of bed trying to relax, cleaning up blood from the cut, cleaning up throw up, and the bag of waters that broke, before I knew it we were driving to the birthing center about to have a baby girl. On the way to the birthing center my wife was telling me that she was done and she didn't want to do this anymore, this was inbetween the "OH MY GOD" AND "HELP ME". The drive seemed like an endless ride, even though I ran through two red lights. Upon arrival my wife collasped and Kristen and I helped her to the back where the birthing area was. When I got her pants undone the head was crowning, and I was in silent awe. Kristen handed me a phone with Sharon on it and she was reminding me things to do to help out. Then all of a sudden my wife yelled out some new curse word she invented and bit my face. Honestly! Who bites a face? It hurt me so bad that I had to bite something and I inadvertly bit her arm. Two pushes later we had a beautiful baby girl that was nursing right out of the oven. I feel asleep next to my wife. Yeah, I was done. Hours later we went home, where more sleeping comensed. The lesson I learned about birth is that spousal abuse is "OK" and is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, LOL!