A Natural Birth Story

The following natural birth story is in response to a number of questions regarding the natural birth experience verses the hospital experience:

The Story:

I had a hospital birth with my first, was induced with Cytotec, had an epidural, IV with Nubain, the whole shebang. I had a completely natural water homebirth with my second.

Let me tell you: there is no comparison. The homebirth was the most wonderfully amazing experience of my life. It was so peaceful, so intimate and comfortable. Yes, it hurts, but it's absolutely nothing you can't handle. I read “Birthing Within,” and both of Ina May Gaskin's books- they're a big help for preparing your mind for labor.

Water is an amazing relaxant and pain reliever. You can move however you need to, and it just really helps to keep your muscles loose: which is very important.

I was able to get into a kind of trance, was very, very relaxed between contractions, and moaned through the contractions. I never even experienced the dreaded transition. I fully attribute that to how relaxed I was able to be in the natural setting. My contractions did get closer together, but never any worse.

I ended up pushing out my daughter after five hours of labor in four minutes. My midwife told me afterwards that she was posterior, but decided against telling me, so I wouldn’t get scared. I didn't have any back labor and certainly no problems pushing her out! She swung right around as I was pushing her out. I was able to catch her and lift her to the air myself.

The rush of hormones you get after a natural labor is absolutely incredible. It's the biggest high you'll ever have. With my first I felt emotionless, like people were expecting a reaction out of me, but it felt like someone else had birthed my little girl. With my second I felt on top of the world. We cuddled in the water for a few minutes, and then got out and nursed in bed. We laid there together for a couple of hours before my midwife did any checking.

I am perfectly comfortable with a homebirth. I know that I have no-risk pregnancies (I pushed for the induction with my first, stupidly), and that it's safer for me to birth at home than in the hospital. I had no option for drugs, and was happy with that. The hospital is a 10 minute drive, which is the same amount of time that it takes to prep for an emergency c-section.

I have confidence in my body's ability to safely birth my baby. I know that my midwife is a very experienced woman, and that she knows to look for indications that something isn't right, and take care of it before it gets worse. She has assisted an average of 100 births a year since 2005. Of all these births typically only one mother a year ends up going to the hospital during labor, and it's always been due to maternal fatigue, not an actual emergency.

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