I am sure this varies drastically based on person, but for me, my but I had moments where period cramps would send me to my car for an hour at work to crawl into a ball and cry they are so painful. I always described as someone sticking a knife in my guts and just moving it around 😔. I couldn’t do anything, until I had pain killer kick in and some sort of warm compress on my stomach (the pains would likely last 3-5 hrs if I didn’t). Thankfully, that wasn’t every cycle, but it usually always stops me from doing anything productive.

It seems labor pains are quite different from period cramps but am curious what you all have to say. I thought of myself with a lower pain tolerance being why these cramps are so bad, but at the same time, maybe I just have truly have very painful period cramps?

I am a FTM and currently 17w and the difference between these two pains is just really perplexing to me, and would love to know y’all’s thoughts, especially from those who shared a similar experience in painful period cramps.

Thanks :)

EDIT: Thank you for all the thoughtful responses!! This is super helpful to hear from everyone and their experiences in helping me better understand and feel less fearful / uninformed ❤️🙏🏻

With my first, I was attempting to go unmedicated at a very not unmedicated-friendly hospital. I ended up starting to vomit, lost all control/focus, panicked, got epidural. They checked me right after I got the epidural and I was at an 8. I was probable in transition and didn’t have a whole lot of time left.

Preparing for my second attempt at an unmedicated birth (at a different hospital with a different provider who is way more pro no epidural), I feel so much more nervous/scared. I remember the pain and panic right at 8 cm and don’t think I could stay there for very long. After I complete transition, does it taper at all until and through pushing? I’m just afraid I’m going to absolutely freak out again and not be effective while trying to push. And I truly don’t think I can do it if the pain is that bad for an extended period of time. Especially considering I should theoretically WAIT to push until fetal ejection reflex. How am I supposed to voluntarily sit at that level of pain and panic while waiting for my body to push? And are the contractions the same pain/intensity while pushing? Or do they subside?

Hello!

I wanted to share my birth story, partly as catharsis for me, and partly to get feedback / reflections - I have a "birth reflection" session at the hospital next week and I'm wondering what to talk about really / how to express my instincts about what went down.

I had an uneventful pregnancy - I felt mostly great. I was cared for by brilliant home birth midwives in my local area, all my appointments were at home. I did lots of prep and had a doula who I loved and so did my partner - and my partner was super prepped too with hypnobirthing / support skills.

At around 41 weeks my waters broke one evening. I expected to go into labour that night (as I believe most people do) but by the next morning I was still leaking my waters but no contractions. At this point I informed my home birth midwives that my waters had gone - they were happy for me to wait it out at home and see what happened. By that evening, still no contractions (I was doing all the things! kerb walking, spicy food, blablabla). Midwives still happy for me to wait (as long as I took my temperature regularly and didn't have a fever or feel unwell, and waters were clear) and by the next evening (so 48 hours since waters breaking) I did start having contractions. They picked up over night and by the early hours of the morning was having 3 contractions within every 10 minutes, lasting a minute each, so we called the midwife and the doula. For the next 8 hours or contractions would pick up in intensity / duration / frequency but then seem to pause - this happened a few times, however it was clearly progressing overall, if a bit stop-start. No vaginal exams due to my waters breaking so trying to mitigate infection risk.

By around 3pm that day (now around 60 hours since waters breaking, my midwives advised that I go into the hospital, simply because they no longer had real data to guide us (though they said I was doing well and most likely baby would be born soon).

I went in to hospital and on the advice of my home birth midwife had an injection of pethidine which I loved! I was also started on intravenous antibiotics and syntocin (which the home birth midwives explained would be what the hospital wanted to do to speed things up). I had always planned that if I needed syntocin I would get an epidural as had heard that augmented labour contractions are much more painful etc.

The contractions picked up and over the next 18 hours or so I dilated well, by the next morning at 8am I was 9cm. (As an aside, the epidural didn't work properly and went down one leg which was so numb it was falling off the bed - and I experienced all my contractions in the other leg! Which was quite excruciating but also kind of funny. They actually re did the epidural half way through the night and the same thing happened.)

I was mainly sitting in the "throne" position as I wanted to use gravity. Unfortunately because of the epidural going all down one leg I couldn't really move about as much as I wanted, but as I got closer to 10cm I was easing off on pushing the button so that I could feel a bit more - with the hope that I could birth in a gravity assisted position (e.g. the "throne position" I was currently in.

At some point in night the obstetricians came and did an ultrasound where they said the babys head was in the perfect position for birth, no obstructions etc.

At 12pm the midwife said I was fully dilated and could start pushing. She said it was not possible to push in any other position than on my back, with my partner and doula holding my legs up. I was encouraged to push my chin into my chest and hold my breath while pushing on each contraction. We did this for about 40 minutes, they said it was going well, but then the midwife called in another midwife to reexamine me. This midwife said I was actually 9cm with a cervical lip.

All of a sudden, the obstetricians came in again - one lead one and 2 junior ones. First of all the lead obstetrician said "well, the good news is that your fever is not so high now". I was very confused because I had never had a fever! We clarified this and she looked sheepish. Then she examined me, said I was actually at 8cm and then asked if the two junior medics could examine me too. I said no because we were trying to mitigate infection risk, weren't we?!
Suddenly she said that she recommended I have a caesarian now, or else could wait and do it in two hours.

This was like a punch in the gut and came out of no where. I tried to ask why they recommended this, and they said that it was because of how long my waters had been broken. I asked if the baby was struggling - they said no, the baby was actually doing really well (all the midwives had been commenting on this throughout the labour - baby was happy!). I asked if I was struggling / something up with my heart rate or blood pressure and they said no that was fine.

At this point I lost my mojo. I had been in really high spirits, even though the labour had been long I felt fine so far, and excited and happy! But suddenly I was like, oh god, this is happening. My doula and partner encouraged me to take the "wait for two hours" option which we did, and then they reexamined me and said I was still around 8/9cm - which seemed obvious to me because as soon as they said about the c-section I got adrenalised and felt everything stop. The contractions also slowed down in these two hours.

I had the c-section, which was mostly fine, but during which the senior obstetrician was coaching the more junior doctor on how to do it, including saying things like "no no no don't go any further there!" and the junior doctor asking questions about tissues e.g. "is that endometrium or amniotic sac" etc. A bit scary.

Our baby was shown to us and then taken immediately to a table to be examined etc. The neonatal doctor took one look at our son and said "this baby is way to healthy for me to be here". He was 4.26kg which was mainly water weight from all the intravenous fluids I'd been on.

I felt joy at meeting our baby over the next few days. But after all the drugs wore off, a few days later, I suddenly couldn't quite believe that that had happened. I didn't understand how we got so close to a vaginal birth and then pivoted, especially when everyone was healthy.

I felt angry that there wasn't another choice given - it felt unconsensual. I would have been happy to take the (v small!) risk of infection (especially as i was on IV antibiotics!) and just waited / continued to labour another 12 hours or so - I'm sure it would have happened.

In my notes it says "failure to progress" - which I don't understand because I did progress?! It was slow but I was fine, and things were happening.

I don't know what I want from this. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thank you!

Hi there! I am 22w6d and I had my first meeting with my chosen midwife today! Everything went great and we had great conversation, but the topic led to sugar intake and how it is best to lower that as much as I can and up my Protein intake. She specifically told me that the most transfers and C-sections that she has is because the baby is bigger and drinking sugary drinks can contribute to that a lot. I am trying to cut down on them as cokes and coffee are my favorite drinks but now I’m a bit scared that she won’t be as supportive of home birth if my baby ends up seeming bigger. I’ve read Ina Mays guide to childbirth and have looked into a lot of midwives say that our bodies are made for the baby and can move out of the way for baby to come through (except in medical exceptions of course).
Any moms with positive unmediated birth of a bigger baby as FTMs? Would appreciate reading your story or getting advice!

I’m 21 weeks and 6 days pregnant today and thinking a lot about giving birth lately. I’ve hired a doula and I’ll be giving birth in a hospital. I have a pretty good doctor and the c-section rate is 21% at this hospital.

I’m leaning towards an unmedicated birth (if possible) right now mainly because I’ve read pintocin and epidurals may be linked to increased odds of needing a c-section. The thought of having my stomach cut open really scares me, and my own mom almost died from hemorrhaging during a c-section while having me. I’m a naive first time mom, but my fear of surgery is much greater than my fear of the pain of an unmedicated birth at the moment.

I guess I’m wondering if trying to avoid a c-section is a good reason to try for an unmedicated birth?

I had my baby a little over a week ago (FTM) and so appreciated reading positive birth stories along the way, so now it’s my turn to share! Yay!!

I had lost my mucus plug in bits and pieces since 38+1, but had much heavier discharge from about 39 weeks on. Woke up around 1:45 AM at 40+3 to some bloody show, and felt the first contraction a few minutes later. Definitely felt stronger and more like a “wave” than the many Braxton Hicks I had been having for weeks, and I was surprised that they were 5-6 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds right away! I woke my husband up around 3 AM, since them being so close together made me wonder if this was going to go FAST. (Spoiler: no precipitous labor here)

My husband got up and did things around the house to get ready (showering, feeding the cat, tidying the kitchen) and that sense of “normalcy“ even before sunrise really helped me get in a calm and unhurried headspace. Laboring in forward leaning positions felt best, so I spent a lot of time leaning on a stack of pillows in bed or sitting on a physio ball and leaning against the bed.

Things started to feel more intense (breathing through contractions, rhythmically tapping fingers and toes), so we had our wonderful doula join us a little before noon for extra support. She was great for encouraging new positions and supportive pillow setups so I could fully rest between contractions, and affirming intuitive movement. I also labored in the shower for a little while, which made contractions less regular but was very restful for 20-30 minutes.

I decided around 3 PM when contractions were 3-4 minutes apart that I was ready to go to the hospital, even if I was still “chatty“ between surges, because I was ready to have the car ride behind us and just be in one place. I was very focused on laboring but still alert and in good spirits, so my midwife and I were both stunned when I showed up to the hospital at 8 cm dilated and 100% effaced!! I got in the birthing tub immediately, which made me sooo happy, and labored there for 2-3 hours. The nurses were fantastic about keeping lights low, speaking in a whisper, and keeping the mood light and relaxing. Despite my anxiety about medical settings, it all felt very ”non-clinical.”

After a couple hours in the tub I started feeling “grunty“ and fair bit of pressure, so I got out of the tub thinking that maybe we were having a birthday soon. I was *not* so thrilled to find that by 7-7:30 PM I had only progressed to 8.5 cm in 3+ hours despite contractions being progressively more intense. My midwife said that because I had a high leak (waters had technically broken earlier in the day sometime), a sizable pocket of amniotic fluid was stuck between baby’s head and my cervix, which was likely impeding dilation. This was definitely the hardest part of labor for me: I hate cervical checks, for one, and had a hard time deciding if I wanted my waters broken to help things progress. I was also really hopeful that my midwife would deliver my baby, and she was off shift in an hour. Ugh. This got me out of my oxytocin brain and into my thinking brain, which made it much harder to manage contractions and to feel in control.

I ultimately agreed to have my waters broken around 8:45 PM, and was immediately glad that I did. Things went FAST from there. Contractions got more intense, but also felt more productive, which was very mentally helpful. My doula helped set up a side-lying position for me which, to my surprise, was actually really comfortable. It also allowed me to hold both my husband’s hands and for him to speak my affirmations to me (6 inches from my face) which was the BEST.

Pressure kept building and it became very important to vocalize all the way through contractions from about 10:30 PM onward. A midwife came to do another dreaded cervical check, but when she checked with a flashlight first, she could see baby’s head during the top of the contractions, so I was fully dilated and ready to go!

I wanted to wait for the urge to push, which came a little after 11 PM. I was amazed at how intuitive and natural pushing felt. It felt like my body was calling the shots, and my job was just to stay in my little oxytocin bubble, listen to my husband’s voice (I heard lots of voices around me but couldn't make them out at all), and vocalize however felt right. I found myself “curling” hard around baby during pushing, and never felt like I was actively trying to push more than what my body was doing during a contraction. (Is this what fetal ejection reflect feels like? I don’t know, but it sure was cool.)

Getting her head out was hard work and I definitely felt specific places of intense stretching/burning, but no overall “ring“ of fire. Delivering her shoulders got a little intense, but the medical team did an extraordinary job of making it seem non-emergent in the moment. I was very much in my head, but my husband’s retelling is that they performed some creative maneuvers to pull my top leg back in one direction while twisting baby the other direction to “corkscrew” her anterior shoulder out. I also remember them telling me to “give a really good closed-mouth push, right now,“ which I did twice. Those were truly the only pushes I felt I was actively doing. The midwife said after the fact that it was not a full shoulder dystocia, but still a tight squeeze and was very affirming of how well I did on the two coached pushes.

22 hours of labor and 31 minutes of pushing later and she was HERE at 11:41 PM at a whopping 10 pounds and 2 ounces!! (Yep, that’s a 99th percentile baby. No, we did not expect that.) I had a 2nd degree perineal tear and a very minor 1st degree labia laceration, but repair went well and recovery since has been easier than expected.

All said, it was an incredibly positive and healing experience, and I cannot believe I’m one of those crazy people who loved giving birth! It’s worth noting that I hated being pregnant (shoutout to hyperemesis and insane nerve pain), am very medically anxious, had a huge baby, and still really enjoyed my birth experience. All of these things can be true at once! The biggest contributors to a positive labor were a ridiculously supportive husband who believed I could do it (and didn’t stop talking to me the entire time), a knowledgeable and affirming doula, a wireless TENS unit (I wore that thing from about 6 AM all the way through pushing — huge fan), and lots of mental prep in my third trimester. Practicing breathwork, visualizations, and affirmations the last few weeks helped them come naturally to me in the moment and kept my head in a calm, familiar place.

If you want an unmedicated birth, you CAN do it!! Your body knows what to do. ❤️

I'm due in a little over 3 weeks. From the beginning I knew I wanted to have an unmedicated birth. It's just always been a goal for myself. I'm usually super anal and overly prep for everything. But I just haven't felt the need or want to with this. I have looked up a few things like birthing ball, sent my husband some massage techniques, a friend even gave me a birthing comb, but other than that I'm just going in with a "it's gotta be done attitude." Sometimes I look at the posts on this community and I think this approached may bite me in the butt. Has anyone else gone into an unmedicated birth with just a "if there's a will, there's a way approach"? No prep? No classes?

I will add two things: 1) I am super competitive with myself. Like my main reasoning for doing this is to prove to myself I can. That attitude has gotten me pretty far in other accepts of life 2) I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I know this will be on another level, but I don't take pain medication for any reason, which has resulted in a decent endurance for pain. My dad was an addict so now I take 0 medication for pain ever, not even Tylenol (yes, I know this is insane but #trauma does that to you lol)

Having my second baby the end of June and really want to go unmedicated, but also scared of active labor. My first baby’s head was facing forward (her back was along my left side though) and I labored for 30 hours at home stuck at 4cm. Midwife did a couple stretch and sweeps during labour and my water was broken, contractions were strong and 3-5 minutes apart the whole time, baby’s head just wasn’t in a great position and didn’t want to come down. Contractions were manageable, obviously wildly painful, but by hour 30 I was so exhausted and tired of the pain I mentally couldn’t keep going. I went to the hospital and got an epidural, hours later they gave me pitocin because I still wasn’t really dilating. Didn’t feel much, pushing was still incredibly painful in my back, again I think just not in a good position. But baby came out 48 hours after labor started.

Now going into my second birth I’m finding myself really scared about the pain of active labor. First time around was painful and exhausting, obviously very long which was a big contributing factor, but I never experienced full active labor, transition, and pushing without an epidural.

Any tips for getting through the fear? Things that helped in active labor? Everyone is telling me that baby will come faster this time around so really praying for that but would love to hear others experiences on getting through that stage of labour.

With my first, we brought three bags and used half of one lol! I’m just wondering what everyone is packing because I’m starting to get everything together. We had a six-hour stay last time!

And what labor comfort items are you bringing them/how did you organize them? This time I’m determined to remember the massage gun charger!

I’m so excited and grateful that I had the unmedicated birth I wanted. I gave birth at a private birth center staffed by midwives and midwife assistants.

I think I was in early labor since Friday. My feet were so swollen and nothing was helping. Saturday I spent the entire day crying and very emotional. My hands also swelled for the first time on Saturday as well.

Around 5am this morning I tried to get up to go pee. My cat was in the way so I bent my legs weird and I felt a sudden rush of a small amount of fluid. I thought I peed myself so we changed the sheets and I tried to go back to sleep. Around 6am I started feeling period-like cramps on my right side. I got up again for the toilet and instantly felt pressure in my butt. In hindsight I knew what was happening but I was definitely in denial. The cramps were 5-8 minutes apart lasting 45-60 seconds long, with not much of a relief between. At this point I emailed my midwives with an update.

As the cramps got stronger, I got into the hot shower. Now the ‘cramps’ were spreading around my hips and to my back. I started my ‘labor song’ aka groaning through them. I got in and out of the shower from 8am through 12pm, called the midwife twice and in between I tried to sit on the toilet and I also kneeled on my yoga bolster as my husband did counter pressure on my back and hip squeezes. The counter pressure made the contractions slightly more bearable, highly recommend.

Throughout my pregnancy, I had been visualizing myself in the birth tub and getting through the worst parts of active labor and transition at the birth center. This all went out the window around 11:45am. I had been walking laps around my apartment to keep moving as a distraction from the insane contractions that were staying at my hips. I started telling my husband I couldn’t do it and I wanted to tap out. I called my midwife for the final time at 12:30pm telling her I was done. She recommended to meet at the birth center at 1pm for a check.

I was 9cm dilated when she did the check! At this point the instinct to push was becoming extremely strong. It seriously felt like the worst constipation of my life, and I couldn’t stop the urge to push. I labored on the toilet for a bit while the tub was prepped. Once in the tub I continued pushing hard, but I wasn’t making any more noise. I was facing the midwives and my husband as I leaned over the side of the tub.

I started to feel a sting as I was pushing and the pressure slightly switched from my butt to my vagina, and I thought maybe I should reach down to feel or tell someone what I was feeling, but I didn’t lol. I did a couple big pushes and my baby came right out into the tub at 2:07pm!!!! My midwife dropped everything and announced “we have a baby!” then scooped him out of the water.

I was in complete shock. 8 hours of labor, 30 minutes of pushing. I was just staring at everyone and repeating “oh my god” as I held my new baby in the water. The birth of my dreams had just happened!!! He weighed in at 6 pounds 6 ounces, 18 inches long. We spent another 3-4 hours after the birth in the room while I learned to breastfeed and they did the newborn exam on the bed with me. We got home at 7pm, just six hours after arriving to the birth center.

Thank you for reading💙

The Elle and OBI TENS look super expensive. What cheap units have people had success with? I'm hesitant to purchase a used one since that's what I did for my last labor and it took 3 hours to charge and stopped working after 20 minutes. I definitely cried, ha.

FTM on the brink of insanity 🥲

I’ve been in early labour since Sunday afternoon. It’s now Tuesday morning. Having extremely and frequent painful contractions (every 2-5 mins) where I’m unable to sleep or rest properly at all.

Went to hospital last night and was only 2cm dilated.

I’m trying to stay optimistic but can’t believe the ‘hard part’ hasn’t even started. Im concerned about my ability to stay strong and have the birth I want when I’m so mentally and physically exhausted already.

Can anyone share positive stories or at least solidarity? I never factored this in to my thinking.

I am pregnant (7w) and was so excited to dive into learning about low intervention and a natural birth process. My first scan showed baby AND a grapefruit sized cyst on my ovary. Now I’m researching the pros and cons of surgery to remove it during pregnancy vs risking leaving it if it ruptures and requires emergency surgery.

We got pregnant so easily and my periods are easy and pain free so I’m shocked to know I have an endometrioma.

Especially of that size, it’s freaking me out.

Has anyone dealt with this by chance?

There’s a chance it shrinks during pregnancy but I really hate the idea of risking emergency surgery or having it rupture during labor, etc.

Any experience with high amniotic fluid? Did it cause complications? Were you still able to deliver naturally/vaginally?

Had a high reading at 37 weeks and they didn’t tell me about what it meant but requested I come in for NST and BPP weekly so i’m just spiraling a bit and looking for positive experiences. Would love to still avoid any unnecessary interventions

Just looking to make sense of my experience.

I had hoped and prepared for an unmedicated hospital birth, but unfortunately ended up with an unplanned c section.

I went into labour spontaneously, but I was GBS+ and labour started with my water breaking, so we had to head to hospital much sooner than I hoped for. Contractions started around 7:30pm as we drove to the hospital and were fairly mild to start.

Received my antibiotics in triage and was only 2cm dilated, so they gave us the option to augment with oxytocin to be admitted, or labour at home for a few hours un the next round of antibiotics. Chose to go home, contractions increased their intensity but I was getting through with the yoga ball.

12:30am back to hospital for next round of antibiotics. Still only 2cm. Shortly after the antibiotics were administered, contractions got so intense I felt I could not stand up and had to stay in the bed.

Then (and this is the part I need help understanding), my body started pushing. Not I had the urge to push, I was pushing and I couldn’t stop. I informed my midwife who recommended an epidural to stop the pushing, because yep I was still only 2cm. I agreed, because I felt at that point I was not just in pain but was suffering.

It took a few hours to finally get admitted/get the epidural, and during those hours I was having contractions every 2-3 min, each with involuntary pushing. There were maybe only 3 contractions where I successfully resisted, and it took everything in me and more. It was awful.

Long story short, after the epidural there was fetal heart distress that wasn’t resolving, and my labour was also barely progressing, so I agreed to a c section.

This is our first child, and we are hoping for another in a few years. I’d love to attempt a VBAC, but what worries me the most was that pushing experience. It was unreal, and completely unexpected. I hadn’t come across a similar experience in the birth stories I went through in preparation. And since, I have searched the internet so much and can’t find anything! I see the idea of involuntary pushing happening more at 8-10cm, but nothing as early as 2. I feel like without understanding what brought it on, I have no idea what to do if that were to happen again. Hoping someone had some kind of similar experience they can share!

Hi ladies. I’m currently in the hospital after my water broke last night at 2:30 a.m. I was really hoping for an unmedicated labor, and my midwife has been very supportive of that, but contractions have barely started.

Some contractions feel like they’re about to begin and then stop after about 10 seconds. Others become painful, last around a minute, and feel like “real” contractions, but they’re inconsistent. It’s like my body is trying to start labor but can’t fully get going.

My midwife and I agreed that if I’m not in active labor within 18 hours after my water broke, we’ll move to induction. I’m really hoping labor can start naturally and that I can avoid induction if it’s safe.

Is it safe to wait a little longer? Has anyone experienced this after their water broke?

So far I’ve been rotating between sitting on a yoga ball, lunges, walking, pumping, showering, sleeping, eating, and resting. My first labor was also slow, but in a different way — I had contractions, but I wasn’t dilating well. This time they haven’t checked my dilation yet, but the issue seems to be that my contractions aren’t becoming regular or strong enough.

Any advice or similar experiences would really help right now.

Hi! I am planning a homebirth in Late August/September and I am not using a tub. I have been trying to find videos of a birth without a birthing tub and still at home but they are few and far between. If you can recall any videos that sound like what I am looking for plz link below🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 thank you!

I’m 33 weeks pregnant and over the past couple of weeks I’ve started to have a lot of anxiety around birth, postpartum, the changes that come with being a mom for the first time, etc.

One thing I keep questioning myself on is if I should give birth at a birth center (no OB, just midwife, nurses and doula) vs. going to a hospital with my doula.

I feel my brain is shifting towards maximizing the safety of my child. Im not saying that midwives aren’t capable of maximizing safety but there are several scenarios where hospital transfers could happen.

I am healthy, baby is healthy and we are low risk.

I’m looking to hear from anyone that’s made a similar decision at this stage in pregnancy!

It’s almost been a year since I had my wonderful son and I’m due in the fall with my second, figured it was time to share my story! It’s a long one, but so was my labor so please excuse me 😂

Pre Labor

I knew I wanted to go unmedicated before I got pregnant. I wanted to avoid a c-section and the potential risk of interventions (however minor) to my unborn kid. If you haven’t read Natural Hospital Birth by Cynthia Gabriel, I highly highly recommend it. I knew which OB I wanted and was fortunate I got in with her. She was supportive of unmedicated births and low interventions.

She was comfortable with me going to 41 weeks, and then to 42 weeks with additional monitoring. My kiddo came at 41+1. We did two membrane sweeps. Of course I went into labor the weekend she was out of town and the OB I didn’t want was on call! I didn’t want her as my friend had delivered with her and complained she had horrible bedside manner.

Early/Active Labor

Contractions started late Friday night. I tried to sleep and got a couple hours in, by early Saturday afternoon I felt I was uncomfortable enough to want to go to the hospital (which is 40 minutes away). We get there and I’m 100% effaced, 1cm dilated. Not enough to be admitted but they decide to do an ultrasound since I was overdue. My fluids were barely low enough to warrant an induction.

OB gets there and immediately wants to start a Pitocin drip. I tell her I really want to go unmedicated and would prefer not to go on Pitocin. She proceeds to tell me most women that come in wanting to go unmedicated don’t follow through because they don’t prep enough. I ask if I can start with a Foley ballon instead (something I had read in this group that week!!). She agrees and goes to insert it, asks if I’d be okay with my water being broken in the future to speed up labor, to which I consent.

Not five minutes later, she goes “OH, you’re 4cm, too dilated for the Foley anyways.” And proceeds to take it out when I feel a gush and “Whoops, I accidentally broke your water.” I’m slightly suspicious she did it on purpose, especially after having asked a short period of time beforehand!? Anyways, she agrees to let me labor naturally.

Hubby and I watch some tv, bounce on the yoga ball, sit in the whirlpool tub. I had AWFUL back labor which I was afraid of having. I was dilating so slow, it was a little disappointing every time they came to check. At one point, I was soaked in sweat so hubby called the nurses to check on me. Turns out I was running a fever and was given IV antibiotics for chorioamnionitis.

Transition

Then I finally hit it - transition. I don’t remember the exact pain of it, I just remember turning to my husband and telling him I didn’t want to give birth anymore. Bless his heart, he tells me, “well… I’m sorry…. it’s a little too late for that.” At this point I asked for a shot of Nubain as they didn’t offer laughing gas. To my dismay, I could still feel the contractions, I was now in pain and loopy. Hubby and I laugh about this now, he remembers my disappointment. But it got me through transition.

Pushing

I finally hit 10cm and thought I could finally push this kid out of me. No one told me sometimes there’s a gap between hitting 10cm and baby being low enough to push. So I spent a couple hours pushing for no reason. If you don’t feel a violent need to push, ladies, try to relax and enjoy the little break. It was now around 6am on Sunday. I was exhausted and nodding off when I suddenly felt like I HAD to push. Probably TMI but it felt like diarrhea. There’s no holding it in. However, the OB on call had gone home since I was progressing so slow so there was no one to deliver my son. The nurse tried to tell me to breathe through the contractions and I straight up told her “NO” and “I CAN’T.” She panic called the doctor because I was crowning, thank goodness the OB had gotten curious about me and driven to the hospital when she did. Not ten minutes after she walked in the door, my son was out. I’ll never forget the instant relief. One second I was feeling the ring of fire and then plop, he was out once his head was free. I sat up to look at him and remember thinking “yuck, what a mess” on the doctor’s gown. It looked like she had been splattered by a car driving through a mud puddle. My son did poop during labor/delivery so not entirely sure of it was mine or his ha!

Postbirth

I’m so grateful we were already at the hospital because he had swallowed some meconium and needed help breathing. He also got a round of IV antibiotics, but we avoided the NICU. I had some minor tearing with minimal stitches needed. I did consent to pitocin to deliver the placenta, but it was pretty anticlimactic. I don’t even remember feeling contractions or it coming out.

I showered within two hours of giving birth - it was glorious. I loved being mobile right away and the pain and discomfort of late pregnancy/labor disappearing as soon as baby is out. My crotch and tailbone were sore, but no more heartburn and I could BREATH! Also, I didn’t think the uterus massages were as bad as some people said they were.

If you’ve made it this far… I hope this encourages and empowers you to advocate for yourself. If I hadn’t know I could “refuse” the pitocin, I probably would’ve ended up with an epidural. Know your bodies and be educated on your options! I hope you have easy labors and enjoy all the newborn snuggles. Labor is so short in the grand scheme of things and it gets you to your baby! We can do this!!