I wish I could say that my natural birth was planned and beautiful and awesome. But honestly, it was unexpected and scary, and absolutely crazy. I wish I could say that I would willingly I'd do it again, but I won't. I wish I could say that it was all captured by our amazing birth photographer, but it just all happened so quickly.
My unexpected natural birth was nothing like I could have ever imagined. But before I go into all the details, let me back up a little bit.
Until 33 weeks, this pregnancy was a breeze. By week 34, I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with kidney stones. Surgery, stent, and a week later, my kidneys and a few of the leftover stones were still giving me some major issues.
I was a walking pharmacy for the last 4 weeks of pregnancy. All to try to keep the pain at bay and to help my contractions (which were caused by all the pain). Around week 38, my doctor was still worried about the condition of my body (the whole family got croup around this time) so she scheduled an induction.
We were scheduled to go in on March 21st, but by the time the 14th came, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and getting more painful. We went in and spent the night in the hospital where they released me (still having consistent 5-minute contractions) because I wasn't progressing.
I saw my doctor again the next day, and she expected me to continue into labor over the weekend. But when I didn't show up, she called to check on me. When she found out that I was still contracting, on top of my weak immune system and lingering kidney problems, she went ahead and told me to come in again.
We got there, and to our surprise, I had progressed a little, and they prepped us for induction. I called our family, and Jaci, our birth photographer, and they all prepped to come to meet us.
Within an hour of starting the Pitocin, my doctor came in to check me. Things were looking good and my contractions were picking up and she broke my water (my water never breaks naturally). That's when things went crazy and super fast.
Within minutes my contractions went from okay to overwhelmingly difficult to breathe or bounce through. I walked, I went to the bathroom, I bounced on a ball, and I held on to Christopher with all my might. But nothing was helping. I just couldn't wrap my head around the possibility that labor was coming so quickly.
So I held out on the epidural, just because I wasn't ready to be bed bound.
At one point, Christopher almost begged me to go ahead and get it. Look, I wasn't trying to be strong or bold, I just didn't want to be stuck in a bed through a long labor. So, I did my thing through another 2 contractions when I gave up and finally asked them for the epidural.
I remember one of the nurses saying "You should check her again" and the other responded, "We just did about 45 minutes ago when they broke her water and she was only at 3-4". Almost immediately, I got my epidural. I had enough time to roll over and ask "How long is this gonna take to kick in?" before I let out another scream and told the nurse I needed to push.
This is where all the real crazy happens.
Nurse: "I don't think so, we just checked you and you were progressing slowly."
Other Nurse: "I'll go get some more medicine, maybe that will help."
Me: *screaming* "No! I need to push now!"
Nurse: "I really don't think you do"
Other Nurse: "I think you should check her"
Me: *screaming more*
Nurse: "Oh my gosh, the head is right there"
At that point, they just cut off my epidural and about 20 people rushed into the room. I screamed, and all 20 people started talking to me at once. "Push if you need to", "Calm down!", "Breathe", "Push Again". I laid back and screamed "I can't do this!" and the random doctor screamed "Yes you can! PUSH!"
Christopher was in my ear talking to me, I was gurgling like some sort of possessed creature, my mom rushed in and I think she was crying, I was shaking so bad that I literally think I was levitating off of the bed. After another few screams, a big push, "This is not what I had planned!", and a few more possessed gurgles, and another push, and a sweet baby cry.
My unexpected natural birth was far from glamorous, far from beautiful, and far from fun. But it was amazing and powerful and quite hilarious afterward. My doctor never made it to the room until it was over, one of the nurses nearly passed out, and the whole floor was worried about me because of my demonic screaming.
I have a high pain tolerance, I was in active labor for only an hour, I only had to push twice. Once she was here, the pain was nearly gone and I was just a bundle of exhausted relief, but I don't want to do it again. For me, it wasn't enjoyable.
I felt as though all I could think about was myself, my pain, and my exhaustion and the moment they handed her to me I can barely remember. That moment should have been the most exhilarating, but it was really just a giant sigh of relief.
I thought maybe if I could have prepared myself for what was coming, then maybe I could have enjoyed it more. But a natural birth was not part of our plan. Neither was being called in or anything else that happened that day. So maybe it was just God's plan.
Jaci, our birth photographer, made it in just in time for us to have skin-to-skin and to capture our first little bonding experience. She even stayed to get photos of our family meeting our sweet Adeline Rose. I'm so glad I made the decision to let her photograph this once in a lifetime experience!
What we found out later was the reason my mom rushed in was because they made a floor announcement with a special code and my room number. She freaked out and ran in only to catch me in the middle of pushing out a baby! We found out later that the code meant "in labor without a doctor"
Also, the girl in labor in the room next door to me had planned to go natural and when she heard me, she freaked out and opted for an epidural. Whoever you are, I'm sorry! But I saved you some serious pain, so you're welcome too.
I always wanted to have a natural labor but never had the guts to go through it. I guess this was God's way of letting it happen, and in true "Brooke" fashion, it was crazy. But we got an amazing gift out of it and a pretty awesome story too.
If you're looking for a photographer to perfectly capture this once in a lifetime experience, I cannot recommend Jaci Layne Studio enough. She's also kind enough to offer our readers a great deal! Anytime between now and April 15th, you can get $100 off your birth photography sessions!
Simply use code "BROOKE100" when you head to the Booking page of JaciLayneStudio.com.
This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own and have not been swayed in any way. Offer subject to change at any time and is set to expire on April 15th, 2018. Brooke is not responsible for the policies and practices of Jaci Layne Studio or it's partners.
