First I want to say, praise God for The Bradly Method and my wonderful Bradly teacher and doula,
Tina Overton!! If we're being honest, I chose the Bradly Method because it was featured on
19 Kids and Counting
and it was really all I knew to research :) But I'm so glad I did! What
I learned during the 10 week course was so helpful during labor!
For a long time I've known I wanted to have a completely natural
delivery. When I say natural, I mean vaginal, no epidural or pain
medication of any kind, no forceps, IV fluids, vacuum extractions,
episiotomy, etc. I seriously mean NO intervention. This is a totally
personal decision and I definitely don't judge anyone who wants those
things. To each their own!! But for me, I knew I wanted several kids (at
least 4) and I knew I did not want to have 4 c-sections. I personally
believe that epidurals can cause your labor to stall and it can increase
your chances of having a c-section. If you're interested, a great
movie to watch about this is The Business of Being Born. Anyhow....
On to the birthing part!!
2:00 AM: So, anyone who has been pregnant knows that you don't sleep very
well at the end! You're up several times a night turning over and going
to the bathroom. On January 12th (my due date!!) I woke up at 2:00 am
and waked into the bathroom to, ahem, relieve my pregnant self. On the
way in, I was stopped in my tracks when a gush of water hit the floor
right before I made it to the toilet!! I know some women are always
questioning, "was that my water or did I just pee!?" but I immediately
knew that my water had just broke. I called to my wonderful husband,
"Josh, my water just broke!!" and I kid you not, he went, "what? huh?"
AND HE FELL BACK ASLEEP!! Seriously. Good thing I love him dearly :)
2 AM: Okay, so after that was settled, I decided to get back in bed.
In my Bradly classes we talked about trying to get as much rest as
possible if you went into labor in the middle of the night. You need all
the energy you can get to push a baby out naturally! We went to bed at
midnight that night, so we were only working on 2 hrs of sleep. I laid
in bed and watched an episode of The Andy Griffith Show to clear my head so I could sleep.
Then it happened. My first contraction. And it HURT. Like seriously
seriously hurt. I laid in bed during the contraction, and maybe the
second, but I quickly learned that that was not the ideal position. I
was in PAIN. By the end of the episode I knew I was not going to bed. My
very first contractions were only 7 minutes apart and since my mom had
such quick labors, I thought I would, too. Once we realized it was
happening, we called our doula to let her know and we started
frantically packing our last minute things for the hospital. I will
never do this again! Trying to pack for the hospital when you're having
contractions (now at 4-5 minutes apart!) is so ridiculous. Have you ever
seen the movie Momento? I would run around frantically trying to
find something, then I would be on my hands and knees for about 60
seconds, and when I stood up I completely forgot what I was supposed to
be doing. I was trying to scarf down some oatmeal (which came right back
up...) and finish packing, I'm consistently 4 minutes apart, and we
finally leave for the hospital around 4:30 am. I wanted to labor at home
for as long as possible, but it was all going so fast, I think I'm
happy that I left when I did.
5:00 AM: We got to Sinai Hospital in Baltimore around 5am. I was in
complete denial that I was ready to be admitted so I just hung out in
the admitting booth for a while. I told them I didn't want to go back
yet and they were super nice about it. I just want to say,
my experience at Sinai was AMAZING!! I thought I would run into all
sorts of opposition with my birth plan. My OBGYN told me that nurses
totally judge you when you come in with a birth plan and they talk about
how all the women who come in saying they don't want an epidural get
one so fast. Well, none of the nurses treated me like that! They would
come in the room and say, "So, I read your birth plan and saw that you
don't want x, y, and z. That should be no problem at all!" The most
opposition I got was from my own OBGYN who I chose, so that is a little
ironic.
When they finally checked me, I was 5cm. I'm not gonna lie. I
was disappointed beyond belief. My biggest fear was that I would labor at
home for as long as possible, come in, and not even be 4 cm. I felt
like I had failed! It hurt so bad and I was only halfway there!!! This
is also when the real pain started kicking in. I couldn't go to the
bathroom, sit, lay down... there was really nothing that was
comfortable. When we got to my hospital room, my doula strongly
suggested I get in the huge shower they had right in my room. When I
stepped in that shower I immediately smiled. It was the best feeling
ever!! I had two very warm shower heads spraying down on me and it was
bliss. I sat on a labor ball in the shower, leaned over the ball for a
while, and then I finally settled on sitting in a corner of the tub with
both shower heads on me. I don't know how long I was in there, but it
was a while. Maybe 2 hours? While I was in the shower, I obviously did
not have continuous monitoring of my contractions or the baby's heart
beat. They did do some intermittent monitoring and they were able to do
it while I was in the shower! Even cooler was that they let my hubby
hold the little monitor up to my belly. That was his favorite part :)
At one point I was sitting in the corner of the shower with my head up
against the wall and I fell asleep. Seriously. I actually fell asleep
during labor! My husband was so amazing and he was helping me in every
way imaginable. My doula's words were so calming! I was breathing
through each contraction and it was TOTALLY bearable. I remember having 3
or 4 contractions that were not bearable and I remember that during
them I said, "noooo" in a quiet and still clam voice. My hubby was super
relieved because he secretly thought I would be the crazy lady during
labor that looked like I was possessed, but it wasn't like that at all!!
I had my eyes closed almost the entire time, and I would just breathe
through each contraction. It hurt less in the 5-10 cm range than it did
going from 0-5. All because I learned how to lower my shoulders and
take long deep breaths. There was no he-he who-who breathing going on in
my room :)
A few minutes after I fell asleep, the doctor came in to check me for
the first time since I was admitted. He told me that I just had an
anterior lip. In my eyes, that's like being 9.5 cm dilated. So I was in
transition! In all honestly, I always thought that when I was in
transition, I would TOTALLY ask for the epidural and my husband would
have to convince me not to get it. I envisioned yelling at him about how
he wasn't going through the pain and how I NEEDED it!! But that didn't
happen at all. I seriously never wanted it thanks to the amazing support
that I had in the room with me.
When it was time to get out of the shower, I totally stalled. I
convinced them I needed to stay in for 2 more contractions, then 1 more,
then I just didn't get up. Finally my hubby turned the shower off and
sweetly told me to get out. :) I can be so manipulative. As I started
getting out I realized they were right, I did need to get out because I
was pushing and I didn't even realize it!
9:00 AM: At this point I was on the bed pushing. I was
making absolutely no progress. At least that's what it felt like to me!!
Everyone kept telling me that I was doing great and I would say,
"you're lyingggggggggg!!" I seriously thought they were all just trying
to be encouraging (I still kind of believe that...). I
ate graham crackers and sipped apple juice while I was pushing. I still
had no IV, I think there was continuous monitoring though... I actually
don't remember. And honestly, I didn't care at that point. My sister and
Josh were helping with my legs while I pushed and I think after 2 hrs
of that I gave them a great workout!! They were being SO encouraging
though. My doula was talking me through it all... she was amazing! I
remember that even while I was pushing I was saying, "please" and "thank
you." I felt like I totally had it together. It was almost like an
out-of-body experience.
Okay, this is kind of funny.... At some point during the 2 hr push
session, I turned to my husband and said, "I really want her name to be
Elisabeth with an S Grace" and he said, "If you push this baby out, you
can name her whatever you want." I recommend waiting until you're in
labor to decide on the name ladies, it's a great way to go :) Soon
thereafter you could see our sweet Elisabeth's head and that was
exciting. I however was in pain and not too excited yet. I looked at
Josh and Carrie and they are both tearing up. That's cute
and all, but I am still pushing and there is no end in sight!!! I looked
at them and said, "pull it together guys, there is still work to
do!!!"
After what seemed like a lifetime of pushing (which, in case you're
wondering, that is not even the painful part of labor!! It is just
exhausting!!!) My sweet Elisabeth Grace was born!!! She was put on my
chest and I was immediately able to start nursing her. She latched like
she had done it all her life which was such a blessing.
Elisabeth Grace Neel 8lbs, 9oz, 21.5 inches long
I absolutely loved everything about my labor. Josh and I seriously
talked about how perfect it was for weeks after. There were definitely
times when I questioned my decision to have a natural labor.... like
during the second contraction that had me on my hands and knees. And
somewhere in the hospital room I remember thinking, "what was my
reasoning for this again!?!?" But I am so glad that I stuck with it! It
was a beautiful experience. It was painful, but it was not at all like
so many women say! If you want to have a natural child birth, don't let
people tell you that you're crazy and to just get the drugs!!! So many
women told me that. Like seriously. So. Many. It was so discouraging to hear that from people!! But I had my mind set and I followed through and I am so glad that I did. If you don't want a
natural child birth, that's okay too! As women, we should get the chance
to decide what is best for us. If you are interested in the Bradly
Method or have any questions, just send me a message or leave a comment.
I would love to encourage others in their pursuit of a natural child
birth! It is seriously life changing!
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