Elisabeth Grace's Birth Story

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!