Before Chris and I had even started trying to get pregnant, I knew I wanted to have a natural birth. I had a lot of reasons but they boiled down to these main two: I don't do well with pain medication of any kind and I wanted my baby to enter the world free of drugs.
I knew I couldn't just walk into the delivery room and hope for the best. I had to be prepared. So I changed doctors from an OB to a Certified Nurse Midwife, who had hospital privileges and was much more accepting of my desire to have a natural birth. I also hired a doula, Candace, to be there for me and Chris during labor and delivery.
During my pregnancy, I ate well, practiced prenatal yoga, joined a prenatal swim class, went to the chiropractor and read... a lot. Chris and I also attended an in-depth natural childbirth class, which was awesome for both of us.
Around the end of my third trimester I also used active relaxation and positive affirmations to get my mind in a better place. I kept telling myself things like, I can do this, my body was designed to give birth naturally, I'm strong, my baby is strong, etc. I worked hard to stay positive and upbeat even when others were negative.
Strangely, everyone had an opinion about my decision to have a natural birth. After many eye rolls, "oh, you'll get the drugs" and "why would you do that?" comments, I decided to keep my choice to myself. I was tired of the naysayers (interestingly, a lot of them were men) and deep down I was a little scared I might not be able to do it and I didn't want everyone to say "I told you so" when it was all over.
Around 12:50 a.m. on February 16th (one day before my due date), I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water broke. I wasn't having any contractions but I texted our doula, Candace, to let her know. Since I wasn't contracting, she told me to try to rest and go back to sleep, if possible. As soon as our conversation was over, I started having contractions. They were about 8 minutes apart and they were intense enough that I couldn't go back to sleep. I told Chris to get some rest and I went to take a shower. By the time I got out 20 minutes later, the contractions were about 6 minutes apart. For the next hour or two, I labored in the bathroom by myself, trying to keep track. They kept coming closer and closer together.
Around 3:30 a.m., Chris woke up and asked me what was going on. I told him I thought they were about 3 minutes apart and about 1 minute in length. He jumped out of bed and asked why I hadn't woken him sooner. He took a quick shower and started to load the car, all the while trying to help me breathe. I texted Candace again with my progress, and around 4:15 asked her to come over. By the time she arrived at 5:15, I'd had several urges to push. It was all happening so fast, I really couldn't believe it. Since I was a first-time mom, I'd been prepared for a long labor.
All this time the contractions were very intense but I never felt like I couldn't handle them. I had a few where I was breathing too quickly and Chris had to remind me to pause between each breath and that helped tremendously. The most uncomfortable part was the hot and cold chills (I was going through transition but didn't know it at the time).
Candace felt my stomach, watched me go through a contraction and said, "let's get to the hospital." We live only 8 minutes away but it was a long 8 minutes. At the triage station, the nurse asked me (a little condescendingly), "Oh, are you having some contractions?" When I told her I was feeling the urge to push, she looked at me like "yeah, right" and asked me to give her a urine sample, put on a gown and lay down on the bed.
There was no way I could do any of that and after I had another contraction and tried to pant through the urge to push, Candace called in another nurse who examined me and said (a little shocked), "She's complete!" She yelled for the on-call doctor and started pushing my bed down the hall. She told another nurse to page Jana, my midwife, and told Chris (who was just coming back from parking the car) we were headed for Labor and Delivery.
Less than an hour later, Alice Ashley Lundgren was born at 6:50 a.m., weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz and measuring 20 inches long. I delivered on my hands and knees, in one of Chris's T-shirts. The nurses didn't even have time to put a hospital bracelet on me until after the delivery.
I wanted to have Alice close to me for as long as possible so I didn't even let the nurse take her to be weighed and measured until an hour later when Alice made the trip down to the nursery with Chris. The nurse was a little huffy with me when I asked if she could just do her exams with Alice on me -- she said, "well you don't have a scale on your chest." I told her I didn't care about her weight right now and just wanted to get Alice breastfeeding right away. (I'm such a rule breaker.)
The natural high that followed giving birth was unbelievable. I was sore and tired, yes, but also full of energy -- at least for the next few hours. Alice latched on right away and then slept soundly for the next few hours. I should have too but the visitors started almost immediately (that will be different with the next baby). :)
I'm so glad I was able to have Alice naturally. Even though the labor was short (6 hours total), it was hard and intense and pushing took all of my concentration and energy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Giving birth without drugs was totally empowering and I felt so accomplished knowing I had given my daughter a great start in the world. If and when baby number 2 comes along, I can only hope the experience is just as good.
