Michelle's Birth Story: An All Natural Birth

If you asked me before I got pregnant if I'd consider a natural birth, I would have told you heck no. I grew up in a traditional hospital/doctor/epidural family and my husband's family has a lot more emphasis on the natural/midwife thing. When I got pregnant, I pretty much told my husband I was going to flip out if his family started going off on me about going natural. Funny how things change, right?

When I was about 34ish weeks, Parker and I took a Bradley class and that was the main factor that gave me the thought that maybe I could try going natural. I decided that I would try to do it without an epidural, but I would see how things went and I would be fine if I decided to get one. On the morning of my 38 week appointment, I got up to go to the bathroom and noticed that I lost my mucous plug. (gross, I know.) A little bit after that I went in to the office for my weekly checkup. My doctors asked me if I’d like her to do a membrane sweep when she checked my cervix to help me deliver closer to my due date so I figured she might as well since she was going to be checking me anyways. (My dr. has magic hands. I didn't even feel it!) After she was done she told me that I was dilated to 3 ½ cm, and 90% effaced and she wouldn't be surprised if my little girl came within the next week. So, regardless of whether or not she had done the sweep, I think my sweetheart would have been early! That day I had contractions throughout the day, but they weren’t really hard and they were really sporadic. They were more of the Braxton Hicks. They were never consistent enough to go to the hospital so I just kept waiting. We joked because that day we walked a couple blocks to return a Redbox and I was skipping around on the way there. The contractions continued through the night, so I didn’t get very much sleep that night and then the next day, there was nothing! No contractions at all… So I thought maybe she decided she wanted to cook a little longer. That night as I was about to go to bed, I talked to her and told her that if she wanted to come, then no more games. I meant business! ha! When I said my prayers that night, I asked Heavenly Father to let her come if it was the right time, and to help me be patient if it wasn’t. Then of course I asked him for help, a smooth delivery, and a healthy baby! He sure didn’t let me down… I laid down and was trying to go to sleep when all of a sudden it felt like she kicked and my water just popped. I gasped and my hubby asked what was wrong, so I told him that my water had broken. He asked me if I was sure... haha!! Umm.. yes, I was very sure. Apparently she listened when I talked to her! It was about 1:05 am when this happened, so I hurried and jumped into the shower while Parker got up and got the bag ready and called our moms. We finally got to the hospital at around 1:45 am. It was really quiet and the nurses looked like they weren’t very busy. I was still pretty comfortable and the contractions hadn’t gotten really bad yet. We just still couldn’t believe that we were finally going to have our baby girl! We got into the room and I got changed and into the bed. The nurse checked me to make sure my water really had broken (there was no question about it…) and checked my cervix. I was already dilated to 7 cm! She got me all hooked up and then it was just seeing what happened from there. That was when the hard contractions really started coming. It was so nice of them to wait until I was in bed and ready to go! Of course they hurt, but the main thing was that I was just so tired from not getting very much sleep the night before. That was honestly one of the things that got me through the labor was knowing that I could hold my baby at the end, and then rest. It was a struggle just to put my legs up so that Parker could give me counter pressure during my contractions.

After a little while of contractions, I told the nurse that I had to go to the bathroom. She said, "#1 or #2?" I said, "2". And she said, "Nope. You're just ready to push!" When it came to the point that the doctor was there and I had the green light to go ahead and push, it got a tiny bit rocky. The ring of fire is no joke and I thought there was physically no way this baby was getting out. I was almost a little relieved when my doctor did an episiotomy. I was in so much pain that I wasn’t breathing very well and was kind of hyperventilating. I had to use the oxygen mask and really focus on Parker helping me to remember to breathe. When the doctor told me that she could see the head and to keep pushing, I asked what color her hair was because I had been dying to know the entire pregnancy. (My husband has red hair, and I have blonde hair, so I was really hoping she'd get the red) Haha! They were worried that my little girl wasn't getting enough oxygen, so the doctor wanted to get her out quickly. Since I didn't have an epidural, my doctor gave me a little shot of topical anesthetic and then told me that she was going to do a tiny episiotomy. She was trying to hurry so she didn't wait long enough for the anaesthetic to work... Ouch. (Yep, I felt every one of my stitches too.) The doctor was going to use the vacuum to help get my darling baby out and right as she got it hooked up, I must have pushed enough to get her head out because she didn’t even use it. In total, I probably pushed for about 10 or 15 minutes and then she was finally here!! At 4:53 am on Sunday, April 28, 2013, I heard Mikaela cry for the first time and I was so relieved and joyful! My little girl was 6 pounds 10 ounces and 18 1/2 inches and she had RED hair!! All my hard work and weeks of being sick had finally paid off! They put her on my chest while they cleaned her off and we got to see her for the first time. 

All the nurses were amazed at how fast the labor went (1:05 am-4:53 am) and how well I was handling the pain. They were surprised that they couldn’t hear screaming or anything. Haha! I'm not sure if I would have been able to do it without any medication if my labor hadn't been so fast, but we'll see how my future labors go!! I loved the fact that I could get up and walk and use the restroom when I needed to. After she was born, my tail bone was pretty sore and sitting up in those hospital beds put a lot of pressure on it, so I had to get up and walk every once in a while to help it feel better. I really think that I had a fast recovery and am so grateful for that. I'm so happy to be a mother even though it has its hard days. My little Mika (Mee-kuh) brings me so much happiness and we love her to pieces.