Birth story - Sara and baby girl

I had trauma with my first birth and feel so filled with joy to be able to experience an amazing birth. I definitely credit this to all the research and preparation I put into it! I ate the 3 dates a day and drank the red raspberry leaf tea. I did the hypnobirthing course and educated myself on every aspect of birth. I read the books, read the positive birth stories, and walked an hour a day throughout.

I woke up yesterday to a gush of fluid going down my legs when I got out of bed. I called my midwife to see if they could switch my appointment so I could be seen a day earlier. My appointment was at 3:30 pm so before then, to fill the time, I took my older kids on a walk to the park to play with a friend and tried to tidy the house. The midwife did a couple of tests and confirmed I had just peed myself 🙃 but upon getting home I noticed some Braxton Hicks to be happening every 3-6 minutes. They were not painful, so I kept going about my day. I asked my husband to go pick up some carry out for dinner and while he was gone I tried pumping some milk. After that I started to feel the surges a bit, got into the tub with my 6 year old reading books to me and ate a taco in the bathtub. I decided to start timing my contractions again and after 4 contractions 3 minutes apart I told my husband to pack the car.

We got to the hospital around 8 pm, my water broke immediately and I asked them to check me. The nurse said I was between a 6 and 7 and so they wheeled me up into the birthing room on a different floor. I went to the bathroom to get the birth ball, sat on the toilet and immediately felt like I needed to take the biggest poo of my life. The nurses were alarmed, one went to grab the midwife, and they made me get off the toilet and head to the bed. I was on my knees with my arms draped over the inclined top of the bed and pushed her out in two pushes, once the midwife arrived. I was too afraid I was still at a 7 and didn't want to tear before she got there! But when she arrived baby was crowning and her head popped out. I gave one mighty push during the next surge and felt so much relief! It was such an amazing and powerful experience.

No tears, even though I did absolutely nothing to prepare or prevent it from happening. And I went from a 6 or 7 to a 10 in probably less than ten minutes and still no tears!

The nurses were surprised I could walk around right after birthing, probably because they're so used to American moms getting epidurals they don't often see American moms without pain medicine 😅

I felt confident and empowered after educating myself on birth and watching the hypnobirthing videos from the Positive Birth Company. I didn't have time to use any of my birth tools (birth ball, tens machine, husband relaxation strategies, my doula, positive affirmations, meditations, etc) but I did use the up and down breathing techniques to stay calm and not let fear take over