Birth story - Jaclyn and baby Leo

*Trigger Warning* - Tearing, pain, mention of episiotomies in past, coached pushing.

We finally got to experience our last positive birth experience! We are 3rd time parents, but this was our first hypnobirthing course. I am SO glad we did it.

I had been experiencing prodromal labor for about a week prior to delivery day… we had 2 false alarms that I really thought it was go time! I had also been having Braxton hicks for weeks and weeks. I religiously ate my dates, and drank my iced raspberry leaf tea. I think this really did help.

3/29, went to bed with some very mild cramps. All night long, I felt like I was coming down with the flu, I thought maybe this is it! Cold sweats, body aches, cramping.

3/30 7:00AM (40+4days) woke up, took a shower, surges were not going away or slowing down. We had already had an appointment with our midwife scheduled that morning for a membrane sweep, and a NST immediately following at 9 AM, so we decided to keep the appointment so she could at least listen to heartbeat, and confirm early labor starting.

9AM- The hospital/doctors office is about 45 mins away, so it was a little bit of an inconvenience, but we thought, “hey, what else are we doing today?” Drove to midwife, she said I was 2-3cm, and very high. She recommended we go do the NST, where they would have me walk for about an hour, check again and go from there.

12:00PM- After an hour of walking with no change, they offered for us to stay another hour and walk, but I knew I really wanted to do 98% of my laboring in the comfort of my own home. So we made our way back home, and listened to our positive affirmations, and practicing breathing in the Freya app on our drive. Surges were about 6-7 minutes apart, and very manageable.

12:45PM- got in the bath tub with some clary Sage and lavender, felt my body completely relax, however, surges started drifting apart, close to 10 mins or more.

1:30PM- I started feeling like I needed to rest if I was going to be able to labor all night… so we put on a funny movie (Zoolander) while I laid on my left side. My husband rubbed my shoulders, massaged my hands, light touch massage on my back, some cuddling and kissing. Surges really picked up. Through my up breathing, I was needing to vocalize to manage the pain. Surges were getting really intense.

4:30PM- Grandma and Pappy picked up our 2 children, and I think my body knew it was safe to move on with the next stage of labor. I sat up, felt a pop, and my water broke (on our couch ). We quickly grabbed everything we needed again, and headed straight to the hospital.

4:45PM- what felt like the longest car ride ever, surges were 1-2 minutes apart, and very intense. I sat in the front seat in kind of a backwards squat position. Btw- highly recommend buying the adult diapers. I think this saved our car interior. I struggled with breathing through these ones, with my birth partner focused on getting us to the hospital safely and quickly.

5:30PM- arrived at hospital, wheeled into triage. We didn’t have time to do registration, as it was very clear baby was coming fast.

5:45PM- They wanted to do a cervical check and monitor baby, so I allowed them, I was 7cm. I switched from left and right side lying. They wanted to do an IV, we used our BRAIN, and declined. I asked if we could have a Pitocin shot ready if there was an emergency. (Alternative)

6:10PM- 9.5cm, I told them no more cervical checks. I would tell them when I was ready to push I could feel I was getting irritated from all of the checks. I had already allowed more than I wanted to.

6:15PM- switched to right side, my doula said she thought it would help my cervix get rid of that last bit of lip. Sure enough, my body started bearing down on its own as soon as I turned. Foetal Ejection Reflex (FER) was absolutely like what they say, almost a backwards vomiting you can’t help. They kept telling me to stop pushing, and I told them he was coming! I couldn’t help it! They had me roll more into my back, than on my side, and the urge to push did not come as naturally this way. I do wish I could have tried to move to all fours or squatting, but my legs were really tired at this point. So, we did coached pushing… I was starting to get a little discouraged by this. I asked if we could tilt the mirror so I could see, and when I saw and touched his hair, I felt like a had all of the power again to do this! I was excited and ready to meet my baby.

6:31PM- 15 mins of pushing, baby Leo was born! They put him on my chest immediately, and he cried within about 3 seconds! I said “my baby!!”.

I had a second degree tear where I had 2 previous episiotomies. I birthed the placenta, then after asking some questions we decided against the pitocin, they also wanted to do a catheter, but I knew my body just needed some time. So we refused that as well. We had them wait a little bit longer to clamp/cut the cord. We had at least an hour or two of skin to skin. It was absolutely magical. I don’t remember being that present and in control with my other 2 births. What an amazing experience! Highly recommend the Positive Birth Company.