Birth story - Jessica and baby Grace

At 38 weeks they started talking to me about being induced at full term, if our daughter had not arrived by then. I was against being induced because I wanted to give my body the opportunity to progress through labor as it was meant to, without any medical/medicinal assistance.

At 40 weeks and two days, we went to the hospital to begin the induction process. They started me on petocin, I asked to be started as low as possible to allow my body to ease into it. Surges were very manageable. Around noon, the doctor broke my water. My surges increased in intensity around 2pm.

Unfortunately, due to my baby's heart rate dropping during my surges, the doctor had to put fluid back around the baby to take pressure off of her cord. I was also not able to move around the room like I imagined, I was stuck laying on my side. Thankfully as my surges became more powerful, my husband was able to watch on the monitor and would tell me when one was starting, he would tell me to take a deep breath and we would start our UP breathing. He would let me know when I was at the peak of the surge and say, "just three more breathes," and with that, I knew I could power through the rest of the surge. This made every surge incredibly manageable for me. I knew as soon as I got through half of it, I could power through the rest!

Shift change, around 5pm, brought a new nurse into our room and she was such a gift! She was so excited that I chose to deliver without any pain medication. She quickly readjusted me into a seated position and encouraged me to wiggle my hips anytime I had a surge. This not only helped move the baby down but it also helped me focus on wiggling and breathing through my surges!

Around 6:45pm, I was 8cm and 90% thinned out and she asked if I felt like I wanted to push and I was definitely ready!

I pushed once and she ran to the phone, paged the doctor for delivery!! She ran back to me and, along with my husband, encouraged me to push again. With that push they told me they could see her little head. One more push and our little girl was born!! The doctor walked in the room right after!

Grace was born at 6:53pm, she had a two vessel cord which made our pregnancy a bit more "high risk," she was born with the cord wrapped around her neck three times and a true knot in the cord as well. Yet, thanks to the medical staff, the positive birth company classes and the support and encouragement of my incredible husband she arrived safe and sound! It was such an empowering experience!

I knew that I could manage my surges because I knew what my body was doing! My husband was able to support and encourage me and I knew that I was strong enough to achieve my goal of having an unmedicated birth!