Nora's Birth Story

At our weekly midwife appointment on baby girl’s due date (10/5) I was 3cm dilated and 60% effaced. My husband, Allen, and I celebrated our due date later that day by going to India House for dinner with some spicier food than we would usually choose to try to get things moving. After work on 10/6, I did some curb walking but nothing was really happening yet. I woke up around 2am on 10/7 to some more intense contractions than the previous few days that were about 8 minutes apart. I decided to take a Benadryl since our birth class instructor had mentioned doing that to be able to rest during early labor. I slept off and on for a couple hours in between contractions with a heating pad. Allen woke up at 7am to my deep breathing and drew me a bath. I got in the bath for about an hour while Allen started packing the truck and getting ready to go to the hospital. My contractions continued to pick up after that and were about 4 minutes apart by 11am. I tried resting on the couch throughout the morning, trying to be prepared for a long day of labor, but things were so intense that I needed to keep moving. I kept going back to our bed in a position from the miles circuit that I had done throughout pregnancy to make sure she was in a good position (chest and knees on the bed and my butt in the air). I tried rocking on the birth ball a few times in the living room where Allen was watching football, but it would always cause more intensity and the urge to go to the bathroom. We called the midwife and headed to the hospital around 11am (our primary midwife, Hannah, even ended up being on call that weekend!). Just before leaving, I quickly ate some cottage cheese and mixed up a water bottle of electrolytes, trying to stay hydrated and have some protein to keep my energy up. While getting in the truck, I had to lean against the side for a contraction but thankfully we lived less than 5 minutes from the hospital.

I was 5cm dilated and 100% effaced when we got to the hospital, so I assumed we had a long day ahead of us, but was thankful that I was far enough along to not get turned away. I decided to wear my nursing bra and diaper (lol) that I came in instead of putting on the hospital gown. I labored on the bed and around the room for a while; the birth ball didn’t feel comfortable to sit on even though I thought I would want to use it. Allen and I were answering medical questions for what seemed like forever but I was starting to be in my own world and not able to answer. Our midwife applied counter pressure for a while and then Allen did off and on. I then decided to sit on the toilet, trying to speed things up and remembering it as the “dilation station”. Looking back, I realize I was in transition while on the toilet, hence the feelings of uncertainty that I could keep doing this much longer and repeatedly asking Allen where the labor tub was. After a few contractions on the toilet, it felt like her head was coming out and I started to panic a little. It ended up just being my water breaking around 1:30pm and the amniotic sac fell out into the toilet. I remember one of the nurses commenting on how impressive it was that my water broke on the toilet, although as I walked to the bed I definitely still made a mess on the floor. I instantly felt the urge to push after that, so Hannah checked me and I was 10cm dilated! I couldn’t believe I was already fully dilated after 2 hours of thinking I had a long ways to go. 

I got back into the bed on my knees with my forearms/head resting against the back. I thought about pushing my breath down to baby girl with every contraction and Hannah told me which pushes were more effective so I could continue those. They gave me an icee at one point that I took a couple bites of and Allen gave me sips of water in between contractions. The words of encouragement from Allen and Hannah gave me the strength to keep going. I didn’t realize it at the time but Nora’s heart rate was dropping during each contraction so Hannah was holding me open in between - yes, that was as intense as it sounds. 😭 She had me turn onto my back for the last few contractions and I screamed with the last push as the ring of fire quickly came and went. I pushed for about an hour before Nora was born at 2:33pm on her Auntie Sam’s birthday! I'm still in shock at how fast everything happened since I had been under the assumption that everything would take longer with my first baby. I asked them to get the labor tub ready right before my water broke but never ended up having time to use it or any of the other labor supplies I had packed. They placed her on my chest, I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt the birth high as she began to nurse. The first thing I said to Allen was “she looks like your dad.” 😂 I don’t even remember birthing the placenta but it happened shortly after Allen cut the cord. Then Allen held Nora while Hannah stitched me up for what seemed like hours - I tore pretty bad because of how fast she came. At one point Hannah said I had a high pain tolerance because she was stitching me unmedicated, but I didn’t really feel anything. Someone asked about wiping Nora down while they were weighing & measuring her and one nurse said “no, the birth plan says no bath.” I told them it was okay to wipe the blood off of her but I appreciated that they were paying attention to my birth desires.

The nurses were very respectful of my birth plan and everything went perfectly. They tried to act like they didn’t know if they had a labor tub available at first but Hannah gave them the what-for when she got there. The only other thing they had a hard time with was the intermittent fetal monitoring that I requested, but they found something that they wrapped around me so I didn’t have to be hooked up to anything and could move freely around the room. And I didn’t end up needing an IV during labor or any pitocin. Hannah wanted to give me pitocin after birth because I was bleeding quite a bit but I asked her to wait a little longer and it ended up being fine. The most painful part of the experience was them pushing on my uterus a million times after giving birth to make sure it was shrinking throughout our stay at the hospital. 😭 Otherwise, to get through contractions, I would open my palms and focus on relaxing my whole body, especially my face/jaw, and not fighting against the contractions. I kept telling myself, “you are doing this” when I would start to think I couldn’t and I never felt afraid, just trusted my body and God. I also did a lot of low-moaning to release the tension.

If you are interested in seeing my birth plan to get inspiration for yours, please feel free to contact me and I would love to send you a copy!