My Birth Story

Welcome back to The Novice Doula!

Today I wanted to share my birth story, as I believe this was the moment I realized I loved birth - the intensity, the calm before the storm, the beauty, the mess, and the incredible love in the moment a mother sees her child for the first time. 

This is my beautiful belly at about 37 weeks. I went 4 more weeks after this photo, to have my son at 41 weeks 1 day. For most of my pregnancy, I truly believed in letting a baby come when they were ready, and in the end I was grateful to have a support system that encouraged me to stick with this in my most vulnerable moments. 

My original plan had been a beautiful, serene home waterbirth in my living room with a midwife team, but the end result was a beautiful, serene, perfect hospital birth due to moving and needing to find a new practitioner late in my pregnancy - I ended up finding a wonderful doctor that was completely on board with my natural birth plan, even when my certainty wavered and I suggested an induction once past my due date. I went into labour on my own, and my only augmentation was 2 membrane sweeps to keep my contractions going the day before and the morning of his birth. He came out easily, with no complications and as healthy as can be, so I feel this decision to hold of induction was absolutely the right choice for me. 

It was very important to me to have a good support system in place for my labour, as at the time I had no partner and knew my pain tolerance was usually quite low. Because I was determined to have a natural, drug-free labour, I knew my supports were the ones who would carry me through and fight for my wishes in the moments I would be too vulnerable or unable to fight for them myself.  

To have this unwavering support, I chose to have both my mother (pictured below) and a doula present, as well as my doctor and other hospital staff. I will have another post on how my doula helped in my labour soon.

My labour began the day before he was born, when I had small contractions on the way to my non-stress test and ultrasound to check how my baby & I were holding up, as I was a week "over due". My contractions were consistent but unproductive, and my baby was faring well in response to them. My amniotic fluid level was great, and his umbilical cord was still carrying the vital nutrients and oxygen he needed, though my blood pressure was climbing since my due date came and went. I made sure I got her to check his sex, just to be sure - yup, still a boy! - and she estimated his weight at 8lb 8oz! My doctor felt comfortable seeing if I would go into labour naturally for a few more days, but with concern for going much more than 41 weeks 4 days, she did a membrane sweep to hopefully kick things off.

That evening, my contractions stayed consistent but not painful, despite walking for hours to encourage them. I also sipped my Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, which I chose to mix with Iced Tea (my favourite drink), which is said to tone the uterus. With still no change, I turned in for the night for some much needed rest.

The next morning, I was woken up at 6am to contractions that held my attention. I felt that the day was finally here, but didn't want to get my hopes up in case it proved to be another unproductive day. While getting ready for another NST and doctor's appointment I made sure to journal my feelings and note the important times of what was happening, just in case - I cherish this journal now, and will highly encourage my clients to keep one themselves, it's a beautiful way to look back on your experience any time you want to. I made sure to bring my hospital bag and his diaper bag, just in case.

The NST revealed my contractions to be further apart than the day before, but much stronger, and the nurse made a call to my doctor, informing her to "expect labour today". I was in nervous disbelief, but very excited to finally meet my little boy! My doctor saw me again, and was impressed by the intensity of my contractions even while laying still, but with my blood pressure still climbing she did another sweep and said to go back to the hospital in an hour to get hooked up to continuous monitoring - something that disappointed me, as I had planned to have an active labour, but turned out to not be an issue.

Less than an hour later, I returned to the hospital with strong contractions that stopped me in my tracks - it was time, despite the nurse checking and finding no cervical changes. I was encouraged to go home for my early labour, a 45 minute drive each way, but my instincts set off alarm bells here. My support system AND the hospital staff were on board for me going home, but something didn't feel right. I needed to be in the hospital, and insisted on it, so I was allowed to use a postpartum bathtub (as I "wasn't in labour" and so could not use a birthing room). 

In this bathtub, I found my birthing rhythm, and learned the value of low moaning. Before his birth, I'd obviously heard of the benefits of low noises above the tensing of higher pitched cries, but I now believe it is something you must learn for yourself - when I discovered that low moaning helped, it was like a revelation, and I began allowing my body to take over, instead focusing on riding the waves of the pain with my own waves of sound, attempting to "drown it out", which helped me relax and retreat into my own world. It was an experience like none other.

Once I'd been in the tub for only an hour, I was told they would check me again, so I moved from the glorious comfort of the warm water and my doula's counter pressure on my back, to the uncomfortable reality of the hospital bed and intense contractions. I had the urge to push, and my water broke - instant relief. The breaks between contractions became long and restful, exactly what I needed before the big moment. I was incredibly grateful for that gift. I had gone from 3cm to 10cm in just over an hour, which I attribute to being completely relaxed in the water.

Being wheeled from the assessment room to the birthing room was surreal, like a dream. I took advantage of those long breaks and rested, while my nurses and doula got everything ready for his arrival. I was allowed to push whenever I felt the urge, even though the doctor hadn't arrived yet, for which I am glad - I wouldn't have been able to stop if I tried!

My support whispered words of encouragement, which I was grateful for but mostly tuned out. My doula saw that I was in good hands and realized this was a good moment to follow my other wish - to have his birth recorded as much as possible. All of the pictures in this post are ones she took, and I have video footage of his birth as well, that I love to watch if I'm feeling nostalgic towards that day. 

I pushed for a total of a half hour to 45 minutes, still with those incredible (more than 2 minute long!!) breaks between, giving me (and my baby) time to rest, and then he was here!

I will never forget his first moments outside of my body. I kept on repeating "Hello baby! Oh my god... He's gorgeous. Oh my god... Hi baby!" And later "Oh my god, I did that, I made that!" The birthing high was amazing and instantaneous, I felt like super woman and so, so empowered. 

My little "Roo" was born at 4:44pm, on the blue moon of August, 2013.

He weighed 8lb 2oz, and was 19 3/4in long.

With the encouragement of both my support system and the hospital staff, he breastfed within the first hour and had plenty of skin to skin. Beyond the second night in the hospital (which I've been told is always the worst), we've never had any trouble with breastfeeding - indeed, he still is nursing at 13.5 months old!

Thank you for coming with me on my journey of reliving my beautiful, doula-attended birth story, I hope you enjoyed it as well.

Love and Empowerment,

~ The Novice Doula