Our First Guest Birth Story!

I am excited to be sharing a birth story today from a friend of mine from when my hubby was in Chiropractic college.
I love her story because it shows that a woman can have a natural birth even if she does not follow the textbook idea of laboring for 15 hours and pushing for two with her first baby.  It also shows how important the birth place we choose is and the support of a good care provider who will go the distance with you.
Enjoy!
********
A Marathon Birth
Most of Tuesday  was spent going through the early stages of labor consisting of contractions every 5 to 10 minutes.

Around 8 PM we finally decided with our midwife, D, to come to the birthing center. Once we got there we found out I was only dilated to a 2 1/2. The midwife sent us home to hopefully get some rest through the night.

After being home for a few hours, my contractions started to intensify; so we made the 25 minute drive back to the birthing center. At around 12:30 AM we discovered that I was dilated to a 3. We were somewhat discouraged with the lack of progress.

We spent the night at the birthing center. I spent most of that time laboring in a tub. It was during this time that I understood why so many women decide to go the epidural route. I somehow made it to the morning with the help of my husband.

Around 7:30 AM, D let us know that I actually made progress and was dilated to a 7. It was at that moment, I knew I could make it through the rest of labor. It was a relief to know I was progressing.

I continued through the day dancing to Bob Marley, taking a couple of relaxing showers, drinking lots of water, and moving through contractions.

Close to 3 PM I started the pushing phase.

Around 6 PM, our midwives, D and G, informed us that we may need to transfer to the hospital because I was not making much progress. Thankfully, mine and the baby's vitals were great so that was not a concern. While D worked on contacting her backup doctor, I worked on pushing.

A little after 7 PM, I had actually made enough progress that it would not be possible to transfer and D said we were staying!

 After pushing for 5 hours in almost every position possible our little baby emerged. D handed me our baby and Husband announced that we had a sweet boy.

At 8:15 PM, Baby Boy entered our world weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. and 21 in. long. As I held our boy in our arms, all I could say and think was "We did it!" Birth is truly a miraculous event. I felt so empowered by this marathon birth.