Birth Stories- Bradley Birth- Young Mama

Today we have two birth stories from one mom. I think it is always great to see a young mom have a good birth experience. I of course LOVE that these are Bradley births and how they show that putting in the effort to really learn to RELAX makes such a difference in the labor and birth. Enjoy!
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First birth as a single teen-

I was very young when I became pregnant with my first child at 16. I was very lucky to have great support around me however, mostly my mother! She heard about the Bradley method from a friend and they loaned her the book, "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way". We read it together. I practiced my relaxation as often as possible. While I lived in a very small town, there was a Certified Nurse Midwife on staff, which is who I chose to go to.

At 38 weeks I began have painless contractions about every 30 minutes. They lasted throughout the night, and into the next morning. They did start to get stronger throughout the next day, but they never got much closer together. I was at school still, and sitting in the desks became a bit uncomfortable around lunch time, so I went home. I had a doctor appointment that afternoon, in which my CNM checked my cervix and said I was 2cm dilated but that my contractions could just be Braxton Hicks still. So it could be labor, or I could be pregnant another two weeks or longer.

However, my contractions never went away. By evening they were closer together and stronger. I lost my mucous plug! I was still quite comfortable and was sitting on my bedroom floor cross-legged to breath through them. Finally, around 9:00pm I was ready to lay in bed. My mom helped talk me through the "waves". I was quietly laying there, using all the focus I could, on relaxing and letting go. I must have been doing a great job, because when I asked if we could go to the hospital my mom said that it was too early. She didn't think I was in enough pain yet or hard labor. She thought I could have hours still. However, I insisted.

My midwife met me there and everyone was surprised when I was checked and found to be 9 cm dilated. Within minutes of getting there I was ready to push. I remember the short transition period and telling everyone that I just "couldn't do it" anymore. Pushing, then, offered a relief. However it was hard work!

We tried a few different positions, but I just couldn't quite get the hang of pushing. After awhile, my body kicked in with its natural painkillers, and I was just kicking back in the bed, munching on ice chips and pushing. After three hours of this, the baby started to show decels in his heartbeats. The CNM wanted to get him out quicker through pressure episiotomy and vacuum extraction. I told her I was totally okay with pushing more. I was feeling fine. However it had been three hours and he was showing signs of stress. So she did and finally out he came!
He was 8 lbs 14 oz. His APGARS were great!

Second birth

With my second birth I was married finally. :) I was still pretty young at 20 years old. I decided I wanted to use the Bradley method again, so my husband studied the book with me. At around 3 days past my due date I was getting off the couch to go to bed one night when I felt a big POP! I told my husband "either I just peed my pants or my water broke!"

I knew it was my water, of course, as I started walking to the bathroom. We were so excited! We started packing and my husband called the on call OB (we were living in a different area now). The OB said I could stay at home as long as I wanted to as long as the water was clear from my bag of waters. He suggested we come in when the contractions were around 2 minutes apart. So we hung out at home for awhile and called my parents to come over (they live 2 hours away).

Contractions started within about 30 minutes of my water breaking. They were pretty easy to deal with at first. Two hours later, when my parents got there, the contractions were a bit stronger. Still, I sat on the couch with them, visited, and watched TV for another couple hours. After about four hours from when my water broke, I was starting to pace around the kitchen through my contractions. My husband asked me if I was ready to go to the hospital. He had read the book and memorized which "sign posts" to watch for. I told him that I really didn't know. He said it was time to GO!

We get to the hospital and I'm 6cm dilated. However, within minutes transition starts and I dilate fully very quickly. As I laid there on the bed in the hospital, I remember taking all my concentration to relax and let go. One of the nurses asked if I was sleeping and my mom was commenting on the contraction monitor and how big and long those contractions were,but I wasn't even flinching. It was hard to concentrate with all that talking around me and to me though! haha

Finally it was time to push. This time it was much easier! I pushed for only about 5 minutes and he was born. He was 7 lbs 12 oz with great APGARS!