I can’t believe it’s finally my turn! Here is the birth story of my sweet rainbow baby.

I’m a first time mom and All throughout my pregnancy I did a ton of research and really wanted a natural and intervention free birth, but I chose to birth in a hospital which I was told would be nearly impossible.

For several weeks I was only dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced with a posterior cervix. I had been eating dates since 35 weeks and drinking red raspberry leaf tea starting in the 2nd trimester. I was hoping these things would help me go into labor naturally but no such luck. I tried everything and it just wasn’t happening. My ultimate goal was a healthy baby so we scheduled an induction at 41 weeks 4 days. I just knew I would go into labor before then but nope!

I was super bummed because I’ve heard bad things about pitocin and that’s it’s so much harder to go without an epidural. I went into it with an open mind and was going to attempt to go natural but would get an epidural if I needed it.

They checked me when I got to the hospital and I was a 2, 75% effaced and still posterior. They started pitocin around 6am and contractions didn’t start getting painful until around 830. At one point I got up to go to the bathroom and puked which they said was a good sign and that things were moving along. They checked me and I was a 3 which bummed me out. She said it takes a while to get to 5 and then it moves more quickly.

Not too long after getting checked I started getting contractions that were more unbearable and intense pressure in my butt. I called the nurse and said I needed to change positions and told her about the pressure. She said she needed to check me and I was a 9 and almost ready to push. I could not believe it. I went from a 3 to a 9 in about 30-45 min. I pushed for about 45 minutes and then out came my girl! 8 pounds 5 ounces and a head full of black hair.

I am so proud of myself for making the best of my birthing situation and powering through! All of the nurses couldn’t stop talking about me and bragging about how amazing I did and couldn’t believe I didn’t have an epidural. I definitely think the dates and tea contributed to my 5 hour labor and highly recommend!

We are so blessed and I love her more than anything! Thanks for reading and good luck to all the mamas out there!