This is my natural birth story. I used a midwife and doula team, and my husband was the only other one present. 😊

I was 41&6 days and my midwife was telling me to start thinking about the hospital because I was going to have to be induced. I had taken castor oil twice, (under her supervision) and it had done nothing but give me the runs. Lol. So, in a last attempt, I tried a concoction I found on the internet called ‘midwives brew’ with the okay of my midwife. (I asked her about it, she’d never heard of it.)

So I drank it about 10 AM the next morning. Around 3 o clock that afternoon, I started having cramps. I was like ‘no big deal.’ The cramps continuously got worse, and by 7:30 the midwife was on her way with the doula.

When they got to our house, they checked my vitals, and everything was fine. My cervix was dilated to a 6. I could still talk through the contractions. All night, my contractions stared to spread apart, and lost the edge they once had.

By about 10 AM the next morning, I had pretty strong contractions, but they were still not as intense as before, and they were coming 3-4 times an hour. At this point, the doula and midwife explained they were going to leave, and they would be on call for me. They explained they thought subconsciously, since they were there, my body slowed labor because I was nervous. They suggested a bumpy car ride and a walk.

My husband then took me on a 4 wheeler in a bumpy pasture. 😂

Apparently it worked! By 4 pm my contractions were almost unbearable, and we called the midwife. When they arrived his time, I was naked, leaning over the couch.

Here’s the weird thing though... I never was in transition where I had back to back contractions... my transition period the contractions were about 3 1/2 minutes apart. Everyone including myself thought I was probably dilated about 7 cm. They wanted to check me to be sure, and my water bag was bulging out and I was dilated to a 10. 😳

So my midwife said ‘okay time to push!’

I pushed leaning over the couch for an hour and a half, almost breaking both my husband and the couch in the process. 😜😂

My water never broke either. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I pushed part of it out and the midwife popped it.

Anyway, Everleigh Elizabeth was born on July 4th at 11:44 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz. 💕 She will always have fireworks on her birthday! 🎉☺️

Last pic is from last week. 😉😂