Baby is now 2 months old and I finally have the energy to post my story! As a first time mom who planned on a natural labor I found any natural labor stories encouraging and really helped me feel prepared for my big day, so here's mine :)

My baby came two days before her due date. I had gone to bed early and my husband had stayed up to decompress with some video games. I get up to pee at 12:30am and in my attempt to awkwardly jump back on our oversized bed I felt a rush of water and assumed I had just peed myself when my half awake brain said "nooo I just peed... my water broke!". Like many moms say it wasn't a flood of water, more like a steady leak. So I wrapped a towel around my legs and waddled into the living room and told my husband, guess what! He quickly got up and packed any last items and threw them in the car and I sent him straight to bed to try and get some last minute sleep before the long night ahead since I planned to labor at home as long as possible. I called my doula and let her know and then tried to sleep, but I couldn't since anxiety/excitement hit big time! My mind was flooded with doubts about being able to handle the next couple hours alone.

Contractions started and they were just like my period cramps, uncomfortable but not unbearable. I decided to go ahead and get in the bath and try to relax and this helped, especially as the contractions started to progress. As I comfortably sat in the bath, I suddenly got a chill and started shaking uncontrollably. Freaking out, because I had not expected this I turned to the internet and found this was very common with labor and it put my mind at rest so I just added more hot water to help calm my trembling body.

Then the nausea and diarrhea hit, hard (I know, the less dignified side of labor), so I leapt from the tub and hopped on the toilet grabbing an empty bucket to puke in. The good news is it was short lived, not like being hungover. A few minutes of voiding my guts and everything settled for about an hour. This happened about three times, meanwhile contractions were getting slightly stronger and closer together. Thankfully I had an app to help me keep an eye on them. My contractions never seemed to get consistent, but we're definitely getting stronger.

The hospital I was delivering at was about 30min away, almost an hour with morning traffic so by 5am my contractions were still manageable but my husband and I decided we should get going just to be safe. We arrived at 6:30am meeting my doula there and were checked into triage where I changed and we waited for a couple hours as there were no labor rooms available. A nurse finally checks me and I'm 5cm dilated, contractions are still manageable but by now I'm tired and grumpy. Being uncomfortable for hours is not only exhausting but also very annoying, I took my body's refusal to not let me sleep personally :) I get a text from my doula in the waiting room that a nurse just told a couple there that I'm getting their room. #winning

The next hour flies by. They walk me to my room and get an iv started (hospital policy) and slap on the baby heart rate belt and spend the next hour trying to get a steady reading, no luck with baby being uncooperative. By now my contractions were pretty strong but still manageable with breathing and all I wanted was to get into the tub so my doula draws a bath but the nurse won't let me up until they get a consistent reading on the monitor. But that bath was never to be.

All of a sudden I get a strong urge to push, and it was pure instinct. I tell my nurse who checks me and says "yup, your ready to have a baby!". And she goes to get the midwife while my doula helps distract me to keep me from pushing. I remember freaking out for a second. I had gotten accustomed to the feeling of the contractions and there was a comfort in knowing what to expect. but Only 20 minutes of pain free pushing (with the ring of fire being the exception) and my beautiful girl was born! It was harder than I expected physically , but no where near as traumatizing as I expected.

The whole experience was so empowering and I'm so glad I was able to deliver naturally. Total labor was only 9 hours and I only got a small 1st degree tear. So to anyone trying to have a natural labor you can do it! Just remember your body is built to do this :)