My natural hospital birth

I’m going back to work tomorrow, and finally feel the need to write out my birth story for others to read. I love reading others’ experiences, so now it’s my turn to share!

On October 28th, at 40w4d of pregnancy, at 3am, I woke up to mild contractions after a night out celebrating my husband’s birthday. I was able to go back to sleep, but not for long. I started counting how long each one was lasting (60s) and then how close they were (6-7min). At 5am, I got up and woke up my husband. I calmly finished packing my hospital bag and we arrived at the hospital sometime between 6 and 7am. I was checked and found to be at 3cm, so I stayed.

Before birth, I had reserved a special nature room at the hospital with wireless monitors, an exercise ball, a large bed/couch, and a labor tub. After being checked in, I was monitored for an hour and then told I could walk around, which I did. I even took a shower, and then napped on the couch until my water broke around 11am and woke me up. Up to this point the contractions had been intense but manageable. At this point my contractions were every 4 minutes. I cleaned up and my husband and I walked around the hospital some more until the contractions became much more difficult to handle. Into the tub I went!

It’s hard to remember specific times after this. I know that in the tub, the contractions became very intense and close together. This is where I went through transition, and thank god for my husband who managed to stay calm and keep me calm, because I may have forgotten everything about breathing techniques I had learned 😅

I started to push while still in the tub. The midwife checked me in the water and I was at 10cm and ready to push. I had to get out of the tub and pushed, first squatting in front of my husband on an exercise ball using his legs to support my arms, then on my side, then back to the first position. My husband later told me I pushed for about 40 minutes.

Our son Jude was born with no complications at 2:33pm that day!

So thankful for this little boy!