My unintentional natural birth story ✨

I had my sweet daughter at 12:02am on 2/9 at 39 weeks.

My water broke around 8:45pm on Monday, 2/7. Just like with my first baby, my body was having a hard time getting the contractions started on it’s own and knowing this (after waiting for 12 hours for them to start with my first) I opted for pitocin around 2am on 2/8. 21 hours later of contractions starting and then stalling- doing all the movement circuits with the peanut ball, ball bouncing and swaying I could muster ; starting pitocin, stopping and starting again- the OB decided to place an internal sensor to measure my contractions more accurately to see where they were at. (Around 11pm on 2/8)

It was a lot more invasive then I had imagined and super painful, but it irritated my uterus enough that it jump started my contractions almost immediately. I went from a pain level between 3-5 for 21 hours to 8-9 within one contraction. Unfortunately my contractions were now in my back- which back labor is a whole new level of hell.

I made a commitment to myself also to at least try nitrous oxide before I opted for fentynol and the epidural. My husband was home at this point with our toddler but luckily I had the most supportive nurse who hardly left my room since my husband left around 7:30pm- she encouraged me through each contraction.

So I was up on my feet, leaning over the bed swaying and using the gas through the contractions but within 10 minutes the contractions were excruciating. I was howling and screaming through them like a wild banshee. I finally caved and begged for the epidural around 11:30/11:40 ish.

Well as you can imagine, I didn’t have nearly enough time to actually get the epidural. I went from 4cm to 8cm from 11-11:30. I was still begging for the epidural when I felt the very sudden and very real urge to push. I was in excruciating pain- it literally felt like my body was being ripped in half from my tailbone and I had that “oh shit” moment that I’d have to push this baby out without pain relief.

What’s crazy though is, mentally- there was no way I could do it. I literally was begging for it to be over, saying I couldn’t do it BUT my body knew exactly what to do. I could feel her head moving down the birth canal and I knew that I had to push! The doctor only had time to get gloves on before my daughters head was born.

This is the scary part- that I didn’t realize was a dangerous situation until it was explained to me what happened later.

My daughter had something called shoulder dystocia. Her head was born but her shoulder was stuck, pinned behind my pelvic bone. I had no idea, all I knew was there was a few nurses around me and the OB telling me to stop pushing. The doctor shoved both (yes BOTH) of his hands into the birth canal to unpin my daughter’s shoulder. She was all the way out within 60 seconds.

They placed her on my chest, she was screaming and beautiful and perfectly healthy despite the very real medical emergency she was just in. Not only that, she had a true knot in her cord that everyone in the room thought was so cool. So cool, in fact, that the OB had one of the nurses take a picture of it on my phone!

My beautiful baby girl was born at 12:02am on 2/9 weighing 7lbs, 10oz and 18.5 inches long. She is perfectly healthy, having zero injuries from her dramatic entrance. Although having a natural birth was not exactly what I planned for- I wouldn’t change the experience for the world. I am so thankful for the incredible medical staff that supported me through everything when my husband couldn’t be there. And so thankful for such a skilled and experienced team.

I am absolutely positive that the Lord protected my daughter from injury. And I am praying extra blessings over the team that delivered her- I hope they know how truly thankful we are.

Here she is- my little miss Emily Lynn ✨