- Hire a doula if you can

- Stay hydrated during labor!!

- Labor in a hot bath tub as long as possible

- push in whatever position works for you, especially in the beginning. You might end up pushing for a long time so if you need to move to a different position for delivery you can, but get his head below your pelvic bone first

Was 9 days overdue with what everyone was predicting was going to be a large baby. Hospital was pushing induction quite hard and we were going to do a membrane sweep on Monday. Sunday night we made the eggplant parm dish guaranteed to send women into labor - easy to find on the Internet. I had two helpings and went to take a shower. Coming out of the shower I started losing small prices of my plug. Didn't get too excited about it. Went to bed.

At around 2:30 in the morning I heard or felt a pop while sleeping and woke up to my water breaking. Was actually able to hold it in to run to the restroom. Lost a whole bunch of fluid and then went to let husband know we'd be having a baby soon.

Within maybe 5 minutes contractions had started and were 3 minutes apart. We called our doula and left for the hospital - we'd originally planned to do early labor at home, but it felt like it was starting quickly and I wanted to avoid traffic and get settled. We were at hospital and in labor room probably by 4 or 4:30 and got directly into the tub, shut off all the lights and just had a couple electric candles. Husband was behind me so I could rest on him between contractions. 

First nurse was I thought very unpleasant and kept trying to do things and tighten monitoring straps during contractions - I immediately disliked her and by some miracle she got replaced by an absolute angel within the first 30 minutes. Our second nurse was so wonderful I could cry about it. I think my doula had them switched - good call!

Labored in the tub until about noon - I'm sure this part was hard at the time, but the setting was perfect and I barely remember it now. Low lights and hot water were perfect. I got deeply relaxed between contractions so felt strong coming out of that part. Only bummer is it turns out I puke during labor so there was a lot of that, but it seemed not so bad in the tub.

Started feeling the urge to have to poop in the tub. As soon as I asked my doula what would happen if I pooped in the tub, she knew we'd transitioned and the midwife got called. First cervical check of the day and we were at 10 with no cervical lips - great!

Midwife left us alone to push for a while so we started on the bed, which I hated. The angel nurse had hot packs ready for every contraction though so I could push directly into those. This was unbelievable helpful - ask for this! Demand it! I could not have done this without those hot packs.

When bed wasn't working we moved to the toilet. Spent about another hour there until I felt the head descend so we moved back to the bed and decided we were close. About 2 hours into pushing. We were not close. 

We also should have stayed on the toilet since it was working, but lesson learned there.

Midwife got called back in and we labored on the bed in various positions: squatting, reclined and pulling on a rebozo, on a birthing stool, on all fours for another 2 hours. Midwife was great and got me to redirect my pushing from my chest/breath to my butt/vagina - this was key. The positions on the bed just simply weren't as effective for me as the toilet. 

4 hours into pushing and I start getting exhausted, my contractions start spacing out, and instead of three good pushes each contraction, I'm down to 1 good push and one just good effort. 

Team realizes I haven't peed in 4 hours and puts in a catheter to drain bladder. It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and did drop the babies head down into my pelvis a bit - it also protects your bladder from being damaged long term so if your midwife is suggesting this and you trust her, do it. They also insert an IV to get me rehydrated. In hindsight I should have done this earlier.

Head OB called in to start consulting since pushing is taking so long. Full team has discussion and recommends starting some pitocin to pick the contractions back up and try to avoid vacuum, forceps, or c-section. All of which are starting to be discussed as possible options. 

They start the pitocin drip, which takes about 15 minutes to work, so I used the next 20 minutes to rest as much as possible, enjoy the longer breaks my body was forcing on me, and not push with my uterus on contractions, just let it do what it wanted. I was basically asleep during this time, which I needed. Still hadn't successfully gotten his head to stay below my pelvic bone.

Midwife came back in and we started pushing again. We're probably a little over 5 hours in to pushing at this point. The room is getting more and more stressed that this isn't going to work.

The pitocin is surprisingly helpful, even at a very minimal dose. We push for 45 minutes and get his head so I can feel the top of it. The midwife through this 45 minutes has both hands inside my vagina guiding the baby out during each contraction, which I'm not going to lie was really painful - I also think it was really effective. At this point lots of people are in the room. The head OB is there for emergencies, the midwife and resident are there delivering, my team (doula, husband, and nurse), and three people from the pediatric team ready for any emergencies with the baby since pushing was taking so long. 

At about 5:45 minutes into pushing the team is worried the baby's head is too large and decides they are going to have to do an episiotomy - I freak out, but we're so close I just need the baby out. Between contractions I get a local anesthetic in my perenium to get ready for the cut. Before they can do that, we push the baby out in the next two pushes!!! I think the fear of an episiotomy is partly what got him out. Once he was out everyone jumped into action checking the baby, but husband and I saw and heard him breath before the cord got cut so that was really reassuring. 5 minutes later he was in my arms. 

On top of an incredibly long pushing stretch - 6 hours total - there was also meconium in my fluid so there was a lot of concern for the baby even though his heart rate had been really good through the whole process. Baby was perfectly fine and healthy! He handled the entire ordeal probably the best out of all of us.

While they were checking the baby, I delivered the placenta, which felt weird but was decidedly not painful at all.

Once I had the baby in my arms, they got to work assessing the damage and starting on stitches. The good news is I had no perineal tears at all! The team had been very careful with that area at my request and was constantly pouring mineral oil on it through all of crowning and delivery. I did have some small vaginal and labial tears that had to get stitched, but they were minor and two days in they aren't bothering me too much.

This was the craziest, most intense day of my life and I have totally mixed feeling about wanting to go natural. On the one hand, I had a lot of fear going into motherhood, and now all I feel is an incredible sense of accomplishment and empowerment. On the other hand, pushing for 6 hours was unbelievable stressful on my system and while the baby is healthy as an ox, I can barely hold down food and bruised my pelvis so badly that I'm having trouble walking. Would I do it without pain medication again? Yes. Would I change some things? Yes. Was it what I expected? Not even close, but then that's a good lesson going into parenting too. 

And 24 hours after delivery: