My first daughter was born at 37 weeks after my water broke. It was a fairly fast labor, so I didn’t get the epidural in until I was 9cm and in transition! I then was completely numb and had to push for 3 hours to get her out.

Second time around, I wanted to try an unmedicated birth and feel more in control of the pushing stage. Also thought it would be cool to experience! Around 38 weeks I started having lots of semi-painful Braxton Hicks but they would never progress. It would just keep me up all night then stop for a day or two! With each doctor’s appointment, I was dilating more and more. 4 cm, then 5 cm at 39 weeks. The doctor wanted to induce me because they were scared my labor would be super fast, but I really wanted her to come on her own and to avoid pitocin. I tried all the natural induction tricks but nothing worked!

At my due date appointment my doctor said I was 6 cm (how is that even possible??) and almost fully effaced. She said she really did not feel it was safe for me to be walking around 6 cm. I said “I really wanted labor to start on it’s own.” And she said “I understand that, but your labor has started on its own. It has started and stopped for the last two weeks. All that is left is the last little bit, and we need to make sure that happens somewhere safe and not in your car!” So I agreed to come in the next morning for my induction. It was nice to have one last night with my 2 year old and to prepare her that the baby was coming!

I went in to be induced the next day. I still advocated for myself and although the doctor wanted to start with pitocin, she agreed to just break my water and see what happened for an hour or two. Around 1:10 she broke my water. I had to be on monitors for the first 30 min to make sure the baby was tolerating it, and about 20 min I could feel the contractions starting. Once I could get off monitors and stand up they got super intense really fast! It really helped me to walk around and try different positions. My husband did counter pressure, which helped. Mostly we were alone in the room to labor, which was nice! The doctor ducked in and I told her I was in transition. They said to page the nurse if I felt pressure or like I wanted to push.

A few minutes later I had a contraction and felt the low down pressure. I asked my husband to page the nurse. The next contraction the pressure was way more and my body started pushing without me trying! I screamed “call them back! Get someone in here now!” I had a very primal feeling that the baby was coming. I made my husband help get my underwear off and get me on the bed. I was on all fours and couldn’t flip myself over with the intensity of the contractions! The doctor and nurses rushed in and set up. About 10 min of pushing and my beautiful 8 lb 8 oz baby girl was born! My first thought was how she looked so different than her sister but was so beautiful!

Unfortunately I hemorrhaged afterwards. The downside of not having the epidural was that the placenta removal and everything they had to do to stop the bleeding and stitch me up was painful and I couldn’t just enjoy my baby, like I did with the first. But overall, both medicated and unmedicated births were challenging and beautiful! I was proud of myself for both.

Madeline Jean was born 11/11 at 3:33 pm weighing 8 lbs 8 oz. She is magical and perfect!