My Water Birth Experience
It’s not easy deciding on a photo for a post about water birth. Most photos show… more than I’m comfortable with. So, enjoy this picture of my new precious little man! 🙂 Look at those awesome lips. And enjoy the story about my water birth experience! 🙂
I have a history of quick deliveries. I was in active labor with my daughter for only a few hours before she arrived. No time for pain medication of any sort! I remember asking the nurse for Tylenol (or something!), and she just laughed at me. I delivered her completely unmedicated, but also completely unprepared for delivering ‘naturally’. It was not a pleasant experience. (I actually cried on her first birthday, remembering her delivery, because my memories were so traumatic).
When I became pregnant with #3, I reasoned that I would likely have a quick labor with this baby too, and it might be smart to have some coping skills for delivering naturally. I’ve also learned a few things about the medications used in hospitals, and their effects on baby, so I wanted to steer clear.
While I loved my O.B., we had moved states and I was starting from scratch. We decided to look at birthing centers, and I found that I really liked this approach! I am blessed to be low risk (besides tending towards preciptious deliveries!), and I felt like the birthing center was the perfect balance for me of being naturally oriented, while still having access to medical helps, like oxygen, if needed.
It’s Baby Time!
I woke up at 3:10am with a very sharp contraction. I’d been having contractions (mostly painless) for days and so asked the question all laboring moms ask: Is this it? I was 40 weeks and 3 days, and ready to have this sweet baby on the outside of me! (See my post on naturally preventing preterm labor – this was my first full term baby! And oh, there are so many pluses to having them full term!)
Ten minutes later I had another sharp contraction, and decided I should get ready to go in case this was the real deal. By 3:40, I’d progressed to having 4 contractions within a 10 minute span, and called the midwife. No waiting for an hour to pass with contractions 4 minutes apart! She told me to come in and I went to wake my husband. His middle-of-the-night response to my “we’re having a baby!” was to roll over and say, “yes, we are.” My second prompting of “this morning!” got him moving. 🙂
When we arrived at the center, I was already dilated to 8 cm! SO thankful I didn’t wait any longer at home! We walked down the hall to the birthing room and I was already wanting to push! I desperately wanted a water birth though, and prayed that I would be able to wait until the tub was full. That was a LONG ten minutes. Chris held a bottle of Peace & Calming essential oil up for me to smell during contractions, and that helped my body relax a lot!
Finally the tub was full! I jumped in (well, crawled) and started pushing. The water took an immediate edge off and my body relaxed even more. Pushing wasn’t any fun, but I knew that our baby would soon be here. My little man was born at 5 am on the nose.
The midwife handed him to me immediately and we cuddled. I love that, over the next few hours, I held him the vast majority of the time. He latched on to nurse by himself, and was so peaceful.
After a good meal and a nap, we went home! I still LOVE that we came home just over 6 hours after he was born. It was such a blessing to be able to recover at home instead of the hub-ub of the hospital. Two thumbs up for water birth!
Have you had a water birth? Or would you like one?
P.S. If you’re local to me, and need a great newborn photographer, Jen Hubbard is your gal!
