Hello everyone! I’d imagine you found this post because you’re either

1. my friends or family who are genuinely curious about how my delivery went and/or
2. you’re contemplating a natural delivery yourself!

Before I go into my delivery story, if you’re expecting, one of the things I highly recommend that both parents do within the first few days of your child’s birth is to document what happened! We got the idea from my in-laws, who wrote down what happened when my husband was born 30 years ago. We enjoyed reading all about the events that lead up to his birth so much that we decided to do the same.

Each birth and delivery is completely personal and even though I was able to have my son naturally, that doesn’t mean this is how everyone should give birth. As long as everyone is healthy and happy – I say go for it and to all the moms out there – you’re amazing!

Full disclaimer – I will be completely honest and transparent in my delivery story and include photos of my labor.

30 Hours and Counting…

My due date had finally arrived, and I was told that something like 5% of women give birth on their due date and the average for a first-time mom was closer to 41 weeks. In my mind, I had one more week until the arrival of our son. Well…

Friday, July 28th – Due Date

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. because I felt very wet and thought “Uh oh…did my water just break in my sleep?” When I checked, my liner was completely soaked and so was my underwear with very watery discharge – which was new and different than what I was used to. My first thought was that it could be some amniotic fluid. After talking with my midwife, she said she would check me later and just watch out for other labor signs. When I woke up again and checked, the watery substance was now pink. I guessed that it was my bloody show and my next assumption was that Logan was going to come today.

When I arrived at my doctor’s office, my midwife also initially thought it was amniotic fluid. However, after doing 3 different tests and being monitored – she confirmed that it was not amniotic fluid but my body was in very early stages of labor. I was having contractions, which I didn’t feel, and my cervix was soft (on a scale of hard, moderate, and soft), and I was dilated 1 cm. She told me it could still be another 1-5 days, so get plenty of rest because the baby was going to come soon. After confirming that it wasn’t amniotic fluid, I spent the rest of the day relaxing and going about my usual business, which included going back to work.

Saturday, July 29th – 1 Day after Due Date

Saturday comes around, and I didn’t feel any different until the afternoon. I started to get painful cramps that were manageable, but uncomfortable, and I figured it was early labor contractions – which again, could continue for a couple of days. However, they started to get more painful, so I started doing different labor positions to ease the pain – including leaning over our recliner and some deep breathing exercises. My sister was in town and her friend stopped by, who happened to be an OBGYN, took one look at me and said: “Oh yeah, you look like someone who is going to have her baby tonight.” My husband and I started to get excited because we felt like the day had finally come that we’re going to meet our son!

My contractions continued to get stronger, so I continued to do “active” labor positions – learning over a chair, walking, sitting backwards on a chair, staying upright, and this continued until the late evening (11:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.) and my contractions were getting more intense to the point where I felt like “Okay, this might be time to call the midwife and see if we need to go to the birthing center.” Matt and I had been tracking my contractions, and they were lasting 45 seconds to 1 minute and coming every 5-7 minutes, however, because they were getting more and more intense, I had Matt call the midwife. Bridget was the midwife on call that night and told us to go ahead and meet her at the birthing center at 1:00 a.m.

Sunday – July 30th – 2 days post due date

While on our way to the birthing center, my contractions were becoming more regular and increased in intensity. I even had one when getting out of the car! At this point, I’m doing a lot of deep breathing and “dying cow” moaning as I was starting to feel more of the pain. (“Dying cow” is what our doula called the moaning breathing to help with pain management – but I did sound like a dying cow, so the name is appropriate.)

We met Bridget, and she helped me into an exam room to see how far along I was. I had to be at least 4 cm dilated to be admitted to the birthing center. However, after she checked me, I was only 1-2 cm dilated. Due to the intensity and frequency of my contractions, she had us stay and monitored me to see if I would progress in the next couple of hours and she would re-access. While she was able to see I was having regular contractions and Logan’s movement was healthy, she said overall they were still “mild contractions,” but I was experiencing “coupling contractions.” Coupling contractions are when a “small” contraction immediately follows a “larger” contraction. When she said “mild contractions,” my immediate thought was “these are MILD?” and didn’t know how to feel about the fact that they were only going to get worse.

Bridget went ahead and let us set up in the birthing center and gave me a shot to help me sleep to see if that would help progress my labor and would check me again later. (*Note – Bridget confirmed that there wasn’t any long-term or harmful effects on the baby. It’s not a painkiller; they administer it to help laboring moms at this stage to get rest to do more productive laboring later.) While I still experienced painful contractions, I was able to sleep about 4 hours.

When I woke up, it was 6:00 a.m. and I wasn’t feeling any more contractions. Additionally, when Bridget checked, I hadn’t dilated any further so she said to go ahead and go home, but suspected that we would be back that evening. Matt joked that I would be ready to come back during Game of Thrones. (I’m a huge fan of Game of Thrones fan and we joked about my water breaking during an episode.) If I were close to or in active labor, that shot wouldn’t have slowed down labor – confirming that I was still in the early stages.

Back at home, I wasn’t experiencing the same contractions as I previously had and so I continued to rest since we were anticipating that labor would start again soon. Evening rolls around, and sure enough, my contractions start again while watching Game of Thrones. While they were mild compared to the night before, my contractions became stronger. Since I had a baseline to compare them to, I continued to labor at home longer just to make sure I dilated enough to stay at the birthing center.

Monday, July 31 – 3 days past due date

I had been laboring all night and at 5:00 a.m., I asked Matt to call the midwife. After speaking with Bridget, she told us to meet her at the birthing center at 6:00 a.m. We again arrive at the birthing center and Bridget examined me as she did previously. Fortunately, I was 4 cm dilated (enough to stay). At 8:00 a.m., Bridget’s shift ended, and a different midwife (and our favorite), Jessica, came to help us with our labor.

At this point, I’ve lost all sense of time and just wanted to have our baby. Jessica greeted us and wanted me to continue to labor for a couple more hours before she checked on me to see how far I progressed. She also recommended me to do more active labor positions to help move things along. Matt helped me walk around the birthing center, supported me on a birthing ball, but I was just so tired that I had to keep sitting down on the bed after one “lap” around the birthing center. I was just getting exhausted and questioned whether I could continue to labor at the birthing center or if I should transfer to the hospital. Fortunately, I had a wonderful team that kept me focused and reminded me that my body wouldn’t do anything I couldn’t handle.

My sister and my in-laws stopped by to bring us breakfast, but honestly, I was so focused on laboring that I didn’t notice them there or talk to them. My contractions kept getting stronger and I was having a tough enough time that our nurse, Bridgid, suggested laboring in the shower to see if that would help me manage the pain better. However, after being in there for 10 minutes or so, I was so uncomfortable and remember saying “this shower ain’t doing sh*t!” Also, I started feeling back labor pains that made any position I was in extremely uncomfortable. After thorough massages from both Jess and Matt, it helped ease the pain.

Soon after, Jess checks me and unfortunately, I was only 5 cm dilated. Because of the amount of time I was laboring in a sitting position on the bed, she believed that was the reason why I hadn’t progressed any further. I was just so exhausted that I didn’t think I could continue so she recommended giving me the same shot that Bridget did to help me get rest so that I could get up and do more active laboring. Again, the shot did help me rest, but I could still feel the painful contractions but I was determined to get up and do more upright positions after resting.

As the shot wore off, Matt helped me “reset” and helped me do more active laboring. After active laboring for hours, Jess checked me again and said I hadn’t dilated any further and told us to consider breaking my bag of water manually to see if that would help me progress. I was just so tired and agreed to it because I wanted to move things along and honestly didn’t know how much more I could do.

Jess used an amnio hook to break my water and I instantly felt the water rush out and a very warm sensation. After that point, I finally dilated to 6 cm and started to move into the transition stage. (Honestly, I had no sense of time and am not sure how many hours passed from when my water broke until the transition stage.)

Now, for me, the transition stage was by far the WORST stage out of my entire labor experience. My contractions were super intense and now with each contraction, the pain radiated throughout my body – my abdomen, my back, my hips, and my thighs, AND they were lasting longer. During this stage, I hit a wall so many times and kept saying “I can’t do this. I don’t have it in me to continue. I’m trying.” Both Jess and Matt kept encouraging me and helped me keep on point by reminding me that I wasn’t “trying,” and that I was already doing it and to focus on one contraction at a time. What also helped me get through these contractions was visualization – I kept going back to Matt and I’s wedding day and our first dance and also just pictured myself floating and imagining Logan coming closer and closer to me with each contraction.

The intensity of my contractions increased and my back labor pains were back making it extremely difficult to labor. Jess recommended that I try laboring in the jet tub to see if that’ll help. (Note: Our midwife said I had to be at least 7 cm dilated to labor in the tub. I believe the thinking is that they want you to be in at least the transition stage, so your labor doesn’t slow down.) Fortunately, I did find some relief while laboring in the tub to the point where we thought we were going to have a water birth. However, what was difficult about laboring in the tub was that because the water was hot, I overheated with each contraction and needed to be cooled down with towels. Now that I was in the tub, with each contraction, Jess wanted me to do a “small” push to help me dilate further. I was in the tub for almost 2 hours when she checked me again and estimated that I was now dilated between 8-9 cm, however, she could still feel my cervix, so I wasn’t able to push quite yet.

The next step was to get out of the tub and move into an upright position and try nitrous oxide when needed to see if that would help me dilate to 10 cm so I could start pushing. The amount of nitrous oxide was less than the amount that you would receive at the dentist and it doesn’t take the pain away, but I was told it might help me to make progress because I would likely care less about the pain. I was just ready to try anything to get Logan out.

It was around 11:30 p.m. – so we were wondering if Logan was going to be a July or August baby and it seemed like not too long after I got out of the tub and used the gas, I suddenly felt a HUGE urge to push – which is what Jess was waiting for as that was a sign that Logan was ready to be born.

I started pushing and could feel Logan moving down my body – what was even crazier is I could feel and he could be seen still kicking throughout the pushing stage. Our midwife was even like “I seriously have never seen a baby this mobile while being born.” While the nitrous gas didn’t make the pain go away, it did help me relax and helped distract me. Matt was on my left side and our nurse was on my right – I’m pretty sure I squeezed the crap out of both of their hands – but they didn’t complain. Oh and did I remember how you’re not supposed to “yell” or “scream” and instead are supposed to moan or do deep breathing? That went out the window during this stage for me. I was full on warrior crying and yelling with each contraction. In fact, I even yelled phrases like “Get this kid out of me” and “How is he not out yet?”

After what felt like pushing forever, Jess said, “okay Logan is turning the corner” and asked if I wanted to feel his head, which, I was just so focused and determined that I didn’t want to move, so I said no, but Matt felt his head.

Logan was crowning and when you’re at this point of the delivery, you’re not supposed to push hard, even though you really want to, since that’s how a lot of women tear. Instead, you’re supposed to “breathe” your baby out. And the “ring of fire,” is a real thing – the stretching of your skin down there. (Side note: Guys – if you want to know how this feels, take your fingers and put them on the side of your mouths and pull hard – supposedly that’s the same feeling.)

My nurse was like “Okay, Thy, you have to listen to Jess now. I know you want to push, but only push when she says to,” which helped me greatly otherwise I probably would have been like “Fu** it, PUSH!!!” Another reason why we love our midwife and the birthing center was because they did perineum support – my midwife applied olive oil and a warm compress – which I felt like helped me greatly and reduced my chances of tearing. As soon as I got past a certain point by following my midwife’s instructions, i.e., push when she told me to, breathe when she told me to, I was able to push the rest of him out and it happened very quickly after his head was out.

Now there is a light at the end of the tunnel because what they say is true; you do forget about the pain once you meet your baby and you do feel an INSTANT relief as soon as your baby is delivered.

August 1 – 12:41 a.m. – 4 days past due date

Logan was born on August 1 at 12:41 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. And 13 oz. What made the experience even more memorable was that Matt helped deliver and catch him and put him on my chest. I remember thinking he felt super slippery and I’m pretty sure he peed on me, but I didn’t care because he was finally here. I cried and just couldn’t believe our son was finally here and I just remember feeling so much love, not just for Logan, but for Matt, who never left my side. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to deliver our son naturally without him.

Post-Delivery:

Matt and I were just in complete awe of our son. When the umbilical cord stopped pulsating, Matt cut it, and then I felt my placenta come out – which is nothing compared to a baby and honestly it just felt like a really warm and wet flapjack.

After the delivery, they check mom and baby to make sure everyone was looking good and healthy and here are a few things that followed:

• I barely tore and didn’t require stitches (YAY!)
• Logan immediately nursed and did skin to skin time with Mom and Dad
• I didn’t hemorrhage or over bleed (It does look like a lot of blood)
• You will be VERY sore down there and it’s not pleasant to use the bathroom – but you just gave birth so going to the bathroom is a cakewalk
• They will supply you with:
  • Mesh Underwear or Depends (You’ll keep bleeding for a while)
  • Spray bottle to help clean yourself down there
  • Giant pads
  • Pad-sicles (pretty much ice, aloe and witch hazel in the pad to help soothe you – I will soon post how to make these)

At the end of the day, I was in active labor (starting at 4 cms) for 30 hours, but yes, it is completely worth it, and yes, you can do it! I did take precautions and prepared during my pregnancy to help me have an “easier” natural delivery that I think if I hadn’t done any preparation (check out my post on how I prepared for a natural delivery ), I would have had a more difficult time. As I’ve told family and friends, with the exception of how long my delivery was, I couldn’t have asked for a better delivery experience.