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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I never actually went into labor. I realized I was leaking fluid at 33.5 weeks while at a cabin with friends. After a swan test at a regional hospital we realized it was amniotic fluid and rushed to the hospital in the city where the midwives from the birth center we were supposed to give birth in, could treat us.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
That I wasn’t able to. After arriving at the hospital our baby had multiple heart rate decelerations. After the third one, they rushed us off to an emergency C-Section and him to the NICU where he stayed for 46 days.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Get my mind right. Having confidence in your ability to conquer ANYTHING that comes at you with childbirth is the best thing you can do for yourself. You don’t know what is going to happen. Being able to breathe, calm yourself, and accept each twist and turn in the journey is going to make sure you look positively upon whatever your experience is.
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What surprised you about your birth?
That despite exercising, eating perfectly, hiding a doula, signing up to give birth at the Birth Center following all the “rules”, we still ended with an emergency C-section at only 33.5 weeks. Anything can happen, but even that traumatizing birth can be as beautiful and as much of a birth story as the natural water birth that we wanted. All of it is birth, all of it made us moms, all of it counts.
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open-mindedness to whatever birth was going to be like, confidence that I could take it on, and breathing were all helpful
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
Breathing! Deep breathing helped to keep me calm despite all of the craziness going on.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
On my back, behind a surgical curtain, with my husband and midwife rubbing my shoulders and cheering me on!
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It wasn’t until the next morning that I finally got to hold him. It was the first time I felt complete since the whole birth process started. I was walking around as half of myself until I got to finally put his tiny 4 pound body on my chest.
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How did the Mama Natural Birth Class help you in your childbirth?
He came before we even made it to the class about labor. But the affirmations, open-mindedness to whatever birth was going to be like, confidence that I could take it on, and breathing were all helpful.
