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When did you realize you were really in labor?
The night before I actually delivered my son I noticed some mild cramping but they weren't painful at all. They were coming in pretty consistently and were coming in every 6 to 7 minutes I was about 3 days away from my due date so you could imagine my excitement! This was my first labor experience going all natural so I was unsure of what to expect. Either way I had a very strong feeling that I was going to meet my little man very soon!!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
For my labor experience , the most challenging thing was believing that the Lord truly was going to take care of me... This whole experience was a huge prayer request that I had made before the Lord ever since I found out that I was pregnant. With our firstborn I had to get induce due to low amniotic fluid levels and they broke my water so I was definitely not happy with my first labor experience but I knew that for my second child I wanted a radically different experience. I wanted the whole process to be natural and with no intervention of any kind. And by God's grace I was able to achieve this!
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
I was a huge advocate of remaining calm and stress free about the whole laboring process. I practiced a lot of deep breathing and very importantly trusting everyday that I was gonna confidently go through childbirth with my head on straight and bring my child into this world all on my own, and sticking to that mentality.
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What surprised you about your birth?
The most surprising part of my childbirth was the actual delivery. It was such an awesome experience and I wholeheartedly believe that it was because I went all natural. I was able to feel my baby come down with every contraction and literally feel EVERYTHING that was happening. So much so that I even felt his hair!! Crazy I know !! And of course the infamous ring of fire!!!! I have heard of this but never knew what it truly was, and let's just say that the title is so perfect to what it actually is. Lol
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Be calm!! Be confident!! Be prayerful!! And know that your body was DESIGNED to go through childbirth...you can do this!! Your body was so wonderfully made it knows what to do you just have to trust the DESIGNER!!
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
The best pain relief that worked wonders for me was remaining calm, embracing every contraction and not tense up through it, and very importantly deep moaning sounds throughout the duration of each contraction.
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What position did you end up delivering in?
By the time the doctor came in to check me for the last time I was lying on the delivery bed on my back so I did end up delivering in that position as well.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was such an overwhelming amount of relief and joy to be able to hold him and stare at him for the first time... my husband and I were crying and thanking the Lord for giving us the opportunity to be parents again and we were just so grateful!! We've been pregnant for what seemed like an eternity and both my husband and daughter would play with him when he was still in my belly and we would talk about what we think he's gonna be like, how we think he's going to look like, and then finally to be able to see firsthand how he's truly like is definitely one of the most rewarding experiences anybody could ever go through.
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
Be calm!! Be confident!! Be prayerful!! And know that your body was DESIGNED to go through childbirth...you can do this!! Your body was so wonderfully made it knows what to do you just have to trust the DESIGNER!!
