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Video Interview With Eileen
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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I have had a lot of prodromal labor with all three of my kids, so this time I didn't believe labor had arrived until things had really picked up. We put our kids to bed at 7 PM and I was having contractions but not timing them. Around 9 PM after timing them for a half hour and realizing they were 2 minutes apart and although very short in duration, they were STRONG, I decided it was probably go time!
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
You really have to keep your head in the game and kind of get yourself out of the way of the process. I have found with all three of my natural births that the biggest contributor to tension and nervousness is myself. This time I really asked my midwife and husband to distract me between contractions so that I wouldn't think ahead and get worried about how long labor was going to be! My first birth was 42 hours, my second was 13.5 hours, and I really didn't want to think about possibly being in for the long haul again--especially the pushing phase.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Prayer and practice relaxation! Can't stress this enough. I keep only positive birth stories in my space, listen to affirmations a LOT, and I practice relaxing. The Bradley Method is so good for this, but you can't get to labor and expect to be able to relax. You really have to practice every night in bed as you go to sleep. I honestly didn't do this enough this time around and when those strong contraction hit I was like, oh shoot, I'm really not in shape for this! But above all, I really think going to the chiropractor was the game changer this time. I didn't do it with my first two, I did this time, and I actually had an adjustment the day I went into labor. The baby just came shooting out and I contribute it to the chiropractor.
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What surprised you about your birth?
It was FAST. I never thought I would get a birth that was quick and relatively easy. But my baby was born after 4 hours and in ONE push. When I was in the birth pool, I changed my positions a lot, lying on my side with one leg up in a lunge position, kneeling on all fours, etc., and this really helped the baby rotate down and out super fast. Also my baby was 10 pounds, which was a huge shock. He was 11 days late, but his siblings were 10 days late, and they were in the 8 pound range.
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You need to choose a place and people that will 100% support your natural goal.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
The pool and prayer. This was my first waterbirth and I'll never go back to a dry birth if I can help it. The water was so relaxing, the blow up tub so nice and comfortable, and the ability to change positions while feeling weightless made all the difference in the pushing phase. I prayed a lot, out loud and silently, and I could literally feel grace washing over me and Our Lord sustaining me. I looked up at the image of Him and said, "Jesus my friend!" during a particularly difficult contraction and that moment will always stay with me.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
I couldn't stop laughing--I was completely high from that hormonal rush. I was in absolute shock that he had come out in one push. I had felt the urge to push, kind of pushed (more like fetal ejection reflex), and expected the contraction to go away and then to push again a few times until his head came out etc., but literally I pushed, I felt my water break, I heard my midwife say, "There's the head!" and then the push just didn't go away and she said, "Oh and there is the body!" and suddenly I was done! I couldn't believe it. My second birth, while beautiful and wonderful at home, was so difficult with 2.5 hours of pushing, and this third birth was completely healing after that.
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What did you name your baby, and why?
Edmund Campion Ivor. Edmund Campion is one of my and my husband's favorite saints--an English reformation martyr. My husband is half English and a convert, and we so have a devotion to St Edmund. Ivor was my husband's grandfather, and St Ivor was a bishop of Ireland (we're Irish) consecrated by St Patrick, and his feast day is on my birthday so it really seemed perfect!
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What advice can you give to other mamas who want to go natural?
You have to get your head into the right space and 100% commit if all the health criteria are in your favor for a natural birth. And you need to choose a place and people that will 100% support your natural goal--not someone who will "let" you have a natural birth, but a person who knows how to create the space to facilitate a natural birth. In the moment, if someone is telling you you can't do it or you need external help, you will believe them. Instead surround yourself with a team--especially medical team--that will know how to help you and believe you can do it. Women are lied to that they can't handle the pain of birth without an intervention, but then no one tells them that the intervention will cause a lot of suffering AFTER birth. Women are strong, and built for birth, and the physical recovery will be much easier if you choose a natural birth in a peaceful setting. Birth is vulnerable, and you need to be in a space where you feel safe and not violated. So weigh the pros and cons of a natural vs medicated birth, see what risks you are willing to take and which you're not. Personally, I am unwilling to take the risks of an epidural because I have low blood pressure and an epidural lowers it even more, which can cause a baby to go into distress. These are things you obligated to consider when bringing a child into the world. I say this out of love for moms and wanting them to have a beautiful experience that they remember joyfully, not one where they feel they didn't have a say in how things went.
