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When did you realize you were really in labor?
I was having pretty regular contractions around 10 pm the night before the baby came. I felt a lot of false labor at the end of my pregnancy but when it was too painful for me to stand, I knew it was the real deal and my husband and I rushed to the hospital at around 2am.
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What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
By the time we got to the hospital, I was already 7cm dilated so I didn’t have much of a window for an epidural. This made it very easy to keep going natural. But definitely, the pushing was most difficult. I was simply too tired at that point to keep going.
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What was the most helpful thing you did to prepare for childbirth?
Take this Mama Natural Birth Course. Both my husband and I took it pretty seriously but we also had a lot of fun learning about all of the things to do with natural birth. There was so much we both didn’t know! But I think this course gave us the tools and knowledge we needed and my husband was hands down the best support system I could have ever asked for!
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What surprised you about your birth?
How incredible our hospital, nurses, and doctor were! I didn’t have to come in and fight to have natural childbirth; everything we wanted was already part of their normal procedure. This made me feel very comfortable and taken care of.
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The was very helpful and informative. It gave me the tools I needed to have a beautiful natural birth.
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What pain relief strategies worked best?
I mostly used breathing and walking/standing. During the transition, I was leaned over the bed and my husband massaged my back. I kept counting to 10 in my head, reminding myself that I can do anything for 10 seconds.
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How did it feel to hold your baby for the first time?
It was absolutely amazing! He was so beautiful and perfect. Everything else was instantaneous forgotten.
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What did you name your baby, and why?
We named him Dominik Aleksei. Dominik means “belonging to the Lord.” I am Russian so I wanted a middle name that would represent his Russian heritage. His middle name means “defender of mankind.”
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How did the Mama Natural Birth Class help you in your childbirth?
The was very helpful and informative. It gave me the tools I needed to have a beautiful natural birth. The fact that the class was online was also a huge plus because my husband and I were living in Germany while I was pregnant but were coming back to the states to have the baby. I also read the Mama Natural pregnancy book which helped me have an easy and enjoyable pregnancy while giving me ways to prepare for labor and delivery through the entire 9 months. I felt like I was set up for success!
