Thank you for stopping by to read the next story in our Birth Story Series. My goal in creating the Birth Story Series is three things. First, to empower women, and to change how we feel about birth. For so long I felt such fear. I want other women to feel confident in their birthing abilities, especially since I know how it feels to not feel confident. Secondly, I want to let women know that they have options. When I gave birth I didn’t know what a midwife was. I had no clue what a doula was. I want that to be different for you. I want you to know that you have choices. And finally, I want you to know this: whatever your story was, or ends up being… it’s yours. I want to demonstrate through these women’s beautiful stories that each and every birth is unique. No two stories are alike.
Disclaimer: These stories are not meant to serve as medical advice. The only person that can decide what’s right for you and your birth is you, your partner, AND your health care professional. So please consult them appropriately. I do, however, want you to enjoy these stories. I cry almost every time I read them, and I’m sure you will too.

Mom blogger Larissa of Living in Color shares a birth story written by a Canadian mom about her home birth. Read more now.

NATALIE’S HOME WATER BIRTH STORY

A little bit of background for you, I had a medicated (epidural) hospital birth with my first baby. This time around I wanted to stay out of the hospital and away from medication as much as possible. I did tons of research and watched about a thousand home birth videos and I’m not exaggerating! I decided I wanted to attempt a water birth as well. So let’s go back about a month ago to when I was 38 and a half weeks pregnant.

June 27th, 2017:

My husband and I drove to Victoria, BC to pick my mom up from the airport. She was coming to stay with us and help once the baby came. The drive is about 3 hours each way and on the return trip I started having consistent Braxton hicks contractions every 5 to 7 minutes. I didn’t think much of this because with my first pregnancy I had this happen almost every day for 2 weeks before going into labor for real.

 

June 28th, 2017:

The next day we ran some errands, I was still having painless but consistent contractions. I went to bed a bit early because I remember feeling quite tired, I was awoken around 4:30 am by a contraction more painful than the previous lot of them. I was able to lay back down and fall asleep for a few more hours and when I woke up I was still having these semi-painful contractions. In my mind I thought these could still be Braxton hicks because they didn’t seem painful enough to be real labor.

I started timing them around noon and they were very irregular, but getting more intense. My mom convinced me going to Walmart and walking around was a good idea…I wouldn’t be surprised to see myself of one of those “People of Walmart” accounts because by the end of our shopping trip I was really having to breath through contractions.

Once we were back home I continued to time the contractions but I noticed that every time I’d sit down they would slow down, and so I still wasn’t convinced this was real labor. Around 4pm or so I called my midwife just to give her a heads up and fill her in on what had been going on.

She came over about 30 minutes later and checked me, at that point I was 4 cm dilated. She told me to keep doing what I was doing and that she’d check back with me soon, so I walked around the apartment and bounced on my birthing ball until about 6 pm when my midwife came back. At that point contractions weren’t too close together but they were much more intense.

I was checked and was at 6 cm, the midwife then asked my mom and husband to start filling up the birth pool. To ensure I kept progressing as well as I had been, I was encouraged to go walk the stairs at my apartment complex. It only took me walking down one flight of stairs to pick things up, I started having very strong contractions every minute or two. At this point I knew things were getting serious, all I wanted through contractions was counter pressure on my back. (Which my husband so kindly provided.) I was only walking for about 10 minutes when I decided to go back inside because I was ready to get in the tub.

I got in the birth pool just after 7 pm and let me tell you that water felt incredible! Although the water took the edge off, I started having contractions that were more intense than anything I had felt before and I started to feel like I was going to be sick. I threw up and that apparently is a common sign of transition. And this may be TMI (that’s birth for you) but the action of me throwing up actually pushed the baby down the last little bit, and he was crowning after that. I had one contraction and his head was out. Then with the next contraction at 8:03 pm when Walter Hugh Wilder was born! So all in all it was two hours of active labor! 

I feel so blessed and proud to of had the birth experience I did. I know many moms attempt or want to have a home or water birth and aren’t able to for one reason or another. I had moments leading up to labor that made me doubt wether or not I could handle the pain, and I would start to let fear creep in. But I truly believe the female body is so incredible and knows exactly how to birth a baby, and I took comfort in that. Birth, no matter how it looks for you is something to be proud of!

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS:

1. What was your favorite memory from your pregnancy?
My favourite memory from this pregnancy was being able to share it with my first born, though I don’t think he fully grasped it, seeing him kiss and hug on my belly was priceless.
 
2. Did you do anything specific to prepare for your birth?
If we want to get real honest… the one thing I did to prepare for labor was to practice my coping methods (breathing, moaning, music) while I went number 2. This gave me a better idea of wether or not something worked while I was dealing with pain, for example I learned that music made me feel anxious if I was hurting.
3. Who served as your support system?
My support system included my husband, my mom, and my two midwives delivering the baby. 
4. What is your fondest memory of giving birth? (Other than the moment where you met your baby.)
My fondest moment of rather something that just sticks in my mind as a very sweet memory from the birth was my midwife bending down to my level during contractions and she would say, “you’re so safe”  and those words honestly helped get through to the next contraction. 
5. Is there anything you wish you could change about your birth story?
The only thing I wish I did differently was have an extra body to take more video and pictures!
6. What advice would you give to first time moms or moms who desire a natural birth?
My advice would be, don’t go into your labor with any fear. Know that your body was made for this and so many women have gone before you and paved the way. Also, don’t have any expectations or solid plans because birth is so unpredictable, if you just roll with the punches and don’t allow anything to discourage you, you will do amazing!

Mom blogger Larissa of Living in Color shares a birth story written by a Canadian mom about her home birth. Read more now.Mom blogger Larissa of Living in Color shares a birth story written by a Canadian mom about her home birth. Read more now.

 

Thank you, Natalie, for sharing your beautiful story and photos. If you enjoyed reading her story, consider sharing this article so other families can find it and enjoy it too!
Thank you so much for reading!

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