So, before I start, let me just preface that this is a birth story, and birth, as beautiful and incredible as it is, is still birth; it is personal, a little messy, and can even sometimes be ‘gross’ to talk about. SO, if you don’t want to ready about a birth story, go ahead and skip to the pictures, I won’t be offended, but for any of you that do want to read about how everything went, bringing sweet little Eddison into the world, keep on reading!

I started the day off by getting up and showering; I was still a little disappointed that I didn’t go into labor over night but not surprised. It was two days until my due date and with my first coming right on his due date, I was expecting her to be somewhere close to hers. We ate breakfast and went out to Walmart, (we’re cool, I know), to run a few errands as a family before Don had to go into work at 1.

After dropping him off, I headed to my regular weekly OB appointment. My midwife and I talked a little bit before she checked how far dilated I was and she mentioned she could sweep my membranes if I wanted. I wasn’t sure if I wanted that or not because I really wanted to just this birth as natural as possible.

I had an Epidural with Everett, and I didn’t love my experience, I felt like it hindered a lot of what my body wanted to do naturally, and I felt a little bit of a disconnect with him when he was born. Plus, I was frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to push with an Epidural and ended up pushing for over 2 hours. I was frustrated with my body. With that being said, this go around my goal was to do everything natural with as little intervention as possible, and just let my body do all the work, while breathing through it, and experiencing birth as it was. Don’t let my ‘zen’ demeanor fool you hahaha… I. Was. Terrified. Terrified that in reality, I wasn’t as tough as I thought, and that I would get to the point of birth and just give up and give in to the Epidural.

Anyway, she mentioned, “Why don’t we just check to see how far dilated you are and we’ll go from there.”

As she was checking, her face lit up in pure surprise! She was like, “Oh my gosh…. Oh my gosh… 😃 you’re at like a 5, almost a 6! But you’re definitely a 5!!! And your water is bulging! She is sooo close to coming! You’re definitely going to have a baby in the next couple of days if not tonight or tomorrow!”  So… my impatience got the best of me and I figured…what the heck.. why not let’s go ahead and just sweep the membranes! As she was sweeping the membranes, she mentioned she was trying not to break my water because that’s how close I was. She also encouraged me to not wait long once I started feeling the type of contractions I would have to breathe through, and to come into the hospital quickly because she thinks this baby would come quick… boy was she right.

I left the appointment to pick Don up from work, after which we drove home and started packing up our hospital bags. I had small, “Braxton Hick” like contractions that didn’t seem like much so we just kept busy. We even made a Target run because… priorities people.

Around 7 p.m. we ended up grabbing food because I figured I’d need as much fuel for birth as possible, and dropping Everett off with our babysitter. At this point, I was pretty sure I’d have her here soon. The contractions seemed to be getting slightly closer together. They seem about four minutes apart and they were slightly stronger but not strong enough to where I couldn’t walk or have to stop talking.

Kenzie, my friend/extra support buddy who would be coming with us to the hospital, got to my house around 8:15 and we chilled around the house for about 30 minutes. I had been dancing around the house, feeling great and even crocheting part of Eddison’s Christmas Stocking, before deciding to go for a little walk.

We walked for about 30-40 minutes I’m guessing and things progressed a bit during our walk near the very end. Contractions started to feel stronger to where I would have to slow down a little while walking but not completely stop. We decided it was probably time to head back to the house.

At 10:25 p.m. My water broke a little after I stood up from laying on the my yoga ball. I felt a little pop, and then a trickle. It definitely felt like I peed my pants but I knew I didn’t because of the pop. No, It didn’t rupture, there wasn’t amniotic fluid all over the floor, it had just popped a little and started leaking. Contractions were starting to get to the point where I would have to breathe through them and not talk and they were coming more frequently together, but they didn’t feel unmanageable. Strong and sometimes sharp, but manageable. I remember with Everett, I would tell people to shut up and stop talking while I had these type of contractions. But with Eddison, I was more content and patient with people.. that is until I got to triage… We, got in the car and headed off to the hospital around 10:30 p.m.

Checking into triage, I felt like the nurses didn’t believe that I was in labor and that my water had popped. They kept wanting to check my amniotic fluid and did so multiple times before just checking to see how far dilated I was and admitting me. I was so annoyed with them, I almost wish I wouldn’t have said anything about my water so they would have just checked me. Low and behold,  I was at a 7 in triage and the contractions were definitely getting to the point where I needed to close my eyes and concentrate. The part that scared me most about having a natural birth was the transitional phase. At this point, looking back, I was beginning transition. I got to the point where I was sassy and mean to the nurses.. I tried not to be, but when they started telling me how to sit during a contraction, I was like, “Nope, lady. I’ll sit how I want to; Heck, I’ll kneel on all fours or even stand if I want to.” What did make me feel calm was my husband which is ironic because I imagined wanting a woman’s voice to calm me down in labor. But it was just the opposite. I loved holding Don’s hand more than anything and feeling the gentle squeeze he would give me during contractions. I remember thinking, “I’m soooo grateful you’re here Don” over and over.

When they finally checked and realized how dilated I was and that this was my second child, they admitted me and we walked down the hall to my room. Just getting to my room, my contractions started to feel more along the unbearable line. I remember they kept coming and not giving me a break I was pretty pissed about that because I thought I was going to have little pauses in between each one so I could catch my breath. That’s what people tell you in labor right? They come, but they will also go away. NOPE. They just kept coming, one right after the next, it’s like there were barely any pauses.

The Labor nurse was nice and was patient with me in between contractions. I liked her haha. They kept telling me they had all these things they needed to do with me. They still had to put an IV in and and monitor the baby‘s heartbeat for 20 minutes while I held still and I just remember thinking I do not want to be pregnant for 20 more minutes let alone sit still. I remember feeling contractions and trying to moan threw them but every time I opened my mouth I felt like I was gonna throw up, so I tried to switch it up and just breathe through my nose and out through my mouth.

There were some contractions where it felt good to have Kenzie put counter pressure on my hips, (I was surprised with just how instantly the pain would be alleviated by that) and there were others where I did not wanna be touched at all.  But the WHOLE time I wanted to be holding on to Don‘s arm. There were also some contractions that I felt like my body had already start pushing, and when I got checked I was only an eight and I felt really discourage because I felt like I wanted to push her out. (This was maybe 10-15 minutes after leaving triage).

When I was finally was able to sit still long enough, the nurse got my IV/Hep-Lock in and my blood drawn, and then almost immediately after, I had one more contraction and I started to feel all kinds of changes. There was absolutely NO stopping it. Like trying to keep from vomiting, not happening. My body was pushing. It was totally involuntary. I widened my feet, and looked down, and got ready to catch her..primal instincts were kicking in at this point.. My body was pushing her out and I just wanted to get on all fours or squat or something. I felt something starting to come out, and when I tried to get on all fours on the bed, and the nurse kept telling me, “You need to lay down.” and trying to force me to lay down on the bed.

All I can remember is saying, “My body’s pushing, My body’s pushing, she’s coming, I can’t stop her!”

It took the nurse and Don practically line backing me onto the bed to get me to lay down.. I guess my sack had slipped out, popped the rest of the way, (amniotic fluid all over the floor at this point…)and her head was crowning. This part was a pretty blurry because my eyes were mostly shut. When I did get a chance to open them the look on Don’s face as he was looking at me, made me shut them again hahaha. I just remember slightly yelling or screaming as if I was in a movie as my body was just pushing her out. I remember being angry that I was on my back because that’s exactly how I did not want to push but here I was. And then after two small pushes, the nurse barely had time to put gloves on, let alone catch her. I felt the ‘ring of fire’ but that was NOTHING compared to trying to slow my body down so the nurse could get there when it was already doing it’s own thing. Once she was out, I felt SOO good! It all happened so fast! I guess I wasn’t even laying on the bed normal haha I had ended up laying half way on the bed diagonally, with my head hanging off, being held by Mackenzie!

When they put her on my chest, my first thought was… “Oh my gosh she has hair!” I was so sure that she’d be bald like Everett. I just held her up, looking at her thinking, “She’s so perfect; she’s so beautiful.” I knew everything was okay, and that she was OK, and I just wanted to hold her and look at her thinking, “This is my child; my baby girl.” I immediately felt bonded to her in a way I didn’t know was possible. All of it was worth it.

Eddison was born at 11:56 p.m. on November 13th weighing 7lbs. 11 oz. and measuring just shy of 20 in. long! We love her and Everett does too! The first thing he wanted to do when he saw her was hold her! Nine months ago, I was nervous to make the transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4. But now, It feels like it was always meant to be this way! She was always meant to be here and she belongs perfectly!

Days after her birth, I was still telling Don, “I can’t believe it did it Don! I can’t believe I went 100% Natural. I feel like I’ve earned the metal of all womanly metals. I feel like I’ve accomplished one of the hardest things I could have ever accomplished.” Leading up to my natural birth, I found a quote from a friend that said, “If you have the slightest desire to do something that scares you, if you doubt yourself even a little… Do it. Conquer the thing that scares you.”