My Empowering Birth Story
It all started out on a warm Sunday afternoon...
I was cramping but in denial it was anything besides regular pregnancy cramps as it was still 5 days till my due date. I brought my husband lunch and he asked several times "are you sure you are not in labor" and I said "no way, just regular growing pains." I went on about my day. My husband got home from work at 4pm and called our midwife, she said to get some rest just in case it wasn't just "growing pains." I spent the evening watching The Mindy Project and eventually fell asleep.
My cramps were not in a regular pattern and were not overly painful, until I woke up at 11:45pm to a HUGE contraction. I stood up to go to the bathroom and my water broke. On the way to the hospital my contractions were piggy backing (luckily we lived 4 minutes from the hospital!). We met our midwife at the hospital at midnight who checked me right away and I was already 6cms dilated! Woohoo!
From midnight till 4am I was having really intense contractions but got through them with the help of my husband and my wonderful midwife. At 4am I was fully dilated and started pushing.
It was a long 2 hours of pushing as my little boy had his fist up to his face (that is how he slept from newborn until about 2 months!). I managed to get through my labor and delivery naturally with just a half dose of fentanyl at the very end.
My beautiful baby boy was born at 6:09am. After this experience I felt so empowered and I can't wait to do it again!
Matraea Midwives are truly amazing—and I wish I could repay them somehow for everything they have done for me and continue to do.