It was after Alice's birth that the thought "maybe I should do a natural birth next time" came through my mind. My babies are small, pregnancies are uncomplicated, and delivers go very smooth. A natural birth, I thought, was something I could do and actually enjoy. I honestly did not think about it again until just a couple weeks ago. I was listening to my older sister share wonderful birth stories of her natural delivers and I remembered how it was something I wanted to try. I really wanted Nick more involved in the labor/delivery this time around and I wanted a more spiritual and dare I say "earthy" experience as well. Nick was hesitant at first but then we started educating ourselves on natural birth and he realized that we could do it! We crammed a whole pregnancies worth of education into just 4 weeks. I was definitely nervous/scared but everything went perfectly. I can look back on all three of my children's' births, as different as they are, with the most fond memories and I feel very blessed for that. Here is Jackson's natural birth story.
I woke up Wednesday Nov 12th not feeling very well. I had very little energy and felt achy. I had a feeling it was going to be my last day with just two little girls and I wanted to spend it with them. I took Scarlett to preschool and then Alice and I went to the library. She sat on my lap while I read her books and I loved watching her sing all the songs at story time. While Alice took a nap Scarlett and I colored and practiced her letter sounds. Nick had a seminar on Wednesday so in the evening I headed to my moms to let the girls play dress up and in the back yard. I was having contractions on/off all day and while over at my moms I could tell they were getting a little worse. I decided I better head home. Nick was there to meet me and quickly put the girls down for bed. My contractions were not regular but were slowly becoming more painful. I teased Nick that right when we laid down for bed the contractions were going to get worse and that the baby was going to come in the middle of night. Sure enough I woke up at 12am to contractions about 10 minutes apart. I woke Nick up and told him this baby was coming today! For the next 3 hours I just labored at home and timed contractions. They slowly became longer, more painful, and closer together. I did nothing fancy while laboring at home. I walked around for a bit and then when it was too painful to stand I laid down. I focused on staying relaxed and breathing. The three hours went by very quickly!
I knew it was time to call my mom when I started to get anxious and my emotions went from calm to "okay its go time". The contractions were 4-5 minutes apart when my mom arrived. Nick gave me a blessing, I kissed my sleeping girls, and we headed to the hospital (which is 2 minutes away). I arrived at the ER 4:11 am ( I was looking at the clock while they were getting a wheel chair). I was hoping I was at least 5 cm when they checked me. I knew I could finish the natural process if I was that far along. When my nursed checked me her eyes got huge and she said "well momma you are a 7 or 8. With this being your third baby I am going to call the doc right now!!". Nick and I cheered and gave each other a high five. I felt so much joy to have labored that far. It was about 4:30-4:40 when I could feel transition hit. The contractions became very intense with very little rest in between. It took work to breath through them and I found myself building up a sweat. They wheeled me to my room just in time for me to lose it! I had to be lifted onto the triage bed to the delivery bed, I could not even think about standing. Breathing became nearly impossible and I started to cry out/scream when the contractions hit. Pain is an understatement!! My nurse and Nick were amazing and when a contraction came I locked eyes with them and tried my best to not hold my breath, which meant I screamed. I have never needed Nick so much in my life. I gripped onto his hand as tightly as I could and locked eyes with him at each contraction. Nick and my nurse would guide me through the contraction telling me that I was on the downward slop. They would repeat over and over "if you can go up then you can go down". That phrase saved me. At this point I was dripping with sweat and my voice hurt... from screaming. They kept on calling my doctor telling him to drive faster. When my water broke about 5am my nurse pulled in the doctor on call and she quickly put on gloves. My nurse was amazing and despite it being protocol to "check me" after my water broke she didn't when I asked her not to. She said "honey I have birthed a lot of babies and if you say you are ready to push then I believe you!" Bless her soul! I was about to start pushing when my doctor arrived and said "well, there was no question which room you were in" (he knew I was going natural and I was very vocal at this point). He threw on some gloves and the next contraction I pushed. I pushed harder than I ever thought I could and felt more pain than I ever thought humanly possible. It took me a couple contractions to figure out how to push but I caught on quick and then it took 3 contractions to push him out. Two pushes were spent pushing out his head and then I pushed out his baby body. It was those 2 contractions that I spend pushing out his head that I will never forget. It was the most immense pain and when I closed my eyes the whole world went away. I felt for a moment that I was between life and death and even though I knew the pain would not kill me I felt I had died. I pushed harder wanting it to be over. I had a moment to breath and then the next contraction hit. I closed my eyes and pushed. I told myself that with this contraction my son would be born. Once again the world faded away and I knew that Jackson and I were both at the same point...between heaven and Earth. It was the most beautiful feeling, to have the veil of heaven so thin and to know new life was just a moment away. His cry was gorgeous and with only one more push I felt his body come into the world. They put him on my chest and I told him that I had worked very hard to see him. Nick gave me a kiss and then a high five. We had done it!! I will never forget those special moments during his birth and will hold them as some of my most spiritual experiences.
Jackson Alexander was born at 5:22 (an hour after arriving at the hospital) and weighed 7.4 pounds. He is literally a piece of heaven in our home and we could not love him more.
My recovery has been amazing. I was up walking around 10 minutes after he was born. I only to take motrin in the hospital and I have had zero headaches (which I had with my epidrual).
Mom duties still continue. Little girls need pony tails.
Oh Alice I adore you. This made me laugh for a good 5 minutes.
homeward bound
