It all started on Monday January 28th, 2008 when I arrived at work at 6:45am. The morning routine started as usual but by mid-morning, around 10ish, I started noticing occasional cramping-like feelings in my lower abdomen. They would come and go every 20-30 minutes and last approximately 10-15 seconds and felt similar to premenstrual cramps except sometimes I would have to stop what I was doing because of the strong sensation. Not knowing exactly what they were, I asked my co-workers their opinion and they said it sounded like I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions. That sounded like a reasonable answer so I continued my shift taking note of these cramps/contractions, their intensity and location.
As the day progressed they would follow one another and then stop for a while and then start again and I would have to stop walking or talking and let them pass. I started thinking if this could be the beginning of labor: could I work the following day with the contractions? would I be going to work at all the rest of the week? Was this IT??
The power of prayer and faith before and throughout my pregnancy to have a natural childbirth lead me to have this truly amazing birth!
After battling 6 weeks of pre-term labor that landed me with strict bedrest and at 3cm dilated and 75% effaced, my 36th week came around. It was a Friday night and I was trying to sleep, but at midnight my first contraction hit, although it wasn’t painful. I was wondering if they were just my usual Braxton Hick’s but couldn’t get comfortable in bed.
I got up and called my midwife who told me to take a bath and see if they stopped and call her back in an hour. So I did, but they didn’t. I called her back at 1am and she said to time them for an hour and if they got stronger, longer, and/or closer together to call her back. After an hour they were still 5-7 minutes apart and not any stronger, but had gone from 30 seconds long to a minute long.
I went from planning on making supper around 4:00, to sending hubby out to get McDonalds and my sister around 4:20, to them arriving home an hour later and 10 minutes after that hubby calling for my sister to come and catch while he was on the phone with 911. The midwives were about 20 minutes out, but there was no way to know that I was going to go that fast.
I took a bath after hubby and our son left, and then went and laid down to see how that would feel. The contractions had been about 10 minutes apart until about 4pm and then went to about 3 minutes but totally manageable just after that. Once I laid down, I realized that I wasn’t getting back up again. I didn’t have the phone to call the midwives or hubby, and the contractions started coming one on top of another, about 2 minutes apart and I was having trouble focusing on anything else. Hubby and my sister and our son arrived and my sister got him into the kitchen for supper.
Well, after wondering just when real labour would start and the Little Mister would arrive, we found out early this morning. At around 11:30 last night my contractions were strong enough to keep me from sleeping, and about 3 minutes apart. I got into the tub to do the “bath test” (the midwives have found that if after a bath the contractions feel better, a woman probably isn’t in active labour yet. If they’re worse, it’s active labour). The contractions got worse, and I decided to call my midwife to give her a heads up. She arrived around 12:30am.
I was still able to walk around and talk for a while, but after about an hour, the pain was really starting to get to me. My midwife broke my water to speed things up, which made the contractions more intense. They were in my back (and my butt) and it was all that I could do to concentrate and just breathe through it all. Hubby heated up a magic bag for my back, and I sat against a big pillow for a bit. Finally, I just had to go to bed. I wanted to rest. I was tired. No such luck.
Thursday, the 29th of September, I got up early as usual, went to the gym and had a uneventful morning. We started schoolwork after our usual morning schedule once I got home and Kim had left for work, and close to 11 a.m., I felt my first sensation. I was not quite sure it was real labour though because it was so mild and much lower down than I anticipated.
With both Sinéad and Regan, I felt my first signs of labour when I had a “high up” menstrual cramp that slowly moved down during the day. As they increased in intensity and duration, I realised this was probably the real thing, and chatting with Kim on Trillian, I told him that it seemed to be starting, but he didn’t need to come home yet. Even when I did get him to come home, I did not think it would be for a while.
It was a typical Monday until 11 pm right on the nose. Justin and I had just finished watching one of our favorite shows, Seinfeld. I was enjoying Lily’rei’s hiccups and laughing and sharing this by holding Justin’s hand over my belly while she made my body bounce.
Then all of a sudden I felt a stronger pop-pop…it felt “different”. I got up and had some leaking, I felt then that my water had broken, but it was more of a trickle than a gush so I wasn’t sure. I used the bathroom and Justin called the midwife, who told him that I should start into full blown labor soon, maybe by morning so I should get some rest. She told him again as we had been previously instructed to wait until contractions were 1 minute in length and 5 minutes apart before coming in.
This is the story of how our beautiful princess, Indira, came into the world…
It all started on the night of 7th August, when like most summer evenings my husband Giorgio and I were having ice-cream in the garden but this time was a little bit different. I was just not comfortable sitting. Indira was moving more than usual. We got to bed at about 23h30 and we spent a long time just watching our precious baby move around. I said to Giorgio ‘’You better make a movie because I think its the last time we will see her move like this.’’ And I’m glad we did because how right was I…
I always knew that Indira would arrive two weeks early, so when I was awoken, by a sharp pain in my lower back, at 03h30 on the morning of the 8th of August 2007 (exactly 38 weeks), it wasn’t a surprise…all calm and knowing the time had arrived, I went to the toilet to investigate. The bloody show confirmed that I had lost the mucous plug….this was it, the labour process had begun.
I should have known something was up on Monday. I always joked with my midwife that when I show up for the appointment in my sweats, I’m done and the baby will probably come soon. Sure enough, I went to my appointment in my sweats for the first time on Monday morning. All day, Levi, our cat would not leave my side. And around 9:00 pm, Evie started kicking like crazy and didn’t stop for TWO HOURS!!!
I woke up at 1:00 am and when I stood up, my water broke. I freaked out because at first I thought I was peeing my pants and couldn’t stop. Then I realized, hey… that’s not pee. I called the midwife to let her know and then the contractions started… five minutes apart and intense. After an hour, my contractions were two to three minutes apart and they stayed that way until second stage.
I’m a big wimp. I always have been. In fact, I wouldn’t even learn to ride a bike as a child because I was afraid I’d fall and get hurt. My mother always said that they would have to hook me up to an epidural the moment I found out I was pregnant.
However, something in me changed when I found out I was expecting Adelle. I couldn’t imagine jamming a needle in my back, pumping drugs through both of our bodies, and taking a vacation from experiencing birth. I knew I wanted to try a natural birth and I my husband and I both knew we wanted him to be a participant, not merely an observer, of his child’s birth. After a good bit of research, we opted to take Bradley Method classes. After our twelve week series was up, I felt confident and ready to handle whatever labor I had.
My name is Toni, I was 20 years old and this was my first pregnancy, and birth. I knew immediately that I didn’t want to birth my baby in a hospital, I wanted it to be natural with no interventions so I chose a free standing birth center. I was always interested in the birthing process, I thought it was the most beautiful and natural thing I would do as a woman (this was before I discovered breastfeeding of course!), so the thought of birth and labor never worried me, I knew I could do it, I was fearless.
It was 10 days past my due date on a Friday night, my husband and I went out to dinner with my parents. The whole time we were at dinner I kept having to run to the bathroom to “pee”, I was having these really intense contractions, which I assumed were just braxton hicks, and I thought the pressure was making me pee my pants a little. Well I had no idea my water had broke and that was what this liquid was.
About this website
Birth is inspiring, amazing, and empowering. This website shares a collection of real natural birth experiences from you, the readers. Births the way nature intended. No pitocin. No epidural. Just the beauty (and intensity!) of the human body at work. Whether you've had one natural birth, five natural births, or are considering natural birth in the future, our hope is you will find courage and joy in these stories. Enjoy.
Recommended Reading:
 Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation |  Childbirth without Fear: The Principles and Practice of Natural Childbirth |
