Hiiii! I’m sharing this here because this story is so so so so special to me and I hope that it might inspire, comfort, and inform any other mommas out there! I always loved reading birth stories so I hope you enjoy!

First off i’d like to say that no matter how your little one comes into the world it is BEAUTIFUL and RIGHT. There is no wrong way to bring YOUR human into the world. Alright, buckle up.

Before Tim and I got pregnant I did a lot of research about what having a baby was all about. I came across some unmedicated birth information and I honestly had no idea people did this on the reg. I immediately dove in. Read all the books, watched the movies, listened to the podcast. And then when Tim and I got pregnant we decided a 100% unmedicated hospital birth would be the right thing for us! We chose this for 2 reasons.

1. I am TERRIFIED of anything medical related. I would much rather endure the pain of labor than be pricked or hooked up to anything. Having the option of an unmedicated birth calmed my nerves soooo much.
2. We also wanted to be in a hospital because this was our first baby and we were scared. I would never have been able to forgive myself if something happened.

So, that was that. We got pregnant, hired a doula, took a birthing class, I listened to “The Birth Hour” podcast religiously, I walked and exercised almost every day, and we were ready to go. My pregnancy was pretty smooth sailing. Wasn’t easy but no complications!

Our ‘due date’ was the weekend of November 6th (I say that because the doctors and my apps were a couple days off from each other so idk when my real due date was) but the morning of November 8, 2020 I rolled out of bed around 5:45am and felt my jammies getting a little wet. My water broke! It wasn’t a gush and it didn’t feel like I was peeing. I 100% knew what was happening. I call my doula and she says “ok great! Go back to bed and let me know when contractions start. Could be in 10 minutes, could be in 24 hours” cool. cool. cool. (rolling my eyes). I lay down and like 3 minutes later I feel and HEAR this really loud pop. It sounded like someone was cracking my back. More water and an INSTANT contraction.

I wake Tim up, call my doula, and its show time. Tim gets up, takes a shower + makes breakfast and I lay in bed riding the waves. Contractions were about 15 minutes apart and just felt like bad period cramps. Since our house was far from the hospital we planned to go over to my doulas house to labor there and then go to the hospital when it was time (she lived a few minutes away). We took our time, anticipating that I would be in the early stages of labor for several hours. Contractions started to get a little stronger but I wasnt too alarmed, I was timing them and they were a little all over the place. Some were 7 minutes apart and some were 3 minutes apart and they were lasting about a minute long.

After about an hour I texted a screenshot of my contraction tracking app to my doula thinking I was just too inconsistent to really tell what was going on. Contractions were still tolerable. She replies “Oh, that looks really good!” Its now 7am so its been about an hour since my water broke. My instincts tell me it’s time to head to Melissa’s house. I yell to Tim, “I think we really need to leave right now.” So we scramble a little, there was no time to eat breakfast, I’m having contractions and Tims getting all our stuff together. We leave the house at exactly 8am.

We jump in the car and I’m still feeling pretty good. Contractions are getting stronger but still tolerable. We get on the freeway and I call the hospital telling them I’m in labor, I talk with my midwife and she says “Ok great! Give me a call at 12pm and tell me how your’e feeling”. Its sunday morning and were excited that theres no traffic so Tim can get us to Melissa’s fast buuuuuut lucky us, THE FREEWAY IS CLOSED for construction. A slight panic attack and reroute and were back on the freeway.

We get to Melissa’s at 8:45am and contractions are starting to really hurt and get really close together. Tim walks me to her condo and then goes to park the car. I walk into her house and tell her my waters are still leaking a bit so I go into the bathroom to clean up. I sit on the toilet and immediatly feel the urge to push, this is the universal sign that baby is READY!! I yell “I have to push!” Melissa say’s “Dont do that!!! Come out” (Tim is still looking for parking) I walk out of the bathroom and fall to the couch with a big contraction. Melissa says “Call Tim we need to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW” Tim comes back and we jump in the car. Mind you, I was planning on laboring at Melissa’s house for hooouuuurrrssss, not 3 minutes. (LITERALLY)

Its about a 15 minute drive to the hospital and the car ride was pretty difficult. I could feel Lincoln moving around and it was starting to hurt my back. I call the hospital again and tell them we’re coming in now. We parked kinda far away for some reason haha I dont think we knew where we were going and Tim was getting stressed because I’m like screaming in the car haha We start walking into the hospital and contractions are INTENSE. It takes me a while to get there because I’m having to stop (also, it was raining haha) We walk into the hospital and of course everyone is staring at me because I’m making all kinds of noises. They offer me a wheel chair but I said I can walk because it hurt to sit (Lincoln was v low)

We get into the hospital room to check me in at about 9:20 (I think). I lay on my side and the contractions are just on top of each other. I had very little time in between to rest. They check me and I’m 8 FREAKING CENTIMETERS. I was in SHOCK. I had gone from 2cm to 8cm in like 3 hours. I don’t like to use the word pain when talking about labor but these contractions were pretty painful. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get through it. I asked Tim to put on some worship music (we brought a speaker). I’m not sure what else Tim was doing during this time, maybe rubbing my back but all I remember is holding Melissa’s hand and her talking me through the contractions. From what I remember I just laid there and didn’t move or make a sound. I just felt every contraction and could literally feel Lincoln moving down and around. The best way for me to describe it was I just tried to seperate my mental thoughts and my physical feelings apart from each other. I focused on Melissa’s voice and holding her hand and let my body do whatever it wanted to do.

I think it had been about an hour, maybe less and my body started to “bear down”. I literally had NO control over my body. It was kind of insane. I just let it go. The bearing down feeling literally just felt like my body was pooping haha sorry, but thats just the truth, thats what it feels like. I had one more BIG contraction and I started shaking. Melissa whispers to me, “you did it, you’re there, its time”. I believe this was me going through transition and I was at 10cm ready to push. They check me and sure enough, I was.

Again I just let me body go. My body started pushing and I let my thoughts drift. I wasn’t really doing anything. I remember talking a lot. Saying like “Oh, this isn’t that bad.” or “I feel really relaxed, I think I want to sleep”. Pushing did not hurt AT ALL. It was so strange. Literally just felt like pooping. The contraction, period cramp like pains went away. I think I pushed for an hour and 20 minutes but it felt like 5 minutes. In between pushes I felt soooooooooooo relaxed. I don’t even know how to describe it. It was just like this light feeling. I felt calm, sleepy, I couldn’t really feel my body. It was euphoric. Lincoln was crowning and I started to get reaaaally tired. I was so worn out. I was sweating and kinda throwing up a little and just ready to be done. My midwife said I had a couple more pushes but I was done so on the next one I really went for it and his whole head and body came out in one push. They handed him to me and Tim and I both said “Its a boy!” Lincoln was born at 11:53am.

I immediately felt like I was high on the best drugs in the world. I didn’t feel a drop of pain and it felt like I was flying. The hormones God created are WILD. Time slowed down. The next 3 minutes felt like an hour. I was talking about how I wanted to see my family and have a big dinner with everyone. I had never felt that good in my entire life. I’m not kidding, I doubt there are any drugs on the planet that could recreate that pure euphoric feeling (hormones are wild) And then it was time for placenta but there wasn’t much to that for me. One little contraction and a tug from my midwife and it was done. Iv’e heard this part can be really hard for some people but I hardly noticed it happened. Thank the Lord.

The next 30 minutes or so were a blur. They had to put Lincoln under a heat lamp right away because his temp was like .2 below normal (was not a big deal and I was kind of annoyed but whatever). I tore a little so they sewed me up which didn’t really hurt. It was quick and just felt some pokes here and there. Once Lincoln was all warm and cozy they put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me over to the room I was supposed to deliver in haha we didn’t make it out of triage. Oh one other thing, the nurses have to push on your uterus after delivery and that FREAKING HURTS.

And thats it!! It was a WILD experience, a little traumatic because it happened soooo fast. I never really had time to process that I was going to finally meet my baby. The majority of my labor was driving in a car, walking from point A to B, making phone calls, or making decisions on what we should do next. The only time I got to enjoy and feel excited was the first hour at home. But with all that said, it was perfect. I felt confident and safe the entire time.

Heres a list of the resources I used during my pregnancy and my take away advice for birth.

• GET THIS BOOK – Natural Hospital Birth – Even if you’re planning to have an epidural or a c-section or whatever the plan is. This book is very informative about the birthing process and how hospitals work. It leans more towards unmedicated births but all the information is very valuable for anyone.
• I listened to The Birth Hour podcast and Informed Pregnancy podcast all day everyday
• Tim and I took an in person 10 week Bradley Method Course
• No matter how you plan to birth your baby I advise learning about birth! Know the stages of labor and know exactly what is happening in your body and what to expect. Learn about the drugs you might need so you are better prepared for delivery and postpartum. (even if you plan to go unmedicated)
• I highly recommend hiring a doula if you can. Again, no matter what kind of birth you have, having someone there who is knowledgable about birth, who can advocate for you and be your voice while your’e in labor is HUGE. Trust me, if its your first baby your husband will likely not know what to do in the moment.
• Walk every day or as much as you can and drink lots and lots and lots of water. It’s the best thing you can do during your pregnancy. Walking and water keeps you and your baby healthier than you think.

I found having an empowered birth to be so rewarding. I can really look back on my experience and feel so proud of myself and everything I endured. I just had so much confidence and it was absolutely perfect. I hope my experience and resources are helpful to you! I have another post about the first 48 hours of being parents because that was also an experience in itself. Being in the hospital and then our first night at home, I share the things no one really talks about. Coming Soon! Enjoy!