Hey loves! Today’s post is going to be a “story time” about my labor and delivery experience. I’ve always known, since before getting pregnant, that I wanted to try and go through labor without an epidural, and I actually managed to do it! And after asking you girls on Insta whether or not you’d like all the details and getting a resounding “yes,” I thought I’d share with you this personal natural birth story of how Ayla came into the world 🙂

How it all Started

On Friday, August 31st at 11:00am I went in for my 39 week prenatal checkup. That day was a busy day at work, I remember I started at about 7:00am because I was training a new hire and had just come to the doctor’s for a quick visit, thinking I’d be going right back to work after. Yeah, that didn’t happen. The MA took my blood pressure without comment, and when my doctor came in I just remember her saying “well, your blood pressure is elevated so I’m going to send you to labor and delivery to get you induced.” I couldn’t believe it. I’d been having high blood pressure for the last three weeks so I knew there was the possibility, but I hadn’t actually thought it would happen. Eihab was there with me and we just looked at each other. He looked excited and I’m sure I looked terrified.

The doctor checked my cervix to see how ready it was and I was only 1cm dilated and 30% effaced (UGH). Basically that means my body was NOT prepared to go into labor anytime soon. She said they’d start me out slow with misoprostol to “ripen” my cervix (I know, sounds gross) overnight and that I probably wouldn’t deliver until Saturday at the very earliest. She also said we could go home and eat some lunch and grab our bags, and to just be back at labor and delivery by 2:00pm.

As soon as she left the room I started crying. I’d been waiting for this moment for a long time, but now that it was here I was so scared. I worried that my high BP would affect the baby, or that being induced would mean I couldn’t have the epidural free delivery I’d always wanted. Eihab was so sweet though, he started reminding me of all the preparation I’d done and just repeating “you can do this, you’re strong.” We went home and called our parents to let them know I was going to be induced that afternoon, ate some lunch (Eihab went and got me Taco Bell for my “final meal” lol) and headed off to the hospital!

My Labor and Delivery Experience

Upon arriving at the hospital we got checked into L&D and settled into our room. Because I was being induced for gestational hypertension, they hooked me up to a heart rate monitor for the baby, as well as a machine that monitored my contractions. Then they started me on the misoprostol at 3:00pm, which I continued to take every five hours for the rest of the night. That night Eihab and I played cards and I listened to music and tried to get some sleep. My contractions did start pretty soon after my first dose of miso, but they were super mild. They weren’t painful at all, it literally felt like my uterine muscles were flexing/tightening every 5-15 minutes.

The next morning at about 7:00am they checked my cervix to see how the miso was doing, and I was at 80% effaced and 2cm dilated. The doctor gave me the option of either starting pitocin (a synthetic form of oxytocin which is what makes you have contractions) and hoping my water would break on it’s own, or they could break my water and see if I went into labor naturally after that. I opted for them to break my water because I was really hoping to avoid the pitocin. So at 8:30am they broke my water (doesn’t hurt at all, nothing to be scared of), and I started having stronger contractions almost immediately.

I was able to labor on my own and chat through my contractions until about noon, which is when my doula and best friend, Amy, arrived. After that, they started to get more intense and I was having to breath through them. I also started having some significant back pain with each contraction. Eihab and Amy would take turns pushing on my back with their fists or a tennis ball to try and relieve the pressure, and I switched positions pretty frequently. I even got into the tub at one point.

The next time the doctor checked me was about 2:00pm, and I was at 5cm dilated! At that point I started listening to my hypnobirthing playlist and Amy started in with her calm reassurances. I just have to take a minute to say, that woman is a goddess! She talked me through almost every single contraction for about 12 hours straight. I definitely would never have gotten through it without her!

They next checked me at 8:00pm, and unfortunately I was only at 6cm dilated. Since my labor had appeared to be stalling out, they gave me the option of starting on a low dose of pitocin. I felt like I was having pretty intense contractions and with how slowly I was dilating on my own, I agreed to the pitocin. After that OMG the contractions really amped up. At this point everything is pretty fuzzy and the memories run together, but I think I labored until about 1:00am on the pitocin before they checked me again. I remember I had gotten in the shower to let the hot water run down my back and had started to have an urge to bear down with each contraction. I went through this for about 30 minutes before I told the nurse, and she called my midwife in to check my progress.

The midwife checked me and said I was at 8cm, which meant I was moving into the transitional phase of labor. The contractions by this point where the most intense, and I had an even more intense urge to push. I had to work really hard to stop myself from pushing with each contraction, especially since the midwife said it could actually slow my progress if I accidentally pushed before I was at a 10. After that I pretty much made them check me every 30-45 minutes to see how I was progressing. I was starting to feel really desperate to push, and with each contraction I was repeating “holy f*cking sh*t” over and over again LOL. According to Amy I was also contorting my body in crazy positions to try and stop myself from pushing.

By the time I was at 9cm dilated, about 2:30am, my midwife said she could see and feel the babies head at my cervix, but that there was a small lip of my cervix that was in the way, and she could try to push it back over the babies head and I might be at a 10 at that point. I told her to go ahead and try and immediately wished I hadn’t – it was almost as painful as a contraction! She then offered to give me a small dose of fentanyl to try and help me relax enough to get fully dilated. The fentanyl didn’t really work on me however. All it made me do was pass out for about two minutes, and then if anything it made the contractions more intense because I could no longer feel the build up part of the contraction which for me was in my stomach/uterus, so all of a sudden there was just an intense back pain and the urge to push.

At that point it was 3:00am and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had her check me again and I was at a 9.5cm and felt like I needed an epidural. I don’t remember if I was crying, I just remember feeling super disappointed in myself because I was giving in when I was so close, but at that point, I couldn’t see the end game. So I asked for an epidural, and the midwife and Amy were so sweet, they made me feel like it was OK and that I had been doing great. They called for the anesthesiologist to come in and decided to check me one more time before they administered it. As she checked me I remember her saying “OH!” in a surprised voice and telling me that I was at a 10 and that the baby had come down into the birth canal! It was time to start pushing!

The Natural Birth of our Baby Girl

As soon as my midwife said I could push, I went for it. Amy later said that push was so powerful she was blown away. I remember after that first push the midwife turned around from putting on her gloves and prepping some towels and immediately threw a towel on my vagina and said “woah you need to slow down, we’re not gonna have time to get anyone in here!” But I couldn’t, I had wanted to push for hours and was finally getting to and I wasn’t about to stop! I pushed a few more times when the midwife said how much hair the baby had, and at that point I realized my husband wasn’t in the room! I popped my head up and stopped pushing and said “wait, where’s Eihab?!” No one knew and I asked Amy to go find him. Man, that girl looked at me with these giant deer in the headlight eyes and said “ME??!???” Thank God she had the wits about her to decline and have one of the nurses go so she could stay with me!

I didn’t push at all until they had found him and he walked into the room. I only vaguely remember what was happening because at that point they had me on oxygen because they said the baby’s heart rate was decelerating every time I pushed, but Amy told me later that Eihab stopped when he came into the room and just stared at the scene in front of him (me in all my glory, legs wide open, with the baby’s head crowning lol). Amy ushered him over and he jumped into action. I delivered lying on my left side and Eihab was holding my right leg as I pushed. And it was only a few pushes later that I delivered the head and shoulders and then she was out!

They immediately put baby Ayla on my chest. It was so surreal. It didn’t feel like the pain was finally over, it felt like it had never even happened. Having her in my arms finally was so crazy, almost like being in a dream.

Reflecting on Ayla’s Birth

Looking back on my experience, the one thing that sticks out to me is how weak I felt in the moment, but I how strong I really was. At the end I was telling everyone I didn’t think I would be able to continue without an epidural, and everyone would reassure me and talk me down off the ledge. I didn’t know this but Eihab had told the midwife in private how I really did NOT want to have an epidural and that they wanted to do whatever they could to make that happen. I can’t say enough how amazing the labor and delivery team was, as well and Eihab and Amy. Having the right support team makes all the difference! Also remembering how strong we are as women is super important too. Just looking back and realizing, “wow, I actually could do it” just amazes me when I think of how defeated I felt in the moment. It really puts into perspective perseverance and to just hang in there!

Well, this post ended up being longer than I anticipated lol. I’ll save the postpartum stuff for a separate post if you ladies are interested (be sure to leave me a comment below if that’s something you’d want to read!). Thank you for reading and sharing Ayla’s birth with me! I’ll tell you one thing, even though I was in labor for 36 hours, being pregnant for 9 months was way harder!

Thanks for reading!

xo,

Brittany, Eihab, and Ayla

Tags: Ayla, Labor and delivery, Natural birth story, natural labor, natural labor and delivery, Pregnancy