This is part 1 of our birth story. Read part 2 here and part 3 here.
No one can prepare you for some things in life no matter many books, magazine articles or blog posts your read, how many words of wisdom your grandmother, mother, or best friend gives you, or how many times you play and replay the sequence of upcoming events in your mind.
One of the things that there is no “real” preparation for besides actual experience is childbirth.
And the same was true for me.
One month ago we welcomed our first baby into the world – our Baby Girl.
And I delivered a slice of humble pie.
Birthing Baby Girl humbled me to my knees and made me do nothing more than cry out for help and guidance. And the weeks taking care of her since have been no different.
After a pristine pregnancy, I was excited to meet my baby, but at the same time nostalgic about the nine months of having her so close to me come to an end.
As her due date came and went life became increasingly hard. It was harder to move, to sleep, to put on my shoes. I said that God must make it uncomfortable right at the end to give you the motivation to birth your bundle of joy.
As I approached 41 weeks I became ready, and so did my body. It was tired of being pregnant, and I developed a mild case of preeclampsia right before she was born. It showed up in some tests, but not in my actual blood pressure, really. My blood pressure runs low normally, so it was a little elevated for me, but still below normal – 116/80. However, this was enough to get the midwife’s attention.
My birth plan was written, and as I’ve shared before, we were planning an unmedicated, natural, water birth. I wrote about my reasons for a natural birth in a guest post at The Humbled Homemaker. In our birth plan it said to only use induction, an epidural, a c-section, along with any other medications “if it was medically necessary”. I trusted my midwives so much that I said that if they suggest any of the above, then I would know it was for real. They share my same view of the importance of a natural birth if possible, however, they also see the overall goal as a healthy baby and mommy.
On Friday night, November 2nd, after having been to the doctor two days in a row, the midwife called us at about 8:30 p.m. She said it was time for me to come in for an induction. She said that it was the best choice because if I got sick it would not be good for me or the baby.
I cried.
As crazy as it sounds, I wanted to experience all of it – all of childbirth – going into labor and all. Not knowing if I will have another baby, I wanted to feel the excitement of that first contraction and knowing then that she was on her way.
But that wasn’t the plan. That night we arrived at the hospital at 10:00 p.m.
Please join me tomorrow as I share the second part of our birth story.
In the meantime tell me, was childbirth what you expected? How was is different than you thought or planned?
Leave a Reply