Push em’ out.. Push em’ out.. Way out!!

Let’s talk about my labor and delivery. I’m gonna give you all the juicy details, inside track, behind the scenes, every thought (that I can remember) that happened during that wonderful experience of child birth.

So, I had an all natural home birth. That’s right, no medications, no hospital, just faith, trust, and the privacy of my home. I had an amazing midwife who went above and beyond to make sure that everything was taken care of and went smoothly. When I say above and beyond I truly mean it, she did so much for us that we can’t thank her enough. She made sure we had absolutely everything we needed from groceries in the house to making sure the house was clean before she left. So special shout out to her 🙂

Okay, let’s get into it, I’ve kept you all waiting long enough. For about 2 months prior to my delivery I had Braxton Hicks contractions and I didn’t really know what they were or what they felt like so when they started I honestly thought the baby was just moving and baby’s back was facing outwards, because my tummy was getting tight and hard. Come to find out those were Braxton Hicks, so I had those for quite awhile before baby actually came. I say that because it will be relevant when I tell you about those “real” contractions.. Be patient, don’t rush me!

The night of November 7th, going into the 8th, I had really bad back pain to the point that it kept me up, plus I was still having Braxton Hicks, so I couldn’t really get comfortable in bed. The next morning I let my Midwife know what was going on, I really tried to keep her informed on everything, she assured me that baby was just getting ready to make a grand entrance and my body was preparing for that. She massaged my back for me and that eased the pain, it actually went away for awhile. I went on with my day, I was fine. No more back pain, but later on that evening I felt it trying to come back so I asked my Midwife if she could massage my back for me again and she did, it helped but not as much as it did the first time around. I decided not to sleep in my bed, because like I said I just couldn’t get comfortable, so I slept in the recliner and boy, oh boy did that help. I slept so much better. I did have a few pains and aches here and there, but I paid them little to no mind at all. I just wanted to sleep.

Little did I know that during my sleep my labor had already began and I slept through most of my “real” contractions. Yay me!! 🙂 By the time I woke up the morning of November 9th my labor was about to be in full effect. I woke up around 8:45 AM with some serious discomfort. I told my Midwife like ‘Yo, these contractions feel a lot different than the ones I was having and they are getting closer together (they were already about 3 minutes apart).’ Since I was up I went to the bathroom and noticed that my mucus plug had came out and my Midwife was like ‘Yo, it’s about to get real’, not in those exact words but that’s how I interpreted it in my mind. Since it was about that time she had me walking in between my contractions and bouncing on an exercise ball (which really helped) she also made sure I was drinking water and I had a cup of Raspberry Leaf Tea to help get things rolling. In between my contraction my hubby or Midwife would rub my back and sway my hips from side to side (to help ease the pain and to help get baby down).

*Side Note* At this time my Midwife was making sure everything we needed for a safe and successful delivery was sterilized and ready to go, she was also preparing the room.

When the contractions started to get a little more intense I wanted to sit in a tub of warm water and when I tell you that helped too. It relieved a lot of the pressure being in the water. We actually was considering just having baby in there because I didn’t want to get out LOL!

*Side Note* During this time (actually the entire time) my husband was keeping track of how far apart my contractions were and checking to see how much I was dilated. Also, great time to apply that flax seed oil I mentioned to y’all in the 3rd Trimester Waiting Game blog.

I eventually came out of the tub and was just in the room going through contractions. As I was going through my water broke. Some women’s water breaks and it’s just a little trinkle of fluid leaking, not like you see it in movies, where the woman’s water break and it’s a gush of fluid everywhere. Well, if you know me, I’m not your ordinary girl LOL haha.. yeah so my water broke in a gush like you see it in movies 🙂 What can I say? I’m EXTRAordinary LOL!

My Midwife wanted/needed me to stand and walk, but at this time contractions were in full effect, I was too tired to stand and the contractions hurt so bad that I didn’t want to walk and/or stand, so I was just like ‘Um, No!’ I just didn’t have it in me. I would stand up during some of my contractions and in between them, but not all of them. Whenever I did stand my hubby was holding me up because my legs were shaking and I just knew at any moment they were gonna give out on me and I was gonna fall. (All those squats I did during pregnancy and my legs was trying to fail me LOL)

About an hour and 3 pushes later out popped our beautiful baby girl, Jamiyah, on November 9th at 7:03 PM

No words can describe the amount of love and joy I immediately felt for her. It was so surreal. I forgot about the pain. I forgot about the morning sickness. I forgot about everybody and everything and just focused on her. She was definitely worth it all!

I really thought that it was gonna be a lot more painful than it was, don’t get me wrong it hurt like hell, but nowhere near the amount of pain I had prepared for mentally. During labor my Midwife told me that I kept saying ‘this hurts’ LOL I think that was pretty obvious. According to her and my hubby I didn’t scream out in pain, more so just grunted, like the Hulk (okay I’ll admit I added that part about the Hulk, but I gotta use someone who is bad ass, because pushing out an 8lb baby is pretty damn bad ass).

After she “fell” out of me (and I felt every piece of her come out from head to toe, literally) she was placed on my chest and everything was a blur.

Following that we got cleaned up and RESTED! I was in active labor for 10.5 hours and we were super tired.

Having a natural birth, at home, is nothing to brag about because women have been doing it for years, but I know without faith in my Most High and trusting in Him, without my hubby whispering encouraging words and praying in my ear, without my Midwife being as confident and calm as she was and singing songs of praise, I just know I would have had a much harder, stressful labor and delivery. Being home I felt more in control and relaxed. I honestly don’t think I would have felt the same way had I went to a hospital.

I think it was better for my baby girl as well because when she came out she was immediately placed on Mama and she was surrounded by love and peace (she didn’t even cry when she came out, she was so calm and chill). This wasn’t just an experience for me, it was an experience for her as well and I’m so grateful that it wasn’t a traumatizing one for either of us.

I highly encourage and recommend every family to have a natural home birth. I’m no doctor or physician, that’s just my advice and opinion, if you are healthy and fortunate enough to experience it, you really should.

Welp, that’s all folks. I believe I told you everything that I can remember, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below.

Okay, I think I’m gonna go stare at my beautiful baby girl now 🙂 As always, have a freakin’ fantastic day!