My Not-So-Natural Childbirth Story

 Early on in my pregnancy I decided I wanted to try "natural" childbirth. David and I took a Bradley method class for 6 weeks, I read several books about childbirth the Bradley way, I did my exercises, ate my 80 - 100 grams of protein each day, typed up my birth plan, and told everyone I WAS NOT having an epidural. Well, of course with labor things don't always go as planned. First of all, Knox decided not to come before or on his due date. This was especially stressful for us since my doctor would be going out of town the day after my due date and wouldn't be back until almost 2 weeks after I was due. On Wednesday, one day before my due date, after much agonizing (and many tears on my part), we decided not to induce before my OB left town. I was only 1 cm dilated (if that!) after having my membranes stripped 2 days earlier, and Knox passed 2 non-stress tests with flying colors. I also really wanted the experience of going into labor on my own, and wanted Knox to come when he was ready.
Fast forward to the next week. My mom got to town on Monday and she was exactly what I needed to get my mind off of the misery of going past my due date because if you know my mom, she never sits still. So she had all these projects for us to do. Also, my sister in law, Leah, drove down from Austin with her two boys. Here we are at Chic-Fil-A.

 We tried all sorts of things to induce labor, my mom even tried acupressure on me after we watched several YouTube videos demonstrating the technique. Still no labor. Leah left with the boys on Tuesday, and Wednesday my mom and I spent the whole day hanging decorations in my house (there were only 3 things hung in the whole house and we have lived here 2 years!). I felt horrible all day and my mom says I was really cranky! That night David and I went on a walk and tried out a labor inducing technique that our friend Ashley had told us about: walking with one foot on the curb and one foot off. We laughed about how funny it would be if I actually went into labor that night. Not long after we went to bed I woke up with really strong back pains. They didn't seem to have a distinct starting and ending point, so I didn't think it was labor. David woke up because I was apparently doing a lot of moaning and groaning. He immediately started timing my pains and told me he thought I was having contractions and that they were 2 minutes apart. He was immediately up out of bed saying we needed to go to the hospital. Still not convinced that I was in labor, I stayed in bed and tried to talk him out of it. Everything I had read and heard had told me that you labor at home for a long time before you go the hospital and that when contractions began they were usually 15-20 minutes apart. David was insistent, so we hurriedly packed up our things and headed to the hospital around midnight.
 We got to the hospital room and the nurse verified that I was indeed having contractions one and a half to two minutes apart, but I was only one and a half centimeters dilated. She called my doctor, who said we could go home if we wanted to, or since Labor & Delivery wasn't crowded I could stay. We opted to stay and thus began a very long, sleepless night of intense contractions one on top of another. David took this picture which gives you a pretty good idea of how I was feeling.

 I was having back labor (which is excruciating!), and started throwing up with some of the contractions, which sent David running to the other side of the room so he wouldn't throw up too (eventually my mom came to the hospital early in the morning and helped me during my bouts of nausea). I was still determined not to have an epidural, and the nurses kept remarking how good I was doing.
  In the morning we got a new nurse, Amanda and she was exactly what we needed! She took charge and got me in different positions, gave me these amazing hot packs for my back, told me when my hair was looking "wild" and needed fixing, and just made me feel like I could do this! At about 9:00 am, Dr. Smith (who was standing in for Dr. Garant since she was on vacation) came to see me and I was only dilated to a 2. We talked about the possibility of breaking my water, and I decided to go ahead. After he broke my water my contractions got really intense. I was still throwing up, and just felt like I couldn't do it anymore. David and I talked (apparently I said to him, "This sucks!) and I told him I wanted an epidural. I had been so determined not to have an epidural that nurse Amanda and David both had talks with me to make sure I wouldn't regret it later. I told them I wouldn't - I just wanted relief as fast as possible. At 10 am, after about 10 hours of "natural" labor, I got my epidural (apparently nurse Amanda had everything ready for the epidural outside the door for several hours before I actually asked for it - ha!) and it was HEAVEN! They also gave me some anti-nausea medicine in my IV to stop my vomiting. Here I am after the epidural. I highly recommend them.

Nurse Amanda ordered David and I to get some sleep, and we did for a couple of hours. Then it was time to get ready to push. This involved me putting on makeup and David taking a shower and getting his haircut by one of the nurses. Don't judge, we had to look good for pictures!

 At 2:03 pm, after pushing for about an hour and a half with the assistance of about 5 nurses (we talked and laughed in between contractions - it was fun!), Knox David was born. Dr. Smith calmly told us that the cord was wrapped around his neck, so he was going to be taken by the nurses to get oxygen. David went with the nurses to the other side of the room with Knox, while I watched for what seemed like an eternity from my bed, tears of joy streaming down my face, anxiously waiting to hold my little boy. Finally David brought him to me, and we held our little boy together, and said a prayer thanking God for our healthy little boy.

Getting ready to have his umbilical cord cut by his dad. 

First moments as a family.

Nurse Amanda with Knox.

Childbirth is exhausting. Even for dads - David was with me, encouraging and comforting me the whole time.

 So pretty much nothing went according to my natural birth plan. Not only did I have an epidural, I also had an episiotomy, had my water broken, had an IV, got pitocin in my IV to speed up contractions while I was pushing, didn't get to hold my son immediately and breastfeed because the cord was around his neck, and I didn't get to choose my labor positions once I had an epidural so I gave birth lying on my back. The one thing that did go according to plan was I had a vaginal birth - I really didn't want a C-Section!

 I have no regrets about any of it - especially the epidural. I fully intend to have one the next time around. All that matters is that in the end we had a beautiful, healthy little boy, for whom we thank the Lord daily.