I was so excited and ready to be pregnant and to have a baby!!!!  I was certainly prepared... months before we even conceived I had called and talked to my midwife Rebecca at length, then had a pre-conception consultation with her 2 weeks before Gabriel was conceived!  I had taken a doula (birth partner) training a few years before, already read tons of books and had spent a lot of time with young moms who had had positive experiences with midwives and natural birth.

I did some personal work in the weeks and days before I went into labor focusing on being ready with some meditations and yoga. I was also fascinated by the fact that in the book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth a lot of the birth stories refer to "rushes" instead of "contractions". I found that it was a good word to hold in my mind as "rush" can be the natural flow of water or energy. It sounds much more like opening your body to do what it's meant to do... (versus "contraction" which sounds like a tightening or closing... not at all what your body should be doing...)  A friend of mine had once described to me that the pain of childbirth isn't like any other pain. As in when you have an injury your body tells you "this is all wrong" and the alarms sound.  When you are in labor, the sensations (a type of pain) are exactly what's supposed to happen and so your natural mental reaction can be influenced to be totally different from when you are injured.

In the weeks before the birth I also focused a lot on my belief that in a normal low-risk pregnancy, birthing without drugs is important because with drugs labor can be sped up or otherwise interfered with, requiring more interventions.  My partner Julio and I also watched many labor and birth DVDs. Seeing videos and hearing testimonies of women enjoying labor helped me think positively and envision that I too was going to have an ecstatic birth. I was attached to the idea of having a natural homebirth waterbirth yet of course would have been okay being transferred to a hospital if it would have been better for me or baby. Overall I felt very prepared and secure with having my partner Julio with me and with my choice of midwifery team. I trusted Rebecca and Marie's expertise and they trusted me to tell them what I needed from them.

There was a big earthquake on the 8th of January and I felt some aftershocks that no one else felt... I now think that they were a type of light contraction. I had a prenatal check-up at the local ebais (town health center) the morning of the 9th of January and walking home I lost the mucus plug... kind of gross but exciting at the same time. I called my midwife and she told me to get some rest and that labor could start any time in the coming week...

I felt awkward and a little achy in my abdomen that afternoon, like light (annoying, not painful) premenstrual cramps. I kept shifting in my seat, but couldn't get comfortable! That evening (before I realized I was in labor) we left home in the car to go to Julio's sister Ivonne's house in a neighboring city (30 min away). I was quite uncomfortable in the car - I couldn't move enough to satisfy my body. When we got there I ate some dinner then felt like I needed to be by myself. That's when I did spend 5 minutes on hands and knees in Ivonne's living room whimpering and crying for my mom. I think now that that was just natural fear of knowing that I was about to go through a huge physical undertaking (there's a reason why they call it labor!) and I wasn't sure I was quite ready. At that point it felt like bad abdominal cramping and it was the point when I really figured out I was (finally) in labor. I also had an overwhelming feeling that I wanted to be at home in my own space.

We got back in the car to go home and those 30 minutes were perhaps the most difficult time to deal with in my entire labor - I was extremely uncomfortable and no matter how I twisted or turned or adjusted the seatbelt I couldn't get comfortable – still that bad abdominal cramping feeling. I discovered that when I laughed I felt good and didn't feel the pain, so made Julio tell me jokes and funny stories all the way home.

When we got home and for the next few hours I was mostly walking around outside the house in the still night air under the light of the full moon. It felt so good to walk and I could focus on my body that way. Each time I had a contraction (rush!) I held onto the clothesline and squatted a little - that seemed to relieve the pressure. Also, there were a couple of times that I threw up. Not pleasant, but my midwife later assured me that every time I threw up I was dilating about 2cm!

Rebecca had to drive a couple hours to get to me and arrived at about 1am. Before she got there I was doing well laboring by myself and with support from Julio, but it was a relief for both of us when she arrived.

Around 2:30 in the morning I decided that I wanted to get back in the birth pool (had laid in it briefly earlier but decided I needed to be walking instead) and shortly after that I went into transition. I felt a little desperate but Julio reminded me to keep my voice low – when I vocalized it was better to be low and moan-y (this helped me avoid getting high and shrill and tensing up) and to focus on opening my body. One thing in particular that helped me from that DVD “Orgasmic Birth” was the spiraling action. When I didn't know what to do because the rushes were so intense, I spiraled, moving my hips in a circular motion. I was able to stay on top of the most intense contractions (“rushes”) this way. I was still in the birth pool and that's where I felt like I needed to be. I did tell Julio and Rebecca “I'm so tired, I just want to sleep.” The water seemed to let me rest between the rushes and even doze slightly – I remember a stillness and calm that allowed me the strength to get on top of the next contraction.

Gabriel

Then came the time for my body to push. My body and my baby told me when the time was right – not my midwife, not Julio, not anyone else. It's strange because I guess I expected to have to do something special and make my body do something, but really I just had to be present and strong and focus and my body did the rest. I tried so hard to think of it as “rushes”, or “sensations”, but I can freely admit that I did feel pain during the pushing stage. This is the only time in my whole labor that I thought I was going to lose control and scream shrilly, but Julio continued to coach me to keep my voice low and moan instead of screech. In between the pushing contractions I said things like “I don't know if I can do another one”, but of course by that time it's a little too late to change your mind! Julio was super calm and helped so much by reminding me that the average number of pushes is less than 10 with natural childbirth. I remember asking him – “so how many have I done?” He answered “4” and with that I knew that there was an end in sight and that I would be holding my baby soon. The next two pushes were indeed excruciating and I felt the “ring of fire” - an intense burning sensation, probabably caused because Gabriel's hand was on one side of his head as he was coming out.

Then Gabriel's head crowned (guided by Rebecca's hands at my request to minimize tearing) and the rest of his body just slipped out into the birth pool and then I was holding him and crying with joy. He was born at 3:50am on January 10th, 2009.

I moved to a birthing stool outside the birth pool to wait for the placenta to deliver. Gabriel latched on to the breast at 3 minutes old and has been a good eater ever since! I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to breast feed correctly or enough – even had bad dreams about it before he was born but it was all unfounded worry. The natural love hormone, oxytoxin, did it's job well – I focused on my baby and loving him.

The intensity of the experience of labor has certainly dulled in my mind, I honestly can't recall the pain beyond what I engrained in my memories because I wanted to remember how it felt. I do consider my labor experience to have been an ecstatic birth.

This site gives a very detailed description of the stages of labor and what to expect – better than most birth books I own! http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/stage

Labor de parto Sarah Joy

A few things I will make sure to do in preparation for, during and after my next labor:
*Have the same midwifery team who shares my vision for postitive natural birth without interventions
*Read positive birth stories and watch positive natural birth DVDs beforehand
*Ask my partner Julio to review The Birth Partner by Penny Simpkin again so he's familiar with the comfort measures plus natural options we can try if complications come up during labor
*I'll definitely want the option to walk, walk, walk and walk some more throughout active labor!
*Have the birth pool again or be able to be in the shower or bathtub when I want
*As soon as I realize I am in labor eat a filling healthy meal... it's important to eat this with the most lead time possible to digest it so that it can help with stamina!
*Hold in my mind that the endorphins and hormones that my body produces during labor are the best thing for me and my baby. Even if I end up needing a C-section, going through as much natural labor as medically recommended will best prepare my baby for a healthy beginning of his or her life (breastfeeding, bonding, etc.).
*Have home cooked meals in the freezer to eat in the weeks following the birth
*Have homeopathic medication (arnica tablets) that I can take after the birth to help my body recover more quickly
*Have a massage therapist on hand to give me massages several times in the days following the birth. I had one massage 3 days after Gabriel was born and it was exactly what my body (especially my legs and pelvis) needed to start recovering from the physical changes that it undertaken during pregnancy and labor.

I really hope that my sharing of Gabriel's birth story helps you with your own amazing experience of birthing your baby.

Love,
Sarah Joy
San Juan de Santa Barbara, Heredia