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Lia Sex: girl Born: 20 August, 2008 Age: 3 years & 179 days Birthday in: 186 days Starsign: Leo Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Original due date: August 18, 2008
Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 13 hours
Weight @ birth: 7lbs 3ozs
Length @ birth: 20 ins.

Lia`s birthstory

Contractions that started at 4am August 20, they came every 4-6 minutes. They were like mild period cramps.

Then, they picked up. I couldn't believe that this was it; it was the day! I secretly wondered whether the Evening Primrose Oil finished the effacement of my cervix and allowed me to start dilating and go into labor. I felt some cramps around 2am and 3am, but they didn't pick up until 4am. My husband was home, and I alerted him, but let him sleep. Anyway, so my mother was there with me (so nervous as the majority of mothers present at their daughter's birth experience!). She kept pacing back and forth unsure of how to soothe me and wondering when the midwife would arrive.

Around 9-10am, I was in active labor with the contractions getting stronger, uncomfortable, and coming every 3-4 minutes. The two midwives and the doula arrived at this point. My husband's mother arrived shortly after. She asked how far dilated I was, but our midwives are all about letting the body do its job and not interfering until I feel the urge to push. (Sure enough, when I was in the bathroom and felt the urge to push, my midwife checked me to make sure I was fully dilated to do so.) During active labor, and transition, I yelled and screamed, but, mostly, I took long, slow, deep breaths and used all of my energy and focus to breathe correctly. Breathing is so important! Poor breathing--and a focus on screaming and yelling and losing control--only makes the pain worse! I was relatively quiet, but definitely squeezed a few hands to death. I hope these wonderful ladies can get massages for their poor hands!

I`m not sure when I transitioned, but they were coming super strong and every 2 minutes around 11am or Noon, and then I started pushing around 3:30pm for about an hour and a half. The plan was to give birth in the living room, but I ended up birthing our daughter in our bathtub standing up. I intended to shower to relieve the horrible pain and backache, but it turned out that I was full dilated, fully effaced, and ready to push her out! I freaked out and cried that I didn't know how to push. My water had not broken, so I was pushing her out in her bag of waters! I got to feel it a couple of times, as reassurance that I was actually doing a good job pushing. Pushing was hard, quite exhausting, and I had to push like I had the biggest poop in the world or like my butt was about to explode. It's a crazy sensation! All of the pain left when she slid out and was put in my arms. It was amazing!

In the end, it was a 13-hour labor from the start of the contractions that didn't let me sleep until the time the baby entered the world. I can't believe that I did it without pain medication, but I'm glad that I did! I feel so strong! My husband and I are on a cloud!

It was painful, drug-free and at home! I tore and it hurt so bad to get stitched up that I cried almost the entire time, but I love my little girl and she was definitely well worth the pain and the wait! And I could not have done it without the positive verbal affirmations, body massages, cool, damp cloths, water, and peanut butter present in our home that day!

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