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Alanna Sex: girl Born: 13 June, 2008 Age: 0 years & 22 days Birthday in: 343 days Starsign: Gemini Development: See the 0 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 34+ hours
Weight @ birth: 6 lbs 13oz
Length @ birth: 19inches

Alanna`s birthstory

I did it COMPLETLY NATURALLY and I am So proud of myself!

Early labor started Wednesday morning and contractions got progressively worse as the day went on. However, I was still only 1cm dilated so they kept sending me home. Actually, I did have the option of staying in the hospital but I knew if I did that then eventually they were going to try to pressure me into taking Pitocin to speed things up. So we told them we would rather labor at home.

Labored at home all day Thursday...with frequent trips to L&D and to my ob/midwife office to get checked. Finally Thursday evening when my contractions were 2 minutes apart, we decided to call and see if I had progressed. And FINALLY I had to 3 cms.

Hubby and I practiced all of our birthing positions and breathing techniques throughout early and active labor and it actually wasn;t as bad as I thought it would be. The rhythm of movement and breathing got me through each contraction. I swayed on the birthing ball, we slow danced while I rocked my hips, I got down on all four and rocked with the ball. We also walked around the halls a lot. The biggest thing hubby did to help was counting. I strongly recommend that to anyone reading this who is planning on a natural birth. It gives you a focus and calms you so much. I think it is because you realize that the pain is only temporary and will subside.

The hardest part of labor, without a doubt, was the Transition stage. The contractions were very overpowering and there was no rest period between contractions. I`m not going to lie, it was pretty painful. But it was also the shortest part of labor and right after that I got to push! I got through most of `Transition` in the tub (our hospital also does water births) and then I got that strong urge to push that everyone told me about. I was stunned at how powerful that urge was! I told Jaime that I think the baby is about to come out and he screamed for the nurses. They all came running in, brought me back to my room, and checked me. I was completly dilated except for an `anterior lip` of my cervix. They wanted me to wait through a few more contractions for it to correct itself, and told me to fight the urge to push by blowing out toward a focal point. Screw that! I did that for a few contractions and then was like, nope, I need to push NOW. So they got things ready and with 3 or 4 pushes later, Alanna came into the world! She was born late Friday morning. I had a small tear but nothing too bad. And the best part was once she was out, all the pain completly went away and I felt like ME again. I didn`t know that was possible!

Alanna seems so tiny! My husband cried, I actually didn`t cry at all. My crying came later that night when I realized I would never sleep again. `:)

Overall, I loved my birth experience and I think I would do it all over again in the same way...but not for many many many many years.

If anyone has any questions about my Birth Story, I am happy to answer them. I`m so tired right now so I might be leaving stuff out. Good luck to all the mommies to be!

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