Hope Has Arrived!! (My labor & delivery story)

Hope Leticia was born at 9:43AM on 9/7/11. She weighed 6lbs 10oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. She has lots of dark brown hair and is so gorgeous!

On Monday night JP and I made cinnamon tea which is one of those old wives tales to jump start labor if your body is ready. You just boil cinnamon sticks and then we added mexican hot chocolate, I figured hey at least its yummy. I woke up Tuesday morning to my bloody show..eeew lol. And I was like hmmm interesting. I started feeling crampy all day and then started having timeable braxton hicks which then turned into real contractions at about 5pm though they were still manageable. By about 10pm I knew they weren't going away and they were stronger so we headed to labor and delivery. I got checked and my contractions were about 4 minutes apart, very strong and I was almost 4cm dilated so they admitted me.

Once we got in our room is pretty much when things got intense. But about midnight there was no going back I was in labor and it would not stop until she got here. I prepared a natural birth plan and I was determined to stick to it. My mom came to help JP and I with support. My real labor started about 1AM. All I can remember was getting to this point where just tensing up during contractions wasn't cutting it. I got to the point where I needed to moan and groan through them and channel my energy out instead of holding it in. I got a tub room not to give birth in the tub but to use it as a natural pain relief. I was only in there for like an hour lol. It wasn't for me. It got really hot and it wasn't comfortable for me to sit in there at all. I wanted to labor mostly laying on my left side in the bed. I was just so tired and would try to doze in between contractions. I labored in the bathroom sitting on the toilet for some reason that just felt right to me sometimes. I sat and bounced on the birthing ball where JP put pressure on my back. But I always found myself getting back in bed. About 5AM i was exhausted and about to go into transition. I remember crying to JP in the bathroom "Would it be horrible if i wanted an epidural, have I come too far?" He said yes you have come too far. And I had already accepted that. When I got to transition and could no longer groan through the contractions I was literally screaming/groaning which made me sound like an opera singer. And then I started feeling the urge to push around 7-8CM and then progressed quickly to 10. My Dr. broke my water because it never broke so we could bring baby down lower and I started pushing! It was the scariest feeling I ever had. My body just took over and the urge was so overwhelming I couldn't stop. I was screaming and crying and the Dr. told me to just channel that energy into my pushing and after 45 min. of pushing she was born. It was so ouchie and I got a 2nd degree tear but when she came out it was like instant physical relief and overwhelming happiness. I was exhausted but so proud of myself that I did it! I couldn't believe it.

Hope is so beautiful and we can't imagine our lives without her. Last night was scary because she just kept crying and we couldn't get her to stop and we were exhausted after my 16 hour labor and then the full day of having a new baby. But the love we have for her outweighs all the hardships.

For those of you who have not had kids yet or those who do and are having more I really do recommend a natural birth. Our bodies were truly made for this and its instinctual you just do it. After she was born I had a surge in my natural hormones and adrenaline and I was so pumped up and not tired at all for the whole day. I was able to get up right away because I wasn't numbed. There were no drugs in my system or hers it was just us two in a natural physical state. It was beautiful. I know they say you don't get a gold star if you go natural but the sense of accomplishment i have nobody can ever take that away from me. I know in some cases things happen and C-sections are inevitable and for the safety of yourself and your baby I absolutely know there is no way around it and you need to do it for your baby and yourself of course. But if you are healthy with no pregnancy complications and your pregnancy and labor is going normally, then just go for it! If I could do it ANYONE can do it :-D