I was on this forum when I had my first child but I never posted my birth story :( so I'll do it here, now 3.5 years later!
(oh, and I'm pregnant again which I plan to have another UC so hopefully I'll post it sooner this time!)
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I was 15 years old when I got pregnant. I had never even heard about UC, but after I informed my family about the baby that would be coming, my sister who's 9 years older than me asked me to consider having a UC. (her account on this forum is mwright, perhaps some of you know her) When she explained the concept I was like "WHAT?! are you crazy?? nobody has babies ALL by themselves!" I had of course already planned to have a midwife there, but my sister had a MW at her birth just a year earlier and it turned out to be a very traumatic experience, so if anybody knew about how an unpleasant birth experience can affect you badly, it was her. So when I chose to do a UC I honestly trusted my sister more than I trusted myself. But she constantly nagged me to read about UC and finally after doing MY OWN research I really started to trust birth, and my body.
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I was also UP'ing so I honestly was not sure of my due date. When I went into labor on a late Thurdsday night (10/18/07) that was 3 weeks earlier than I had GUESSED was my due date so I simply blew it off, and really tried to convince myself that I was just having some intense braxton hicks HA!!! I even went to my college classes Friday morning. It was really funny how much I struggled to waddle around campus and when I was in my PE (yoga) class, my instructor was constantly asking if I was OK because I could NOT do many of the positions... mostly I was lying limp on the floor and I told her "I just want to breathe today" HAHAHA I still laugh about how silly I must've looked to everybody! By that night however, I was obviously in labor and I could deny it no longer! I had met with a midwife once during my pregnancy and she agreed to let me UC and come to do a postpartum checkup for me so I gave her a call just to let her know and I continued to labor by myself. Well, I felt like I was by myself because my mother/sister wouldn't stay awake to keep me company hehe! And my older sister who had told me about UC hadn't come over yet, so Friday night I felt a little lonely, and I remember throwing up, that was a glorious feeling LOL! But in the morning everybody was up and ready for me to have the baby and then I WAS TOO TIRED! My mom told me to get in a squatting position and I could INSTANTLY feel the baby coming down, but I am in no way shape or form, tolerant of pain, so instead of letting her come out, I told her to stay in there so I could go take a bath. Basically I wasted all Saturday taking baths and naps and still pretending that I wasn't about to give birth lol! Maybe that's understandable to other 16 year olds? Anyways, around 9 pm Saturday (10/20/07) I woke up from a nap and felt around "down there" and I felt a huge bubble, so I told everybody that we were about to have a baby very soon. That was the water, and it hadn't broken yet so it protected her head all the way to the end. I got into a comfortable position for me on my knees with my hands on the edge of my parents bed. The last half hour felt just like a millisecond because I didn't even push 2 times, my body just did it by itself and she was born in a flash. No ring of fire, nothing. I honestly don't think anybody catched her she came out so fast... good thing I had my butt right on the floor! So almost no pain which is exactly how I like it!!!!
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The midwife came about 2 hours later, I still had not been able to get the placenta out so thankfully the midwife was able to get it out. And that hurt more than birthing an 8 lb child!!! I remember the midwife saying that her head and shoulders were the same size which is why after her head came out, she just sort of fell out haha! But I like to think that was my careful shaping of her head for all those hours I didn't let her come out! LOL and obviously I was way off thinking I was 37 weeks, I was probably 41! And it was amazing how she latched on so easily, which I also so thankful for since a 16 year old can feel so unconfidant about being a new mommy. My daughter really made my life easy by not hurting me on her way out, already knowing how to eat, she slept good. Now she's 3 and she still makes me feel that parenting is easy! I can't help but feel that a good birth has contributed to her happiness. Now I'm 20 and pregnant with my second and we'll see if that theory is correct or if this kid wants to make parenting challenging for me. ;)
