The Birth Story of Adelaide Winter {Part 5}

Want to catch up?

• Part 1: The Trip to the ER During the Winter Storm
• Part 2: The Labor and Plane Drama
• Part 3: The Birth
• Part 4: The DVT and Losing It

Isn’t that face precious? That’s my baby girl sporting her grumpy look.

While sharing her birth story, several people asked if I would’ve done things differently or if I regret any of the decisions I made.

• Would I have stayed home to birth?
• Do I regret having an epidural?
• Do I wish I’d continued seeing the OB, since I started seeing him in the beginning of the pregnancy?

I can’t address everything, but I’ll do my best to respond to a few, because yes, there are things  I would’ve done differently.

I don’t know why my body labored so slowly this time–was it all down to stress? Did labor begin before the baby was ready to be born? Was I on the road to pre-eclampsia, or something worse, and my body decided it was time?

As for the interventions at the hospital:

In many ways I felt as though I was re-living the birth of my firstborn daughter, but this time I was educated, more confident, and both my husband and I were wiser and more experienced.

With my first born, I had numerous interventions, including a couple of IV drugs; a spinal; pitocin from the get-go that was increased; external, internal, and intra-uterine monitoring; an episiotomy, and watched my daughter be resuscitated. And from the time I was admitted right up until the time I was pushing, the word “c-section” was brought up. I felt as though they were looking for a reason to wheel me into surgery.

As for the last birth, the OB and nurses understood my concerns with pitocin, and also explained that it was the “lesser of two evils.” His thought was that 36 hours into labor (33 hours since waters broke), he’d rather give me a tiny bit of pitocin to get the baby here than to run the risk of an emergency c-section. They never gave me more than the lowest dose and in less than 90 minutes, she was in my arms.

As for the epidural, I honestly don’t know how I would’ve fared if I didn’t have it. The pain wasn’t intolerable, but I was exhausted and I remember my head hurting terribly and everything echoed. I don’t know if my body would’ve carried on as well as it did without the rest I got. It also helped my blood pressure return to normal.

And as for the extra fluids, we never saw more decels.

With these decisions, I was aware of the risks and benefits, not only from my experience and research, but also from the staff around me.

After speaking with my support team, we realized that these interventions often associated with higher risk of c-section, likely prevented me from having one.

Another difference between my first and last births is feeling as though the staff was looking for a reason to do a c-section with the first birth. During my last, I felt as though the staff were trying to do all they could to avoid it. After all the births I’ve had in a hospital setting, I’ve never seen a staff so experienced on what a normal birth looks like and so intent on doing all they could to prevent a mama from having major abdominal surgery.

Looking back, I wish I had my primary midwife and my other midwife friend accompany me to the hospital. She offered to take me in but I had all kinds of things on my mind–extra financial obligations if we were facing a hospital bill, not being sure what I would encounter at the hospital, but mostly because I didn’t want to drag her 40 minutes away, if there was a possibility they would send me home.

Even though she wasn’t there, we stayed in touch via text messages throughout the labor so she was still there to answer questions, when they arose. When the baby was born, I immediately texted a picture and throughout it all, she and the other midwife cheered me on with encouraging messages.

In the end, I’m pleased to have had a supportive midwife team, a supportive OB, and of course the incredibly supportive nursing staff. And after losing my earlier baby through miscarriage, I feel beyond blessed that I have this baby girl, grumpy looks and all.

Free Guide For the Natural Living Mom

Want to know how to use essential oils and herbs in your home? In this guide, I share my top 10 favorites.

Plus get our latest content and news, including giveaways and freebies for the natural living and homeschooling mom.

Success!

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

First Name

Email Address

We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.

I'd like to receive the free email course. Send Me The Guide Powered by ConvertKit

Sara Elizabeth Dunn

Sara Elizabeth is a Christian homeschooling mom to 7, a birth and postpartum doula, and a special needs advocate. Having both typically-developing and special needs children, ranging from preschool through adult, she not only understands the unique challenges of teaching several children with different learning styles and abilities, she has experience balancing therapy schedules with family life. Her passions include sharing home remedies, homeschooling tips, encouraging mothers and most importantly, making it all less intimidating.

More Posts - Website