Hannah's Natural Birth story (2 of 2)

So we got settled at the birthing center. Our food was already there from our false alarm on Tuesday. My room was still open and ready. Michelle started to run the water for the tub for me.

We were excited that things were finally starting to happen! Some of the excitement would leave for me though, during the contractions. Not many happy thoughts through contractions!

I got in the tub for a little bit. The warm water was awesome. And for some reason, being on all fours really helped me through the contractions. I would just sit on my heels, hold myself up with my arms and try to make it through each one.

Jared was so awesome with everything. He would rub my back, talk to me and gave me a pattern of breathing to follow. He was also really nice when I would snap and tell him to stop rubbing me. I think I even told him to "shhh" a few times. He didn't take it personally though :)

Michelle would come by every now and then, just to see if I needed anything. She promised she wouldn't check my progress unless I asked her to. That was a relief. I didn't want her coming in every hour to check.

Jared and I tried lots of different things. I was in the tub for a while. And then we tried the bed. That was a mistake. Every time I moved set off another contraction, even if I just had one! Couldn't handle contractions laying on my side. So we tried a birthing stool. A little better. But not much.

We brought a movie and put it on for a few minutes. I was on the birthing stool again with Jared behind me on the couch. I just couldn't relax. I'd just end up on all fours on the floor. Michelle came out and gave me some good tips. I would take short breaths and that left me light headed. So she'd have me take a deep breath and slowly let it out while trying to focus it down with the baby. That really helped.

I couldn't watch the movie. I just hurt too much. I began to seriously doubt the decision. I decided I want to get back into the warm tub. Of course, getting there set off like 10 contractions. I basically had to walk during them or Jared would have had to carry/drag me.

While in the tub, Michelle checked to see how far I'd progressed. In just 3 hours I had progressed from a 4/5 when we got in at 9pm to a 8/9 at 12:30am. It was time to call the nurse! She lived an hour away and Michelle guessed I wouldn't want to push until another hour anyway.

It was pretty good timing. Melissa, the nurse, got there right around the time I wanted to push.

Oh my gosh, I was terrified of pushing. I never really went through it with Aubrey. They just told me to push and I would try, but I couldn't feel anything!

But I got the point I had to try! It was just getting so painful! So I moved out of my all four position and got in a better sitting position to push.

I have no idea how long I pushed, but I don't think it was very long. Jared had jumped in the tub with me by that point to help me by giving me his hand and just having him nearby helped me so much.

The time came I had to start pushing. I just couldn't hold back. But I was so scared of the whole thing. I had made it so far, I just didn't think I could finish the work.

I tried pushing a couple times and it helped with the pressure from contractions. It was just a different pressure. I would push as much as I could and Michelle would get excited when she could see things happening. But from my point of view, I couldn't see what was happening. All I knew was that I would push and get to a point I had to stop and take a break.

I had some serious self-doubt moments. I felt I just pushed and pushed and that it wasn't getting me anywhere. I didn't believe I had enough power in me to finally push her out.

At one point I even asked in desperation, "Can't you just pull her out!?" Michelle held back a laugh and said, "I can't; there's no handle! You have to push her out!"

There were a few times I pretty much had my whole head in the water. I had to put my chin to my chest and hunch over to push and sometimes I would be sitting so low that I'd felt I was drowning in the water. We had to drain it to a low level for me to be able to breathe!

We were finally reaching the point where the baby was almost out. I just had a couple more pushes left to go. I really started to freak out and I just didn't believe I could do it. My breathing would turn panicky and I would just sob. Michelle said that's usually when you just have one or two pushes left.

Next thing I knew, our baby was out! It felt much better having her out and Jared immediately helped put her to my chest. It was just so great having her there and seeing her beautiful face! And it was so fun to see her dark hair! We've been wondering for weeks if we'd have another red-head girl like Aubrey or if she'd have darker hair like me!

After a few minutes, Jared got out and dried off so he could take the baby while I finished up.

We officially decided to call her Hannah Rae. She is just perfect! She was born at 1:44am on January 3, 2015. Weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long.

So that's the birth story! We had some great cuddle time, which was much needed. I needed some rest after not being able to take a nap and also from being up all night. Because I thought I was only cramping, I had skipped dinner. Which was a mistake after all the work I went through :)

At 5am, we decided we wanted to go home. I wanted to lay in bed and have some time to relax before we brought Aubrey home and introduced the 2 sisters!

It was quite the experience, choosing natural childbirth. I'm glad I did it this one time (if I choose not to do it again). My recovery is definitely going better, which is great!