Welcome to the June 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Embracing Your Birth Experience

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about at least one part of their birth experience that they can hold up and cherish.

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Throughout your pregnancy, you’re bound to hear a plethora of birth stories.  Birth will be depicted to you as hard.  As easy.  As joyful.  As worrisome.  You are bound to hear some horror stories as many among us wear them like a badge of honor.  What kind of experience will your birth be?  Well, here’s something you may not hear much.  It’s entirely up to you.

That’s right. You get to decide.  Birth is not an abstract thing that only the medical community can administer.  It’s a spiritual metamorphosis as much as a physical one.  And matters of your spirit are DECIDEDLY UP TO YOU.

Learn, Learn, Learn and Plan, Plan, Plan

I approached my first birth much like any curious mom-to-be.  I gathered and read schools of information on options.  Carl and I attended workshops and birth classes from both the hospital and the local yoga studio.  We took hypnobirthing.  We hired a doula.  We wrote a birth plan.

I was aiming for a natural birth, but I was open to intervention (upon my consent) if deemed medically necessary.  (I’ve attached my actual first birth plan if anyone is interested – or just looking for a template.)

I went into labor on a Monday night at 6:30pm.  And so my joyous foray into motherhood began.  We actually had our last hypnobirthing class that night, so we went.  Our doula taught the class.  Every 6 minutes, I would have a contraction, but these were early days and I knew how to deal.  I was able to get some sleep that night between contractions, so I pretty much slept 5 out of every 6 minutes.

On Tuesday morning, we went for a long walk on the boardwalk near our home.  We had our favorite Italian subs for lunch.  We went to the park in the afternoon.  Later that night, we had a nice, quiet dinner at home.  I think I may have had a glass of wine.  Still, the contractions came every 6 minutes.

Stick To Your Plan

Things started to heat up on Tuesday night.  Carl was giving me a massage and I felt our little girl corkscrew down.  In her descent, she turned herself to the posterior.  And so both active labor and back labor began.  I did not get much sleep on Tuesday night.

By noon on Wednesday, we were ready for the hospital.  We walked around the outside of the hospital for a while.  We knew we would soon be inside for the long haul.  I was examined and admitted.  I handed over my birth plan and prepared to be strong.

Let Go of Your Plan

Things progressed that afternoon and before too long I was 8 cms dilated.  Then 9 cms dilated.  Then 10 cms dilated.  My daughter was still up high though – unable to descend in her posterior position.  By late night, I was exhausted.  I had been in the late stages of labor for hours.  I had stuck to my birth plan thus far, but it was time for help.  My doctor urged me to let her break my water so she could check my baby’s position and I consented.  As we had suspected, my daughter was still face up and just couldn’t fit down that way.  My doctor knew I was beat and suggested an epidural so I could sleep for a while.  At midnight, I consented.  I did not have the energy to will my daughter to turn at that point.

I slept for 6 blissful hours – 10 cms dilated with my water broken.  As I’d anticipated, my contractions stopped as a result of the epidural.  In the morning when I was ready, I needed a shot of pitocen to get things started.

Own Your Birth

I pushed for 2 hours before my daughter turned.  Another hour and she was out.  What was the longest morning of Carl’s life seemed like only moments to me.  Our daughter was born Thursday at 11am.  Although exhausted, I had completed the greatest achievement of my life.  Although long, the entire occasion was peaceful and joyous – beginning to end.  Although much of my birth plan never became a reality, I had called the shots – with Carl’s loving support behind me.  (In fact, Carl was so wonderful that we asked our doula not to come.  We didn’t want anyone interfering with our flow.  And she had done her job so well that we didn’t need her.)

On one hand, I wish all of you expectant moms a speedy birth.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t trade my birth experience for anything.  It was mine.  I owned it.

Squeeze Out Every Drop

So this is my birth story – probably not unlike so many others you’ve heard.  But, my message is this: Prepare.  But most of all, OWN YOUR BIRTH SPIRITUALLY (even while you submit to it physically) and it will be the birth you need.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon June 12 with all the carnival links.)

• I Had A C-Section. So What! — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama rewrites her birth story now that she has worked through the feelings of inadequacy and disappointment of not having the “perfect” birth.
• The Perfect Birth — Kellie at Our Mindful Life reflects on how a birth can be far from what we imagined, but still perfect.
• Own Your Birth: My Hope For All Expectant Moms — Andrea at Tales of Goodness shares how she owned her birth spiritually (while navigating it physically) in order to have a joyous experience.
• Carnival of Natural Parenting: My Birth Experience — It wasn’t what Lily at Witch Mom wanted, but it was everything she needed.
• The Painless Natural Homebirth of BabyE — Shannon at GrowingSlower wants women considering natural birth to know painless births are possible.
• Reflections on Jemma’s Birth … 20 Months Later — It took a second pregnancy for That Mama Gretchen to fully embrace her first birth experience.
• Loving My Unnatural Birth Experience — Erika at Cinco de Mommy cherishes her very first birth experience, in all its unnatural glory!
• Be Careful What you Wish for in Birth — Amber at Strocel.com had two births, and it was the one that went to plan that she struggled with embracing.
• Redeeming an unexpected hospital transfer — Lauren at Hobo Mama looks back at her first, interrupted home-turned-hospital birth, and finds the beauty in what happened.
• All of it — Laura from Pug in the Kitchen had to learn to embrace the whole experience of birth even though it meant being naked . . . with an audience.
• Birthing Dreams & Realities — Momma Jorje never had a “dream birth,” but she wouldn’t change a thing about her births.
• Memories of Birth: Calm Amidst the Storm — While neither of her children’s births had been quite what she expected, Cynthia at The Hippie Housewife cherishes one moment in particular from each of her birth experiences.
• Embracing Our Birth Stories — Luschka from Diary of a First Child shares a sensitive post on her recent birth which both did and didn’t go ‘to plan’, and writes about the journey of coming to terms with the good and the bad.
• Two Beautiful Births — Sheila at A Gift Universe remembers how her mother brought out the beauty in each of her children’s births, and tries to do the same with her sons’ birth stories.
• Embracing My Supernatural ChildBirth Experiences… — Jenny at I’m a full-time mummy shares her fond memories on both her supernatural childbirth experiences
• Embracing the Hospital Birth Experience — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction believes that sometimes a medicated, induced hospital birth is the right choice for a natural parent.
• Carnival: Embracing Your Birth Experience — Stephanie at The Other Baby Blog embraces the birth experience from a paleobiologist’s point of view and takes a look at how humans defy their anatomy.
• Reflections on My First Birth and Preparing for a Second — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter shares the strength she didn’t realize she had until she gave birth to her son.
• becoming a mama – embracing my birth experience — Meegs at A New Day remembers the birth of her daughter Gwenivere, and the empowered feeling it left her with.
• What About Us? A Poem About Birth — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment shares a poem she wrote about healing from an unexpected and emotionally painful birth experience.
• Be a Man: One Father’s View of Birth — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children shares her husband’s advice to other fathers and partners.
• A Birth Monologue — Kat at MomeeeZen shares a monologue she wrote during the process of healing from her birth experiences.
• Forgiveness: My Birth Journey — Leah at The Crunchy Farm Baby discusses what happens when her planned homebirth doesn’t end up the way she wanted, and explains her journey of forgiving herself for losing that “perfect” birth.
• Patching together a perfect birth — KrissyFair at Think Mama, Think learned that sometimes a perfect birth happens in pieces.
• Celebrating and Sharing the Possibilities of Perfect Birth — Terri from Child of the Nature Isle joyfully shares details of her perfect births and wishes to inspire a more positive cultural expectation about birth.
• Instinct – Embracing Your Birth Experience — Laura at Laura’s Blog reflects on instinctual moments during and after the births of her two daughters.
• I was Foolish Then — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings describes how foolish lack of preparation for childbirth led to a feeling of powerlessness and fear, but that in the end she had her baby in her arms, and that’s one thing she can celebrate.
• Sometimes no plan is the best plan — Tat at Mum in search contemplates that maybe she doesn’t need a birth plan for her upcoming birth.
• Disturbing the peace — Kenna at Million Tiny Things thought she would be a calm, quiet baby-haver. Ha!
• Accepting the Unexpected During Birth — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM imagined herself laboring on a birthing ball but she never imagined where she’d really be most comfortable when the time came…
• Sacred This Time, Too — Kimber at The Single Crunch learned enough to know that the way she birthed wasn’t they way she wanted to; but she also knew to enjoy it for what it was.
• The Birth Partner: A Great Natural Labor Companion — Justine at The Lone Home Ranger thinks that the secret to her pleasant natural labors was having a great support system.
• the Best Thing About My Labor Experience — Crunchy Con Mommy realizes that amidst all the things that seemed to go wrong with her labor, the love and support of her husband was the one thing she could always count on!
• Your Birth Was My Favorite — Dulce de leche describes some of the highlights from each of her four births and explains why despite the differences, they are all her favorites.
• Birth Story: Part One – Moon on a Stick! — Gentle Mama Moon tells the first part of her birth story to share some of the delight of labouring at home.
• Embracing My Birth Experience by Sharing My Birth Story — Dionna at Code Name: Mama made peace with her first birth by sharing the story with her son.
• Focusing on the Beauty of Birth — Julia at A Little Bit of All of It shares the beautiful aspects of her birth center water birth.
• A Joyful Induced Delivery — Amy Willa: Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work notes the meditations and perspective that helped her achieve an unmedicated birth despite being induced for medical reasons.
• Finding Joy in an Imperfect Childbirth Experience — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells what she learned from her two very different childbirth experiences.
• What’s to like about a c-section? — Jessica at Crunchy-Chewy Mama is glad she her second child at home, but she also cherishes much about the c-section she had four years earlier.
• What Story Will I Tell? — Rachael at The Variegated Life realizes that the way she tells the story of her second child’s birth matters — and could be exhilarating.
• I Quietly Put My Hopes to Rest E — Erica at ChildOrganics shares her emotional ups and downs with the highly intervened birth of her special needs daughter, Bella.
• Tale of Six Births — Jessica at Instead of Institutions appreciates that unique challenges and joys of each of her births.
• Labouring naturally: nature’s gift — Caroline at stoneageparent describes the most beautiful, spiritual aspect of the labour of her son, the first stages along a bumpy road to giving birth.
• All The Woman I Am. — Lindsay at This Woman’s Work shares a poem about letting go and surrendering during the thralls of labor.
• A twin birth story: embracing the unexpected — Megan at The Boho Mama shares her twin birth experience and how she found the silver lining when faced with preterm labor, premature birth, and a two-week NICU stay.
• Giving Birth With Eminem — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares how fiery rap music contributed to an empowered homebirth with her third baby.
• Two Different Births — Cassie at There’s a Pickle in My Life shares how she learned from her first birth experience and how to trust yourself and your body.
• Embracing Our Potential: Birth as a Metaphor — Sheila from A Living Family guest posts at Natural Parents Network and expresses how birth has served as a metaphor to help her through other experiences in life.
• Little Sister’s Birth Story: Our VBAC Adventure — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama describes the recent birth story of her baby girl, her pride in an epidural-free VBAC, and how her story isn’t exactly the birth experience she had planned for.
• A Journey in Birth Confidence — Shannon at The Artful Mama shares her experiences with labor during both of her sons’ births.