My Adventure in Natural Childbirth: A Birth Story

It's important for women to share their birth stories with others...Not only does every birth story help another woman through her journey but it also helps express all the emotions one went through and it is a great release.

My first sign of pre-labor was seeing my bloody show on Thursday morning. Friday, at my OBGYN visit I would find out I was already 1cm dilated - I felt that my labor was imminent.  I had mild contractions or slight cramping all weekend (there was a major snow storm in NY and NJ and I was happy that I didn't go that weekend). By Tuesday, I had more cramping throughout the day. I stayed home, but by 5pm I had to get outside. I decided to take a walk on the river - I quickly knew I was in early labor as I slowly walked along the Hudson, stopping to get through a mild contraction. By the time my husband, Lawrence, got home at 6:30pm and made dinner, I was already bending over my birthing ball. I couldn't stomach the dinner he made. My sister, Ires, at that moment called me and said she was coming over (I wondered if she heard me wail all the way to NJ!).  Lawrence drew me a bath and I got in - it felt amazing...At this point he was trying to utilize his iPhone app to time my contractions which got annoying pretty quickly as he wanted me to say "start" and "stop" at the beginning and end of each contraction. My sister arrived at 11ish (I think - I lost track of time at this point) and I was again in the bath for the second time relaxing. She drew out her essential oils and encouraged me to breath them in. She then told me to start vocalizing my contractions. What emerged was this sound from deep inside me that appeared out of nowhere - Lawrence recorded it if you are curious to hear it. I would make this sound for the next 14 hours with each contraction. It was my mantra, it stabilized me and helped me ride each wave.


Lawrence had shut all the lights off and burned dozens of candles while playing Baroque music. We moved from my bedroom to the birthing ball in the living room, to straddling my dinning room chair - we tried many positions and each contraction got more intense. I then threw up - the force of my vomit woke me from what my sister would describe as "labor land" and I wondered if it was time to go to the hospital. My sister reassured me that throwing up is normal and a good sign that my labor is progressing. We decided to labor at home a bit longer.

By 3am we decided to head to the hospital. As we pulled up to the Emergency entrance, the bright neon lights of the hospital corridors startled me. We headed up the elevator to triage - I was being taken out of my soothing, dimly lit home to the waiting area of the hospital where the nurses were playing Rhianna (a far departure from the Baroque music I was listening to moments ago). My sister urged me to vocalize even in the waiting room with strangers beside me, and I did, trying to stay in my "labor-land."

My sis would title this pic "The Rock Star in Triage"

A nurse got us a bed in triage and wanted me to change into a hospital gown (which I refused to do - afterall if I wasn't far enough along, I wanted to go home). The nurse asked me a bunch of questions that my sister answered for me. I asked Ires to hand me sunglasses as I was hooked up the the Electronic Fetal Monitor (EFM) and waited for the resident to check me. A young resident finally came - I can remember her black painted nails (remenants of her Halloween weekend costume I assumed) and I cringed as she began to check me - she said I was 6-7 cm dilated (wahoo!! I was so excited). She then wanted to do an ultra sound to check the position of the baby (I refused this as well since I was just at my doctor's on Friday and knew my baby's head was down). I got up quickly from the bed and suddenly my water broke at which point the nurse yelled "stop" trying to put down a mat to catch my water - my sister yelled back at me - "Shiri, don't stop, your water is breaking- keep going..."

We then got an L&D room. The whole triage experience was jarring - who tells a woman in labor whose water is breaking to "stop???" I think this really did "stall my labor" as my doctor would later express to me.

In the L&D room, the nurse wanted to hook me up again to an EFM. We tried to argue this one but to no avail - we were under "hospital orders." I would spend most of my time laboring in L&D on the birthing ball the hospital had. Ires and Lawrence kept fueling me in between contractions with gatorade, coconut water, jello, pieces of apple and granola bars. I could only take the smallest bites of these as I couldn't stomach much at this point but they urged me to do so in order to keep my stamina up.

When I laid down on the hospital bed, my sister would count me down into a deep sleep using the hypnobirthing techniques...these naps in between my contractions were only about 3 minutes long but felt like a half hour- they were incredible, and helped me get some much needed rest.

My doctor came back in the room, frantic, saying that I was still at 7cm and I wasn't progressing - she was going to have to intervine. My sister argued with her for more time (which worked the first time) but the OB was adamant that it was time to help my contractions along. I knew we were "on the clock" even though I tried to stay present and not look at the hands ticking away.

I would get the mildest dose of Pitocin to help my contractions get stronger. I was worried about getting the Pitocin because it usually speeds up your contractions so much that you ask for the epidural.  I call it a "gateway drug..." because one hospital intervention often leads to others.

My contractions surely sped up and I threw up again. As I hurled, my sister reassured me once again that this was good and that I was probably in transition.  She said you probably have another 2hours- I told her, breathlessly, that we need to stay present (I didn't want to think about two hours from now- afterall I had no idea what time it actually was).

My contractions got so intense at this point that I eventually did scream out for the epidural. I had been laboring for so long I honestly felt this baby would not be coming out.  Dr. Teaiwa came in like a beacon of light (she was from the clinic but not my actual OB). As the anesthesiologists made their way to my room with their demanding questions and even more stern demeanor, I asked to see the Dr. before we went any further. She came in and did a check - I figured if I still was at 7cm I would give into the epidural, but I was hoping to be further along...and luckily I was. Dr. Teaiwa said I was 9 and a half cm and that we could start pushing.  Ires and Lawrence would later tell me that my face at this point lit up and I got a surge of energy - we were really going to be getting this baby out!  The anesthesiologists in the room even started to scream "PUSH," at which my sister gave them a look and told them that no one needed to tell me to push - they scurried out of the room and Lawrence exclaimed that we "psyched out the anesthesiologists!"

I felt every push as Dr. Teaiwa guided me with her fingers, focusing each push on that exact spot.  Our baby came out in less than 40 minutes of pushing (at 3:45pm on Wed) - a beautiful baby boy. He was thrown onto my chest immediately and he started breastfeeding shortly after that. My husband cut his umbilical cord and I couldn't believe that my baby was actually in my arms.

My sister and husband were incredible partners during my labor. They stuck with me the entire time,  laboring with me through food and sleep deprivation. My sister fought for me to have the birth I wanted - she advocated on my behalf when the hospital, doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists kept advocating for "pain relief" and tried to rush me during my labor.  My labor "stalled" because of the hospital. I probably could have gotten my baby out a few hours earlier if we had stayed home, but the bright lights, harsh voices, and ticking clock at the hospital changed my course.

My sister and I with baby the first weekend home

I'm happy I didn't have the epidural - my recovery was swift - I could feel my baby making his entrance into the world, he was alert and feeding, I could walk immediately after the birth and I had an incredible amount of adrenaline immediately following my labor. Even though I was physically exhausted, I wanted to talk and hold my baby in my arms. This was the best part of delivering my baby naturally - the "high" I felt afterwards.

Daddy with his Baby in Post-Partum Room

At the end of the day, we had our baby in our arms and that is all that mattered...