McKayla learned from her first birth experience. She was determined to know all she had to know and to trust and believe. It worked out in a wonderful way:
Painfree birth as a result of knowledge and faith
As you read this, I want you to envision this coming true for you. Envision giving birth to your baby and smiling, laughing, and talking with every contraction. I want to give encouragement to all the ladies in the world who are pregnant, want to be pregnant, or even just know anyone who would enjoy this knowledge. I also want to highlight that my first birth was not pain free.
My second baby was surprisingly born on his due date. After my oldest was born I studied birth for 4 more years… I knew pain free birth was possible, I knew it before having my oldest, but I had too much fear and uncertainty for it to be a reality for me at that time even though I wanted it to be.
Preparation: Know what the body does
The second time around I chose to have a homebirth with a midwife. I read tons of books on birth and the power we have as women, some spiritual, some scientific, some birth history. I studied how fear and adrenaline work in your body during labor, I studied the contracting muscles of the uterus, and how they function.
I grew SO incredibly confident in my ability. I’m also Christian and believe pain free birth is how it is supposed to be, so I also became super confident in my Faith. Everybody thinks I’m nuts for believing the way I do, but who cares because it worked for me! Which is exactly what you need to do if you want this. Ignore the negative and only accept positive birth stories. Now, this does not mean be ignorant of what to do in case of an emergency or not know how your body works. It just means put faith in the fact that those situations don’t have to be your story and are not the normal. I had my baby boy completely pain free, start to finish, to after birth delivering the placenta, Everything! I had no severe tearing, no pain, nothing negative about my birth!
Contractions at work
Starting from the beginning, It was Friday, one day before my due date, when my contractions started at roughly 10am. They felt like my first birth’s Braxton Hicks, just stomach tightening, which continued all day. They ranged from 5 minutes apart to 30 minutes apart, so I stayed at work til I was off around 3:30pm. I had been keeping my husband up to date all day. My co-workers would just laugh at me when I said I was having contractions. They’d say things like, „Why aren’t you going home?“, „You’re seriously having contractions and talking to me right now?“ „Girl, you’re crazy!“ I simply responded with „Yep, I know!“ and just chuckled.
Grocery Shopping
When I got home, my husband and I cleaned up a bit, figured out what our evening plans were, and talked about how we hoped this was it. As time went on, I got more and more sure that it would be within the next 24-48hrs for sure. I let my midwife know around 7pm that there may possibly be something happening but nothing was serious; she wanted a heads up because she wanted to be able to get in bed early. She told me to relax, go to bed early, and if I needed to, to take Tylenol (I didn’t need it). I am also kind of stubborn, so I decided to go get groceries first before doing what she said. My contractions continued steadily during the whole trip.
A good night’s sleep
After we came home, I took a bath and went to bed early! I SLEPT through my contractions! I woke up to one really strong contraction and had to go to the restroom around 4am and thought maybe I should call my midwife; I thought to myself… naaa I’ll go back to sleep, which I did.
I then woke up at my normal time of 6am with my husband, still having contractions! I decided to call at 7am, my midwife asked if she had time to get ready and finish her chores. I said that was perfectly fine and she had time. She arrived to me at 8:30am, checked me at about 8:45am and I was already dilated to 9cm!!! I thought I was maybe 4-5cm…
The last centimeter
We then sat and WAITED until noon! We just sat in our bedroom, talked, laughed, I sat on the birth ball and stretched a little. It seemed as if nothing was really happening. I was having some contractions but they were 10-20min apart again. This continued until noon, but about 15 minutes prior I quietly walked to the bathroom to say a couple affirmations and pray. I said, „God, I don’t want my midwife to think something is wrong just because I’m 9cm and it doesn’t look like anything is happening. I would like my to deliver my baby now and deliver him quickly, painlessly, and without any complications.“
Making space for the baby
I returned to my room, didn’t say anything to my husband or midwife, and just sat on my birth ball. Little did I know at the time, my husband had also prayed at the same time as me. (I found this out about a week ago, my son is 7.5 months old as I write this). Sure enough, 15 minutes after praying it picked up again and my contractions had finally got somewhat harder and started to take my breath away (no pain though). Now this may be just a tad too much information, but hey, the beauty is in the details. At roughly 12:30 I felt the urge to bear down, so I got off my birth ball and onto my knees. My husband was my amazing support at the front holding my hand to keep my body upright and high enough for my midwife to catch. Unfortunately I was a bit blocked up though, so I had to „go number 2“ if you get what I’m saying. That part slightly sucked, because my body wasn’t ready for me to push and I had to do it anyways, but by 12:40 that part was over and my water broke. Next I had two long, continual contractions, and at 12:50 my son was born!
The first moments
My midwife handed my son to me through my legs so that I could turn over and sit down. My husband sat behind me so I could lean back on him. I held my sweet baby boy as I delivered my placenta within about 5 minutes of delivery. We did a delayed cord clamping as well. After all of that, we hopped into the bath tub, and my son nursed right away. The rest of the day was simple and filled with so much joy, even taking visitors within a couple hours. With the exception of my mom and best friend who kept my daughter company downstairs and took some pictures for us. It was such a surreal experience to deliver my son without pain. My midwife even let me know that I barely even tore, she said it was so small it wasn’t even worth a single stitch.
Painless Childbirth is possible
Everything you hear in books, from doctors, well meaning family and friends, all say that for your second birth to feel terrible after birth pains. I said NO! None of that! Pain was under the curse, and I am redeemed from that curse. (See my recommended book list to understand what I mean by this.)