One of the things I’d like to do with Labor of Love Doula Services is share labor/birth stories. Once my website is up and running, I plan to do this via my blog, and if you’re interested in sharing your story, feel free to contact me and let me know! It seemed appropriate to start sharing today, because it is my daughter’s 21st birthday. I’ll keep it a little shorter, since it will be as a FB post, but here you go:
This was baby #2 for me. Baby #1 came 4 days early. I had an epidural with #1, after pushing for 1.5 hours. I ended up pushing for 4 hours with him, but that is a story for another day. 🙂 With Dailie, I remember doing laps in our house days before she was born, and watching her due date come and go. I really didn’t like that idea, since I didn’t experience that the first time around. She was 4 days late, weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz, and came without a single needle being poked into me. No epidural, no IV, nothing, which was glorious!. All I had were the external fetal monitors, occasionally. I remember when I reached the pushing stage, I got panicky, remembering my experience with #1, but my good husband (who was an EXCELLENT coach during labor and delivery) talked me through it, assuring me it was fine. I pushed for only 30 minutes, which I thought was wonderful in comparison to 4 hours! She was born at 4:20 pm, after just 8 hours of labor, at Lafayette Home Hospital. I was rewarded not only with a beautiful baby girl, but a fabulous piece of turtle cheesecake for dessert after dinner in the delivery room (one of the perks of no epidural- you can eat right away!!). It was really a wonderful birth experience.