Birth 101

My son was born at home in Sept 2005 with my husband and two midwives in attendance. I chose to have a midwife because I had heard great things about the continuity of care offered by midwives and we are lucky enough in BC to have midwives covered by MSP. At the time I knew nothing about birth other than what I heard from my mom and my sister and what I saw on tv.

Midwifery & Home Birth
I didn’t know much about midwives either. I ended up being so glad that I chose midwifery care because I soon learned that midwives are specialists in birth and the newborn and that most have university degrees and have attended hundreds of births. Choosing a midwife meant that I would be able to choose my birth place as registered midwives in BC can attend births in hospital or at home. One of the best things about midwifery was that the Midwifery Model of Care views birth as a normal physiological process, not a medical event, and midwives believe that in most cases, birth is best managed by letting it unfold naturally. This mindset allowed me to place a lot of trust in my body, in the process of birth itself and in my caregivers. And that is why I chose to have a homebirth.

Another reason I chose homebirth was that I knew that labour and birth were going to be a lot work and that I would need to really focus – I felt that I would be able to do that best in an environment that I found safe and familiar.

Preparation
In preparation for birth I read almost every book I could get my hands on, I did prenatal yoga and I went to prenatal classes. You hear a lot about Lamaze style breathing or distraction methods for pain coping and we practiced a lot in my prenatal class by holding ice in our hands until it .Once labour got really intense, I didn’t remember any of that. The one thing that I felt helped the most was the psychological work I did ahead of time to face my fears about birth. This helped to keep me from panicking when the little breathing and relaxation tricks stopped working and I’m so grateful for that.

Labour
I was lucky to have an 8 hour labour – not so long as to be totally exhausting and not so short as to be totally intense and overwhelming. I laboured through the night and as the contractions got closer together and more painful I definitely felt like giving up. It’s pretty common to say things like “I can’t do this” or “I changed my mind.” I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. I was so tempted to say “let’s go to the hospital for that epidural!” but I found the shower really helped to dull the pain of contractions and I would stay in until we ran out of hot water and had to wait for it to replenish.

Relax!
It also helped to remember to relax and not tense up the rest of my body. Between contractions you feel completely normal, no pain whatsoever, so it’s very important to rest then even if it’s only for a minute or two. The more you relax the more you allow your body to release its own pain medication: endorphins. The more tense, stressed or frightened you become the more your body produces adrenaline which can slow labour and block endorphins. I really wanted to let my body work naturally with labour but it took a great amount of determination and encouragement from my husband and midwives.

Transition
As I approached transition, I went into what some people call Labourland, a sort of out of body experience. At this point you have to focus completely on the physical task at hand and you kind of leave your rational thinking brain behind. It’s difficult to talk or communicate with others in the room as you just disconnect and pay attention to your body. You really don’t even notice what’s going on around you.

When my niece was born, she came so quickly that my sister barely made it to the hospital. I was 16 at the time and when my sister told me about laying down in the middle of the hospital lobby, I couldn’t believe she would do something so embarrassing. I understand now that you really don’t care where you are or what people might think!

Pushing
I found the second stage of labour to be the most painful. Thankfully this stage only lasted about 40 minutes (which I thought was about 35 minutes too long!!). The amazing thing about the pushing stage is how invigorated and alert I became. Only half an hour before I had been totally exhausted and out of it but now, knowing that baby and the end of this ordeal were close at hand, renewed my energy. I remember talking to the midwives between pushes about how much I liked the song that was playing. And there is absolutely nothing that can compare with the feeling of the last push when baby slipped out and the midwife placed him, with cord still attached, in my arms! It is pure relief and joy and strength and love.

Rewards
Giving birth can be an amazingly empowering experience. It’s really hard work and it’s painful and tiring and when you realize that you did it, you really feel like you can do anything. For a lot of women it shows them that they are a lot stronger and more capable than they thought they were! 300,000 women do it every day and they definitely have something to feel proud of.

For about 2 or 3 days after my son’s birth, I thought I never wanted to do it again. But I am going to do it again in July and to be honest, I’m actually looking forward to it. Birth is so much more than the pain and swearing they show on tv

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