i notiticed your blinkie said natural birth. i had riley natural too! i LOVE talking to other women who did it. i tell my dh all the time i feel like one tough broad, i think i could fight a man if i had to...lol.
i had an epi with my first and just had the routine bad expirence..it was hard to push, they had to use forceps (this kid had a MAJOR conehead) i shook and puked..i just had a crummy time. i was in a lot of pain and for 5 yrs i said it had worn off and i felt everything...WRONG. not untill you do it w/out anything do you really know pain. i almost gave in with riley but everyone kept saying i wouldn't do it, i would get the epi. so just being hard headed kept me in line!
what was your expirence (if that's not too personal)? would you do it again? addi is GORGEOUS by the way.....

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Hi! I love talking about it too. There is a natural childbirth board on SK if you ever want to join us over there.

I had an incredible experience and yes, I'll definitely do it all over again some day. I wouldn't exactly describe it as "pleasant" but empowering, emotional, inspirational, PAINFUL, all of those things. My labor was 16 hrs total, 10 of those were easy. My water broke at home (though I wasn't at all sure at the time) and I was 5 cm when I arrived at the hospital about 10 in the morning. I labored in every imaginable position and started pushing around 2:00. Addi was born at 4:04 pm. I was really struggling about 1:30, my eyes were rolling back in my head and I almost asked for the epi. But I knew I had gone so far that I could make it. And once I started pushing the contractions were so much more bearable. My doula is an OB nurse and in school to become a CNM so she did all my cervical checks and all the other nurses stayed out of the room and left us alone. The lights were off, I had John Mayer on the ipod and my husband and my doula applying pressure on my back b/c I had terrible back labor.

The coolest thing after the birth was when the PP nurses would come in and say "let me check your IV" and I would say "oh I didn't have an IV", "WHAT, oh you're the one, yeah we heard about you, wow that's amazing" and I would beam with pride.

Addi was perfect, though a little cone headed from all the pushing, and scored 9/10 apgar. She nursed moments after birth. She did tear me a little and so I had to have some stitches which hurt like the dickens without anything to numb me. But hey, what are stitches compared to pushing out a baby?? My recovery was a little harder due to the tear and stitches but I was so proud of what I had done that I didn't mind the pain.

So what's your story. I'd love to read it. Oh and your babies are beautiful too!

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i LOVED when the nurses bragged on me. one nurse (whom i noticed looked a little nervous) said that was the first natural birth she had seen.
i was in a hospital and their policy was that i had to have an iv. so i was strapped to that stupid thing all night. i was induced one day shy of 39 weeks, and the dr broke my water at 8am. i really started being uncomfortable about 11am, and by 1pm i can't even remember..isn't that crazy? kyle had been in the room watching 'tom and jerry' and my momm went to change it and i told her not to i was concentrating on the music...lol. everything up to pushing is a blur. i know when i laid on my side my contatctions were unbearable, but when she checked me i had dialated 2 cm just o my side. which was an awesome expirence opposed to my epi when i couldn't even feel my ctrx to listen to my body, ya know? i kept begging for the dr to come in and she took her sweet little time...hehe then she came in and started talking to my mom..i said 'get this baby out of me' and she finally paid attention to me (i had issues anyway with my drs) i pushed 10 mins and my 8lb 5oz boy was here, with a suprising 18''...such a short guy! he was born at 2pm on the dot. the feeling after was indescribable. sSOO much better than an epi!! well you know after the stiches, they sucked. i had endorphines running wild and jsut pure relief. i took a shower 3 hours later. i felt GREAT. while i was pushing i said 'i change my mind i can't do this without drugs...' lol but when i do it again i will do it the same. no actually i would rather do it at home or a birthing center so i can actually move around. my friend is going to be a doula (she was in the room for the birth) and i will def. take advantage of that!

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Well I have to commend you on going drug free after being induced. I've heard the pitocin makes the contractions worse. Plus being strapped to the bed is very unnatural for labor. I think you'll have an even better experience at a birth center where you can move around and better cope with the pain. There are most certainly more and less comfortable positions in which to labor!!

And also, I enjoyed pushing. Enjoy is relative obviously, but for me it took the pain away from my back and gave me a new renewed focus. Now when that head finally popped out, OUCH, ring of fire is a real thing!

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i'm with kenda, i commend you for being able to stick it out. i had pit with ds and begged for an epidural (i was contrax every 2 minutes even before they gave me the stupid stuff, and once they gave it i just couldn't ge tback on top of my contractions.) with dd i staye dhome as long as a i could without dleivering here, and got to the hospital at 10cm dilation, no iv, no anything i didn't want. with ds, the epidural only took on one side of my body, and i had horrible back pain as well as lots of nursing difficulties etc, which is what made me so stubborn to want to fight for the unmedicated birth with #2. after i had her, she nursed, and then when she was taken to the nursery an hour later, i got up, showered put fresh clothes on etc. vs being stuck in bed.

if we're lucky enough to have any more i want a real birth center not a hospital experience -or even better, if there is finallyb a local midwife by then, a homebirth. i'm not willing to have an unassisted homebirth, as dh has said he wouldn't be comfortable with it.

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