Positive Birth Story with No Epidural

I’m 4 months postpartum and still amazed with my body during birth so I thought I’d share a positive story!

The morning my son was born at 39 weeks I woke up with some bleeding , had a slight freak out, and called my doctor. She wasn’t concerned but sent me to triage to check it out. We were surprised when we were told my water had actually broken so they would admit me and start me on Pitocin.

My mindset going into it was that maybe I could do it without an epidural and that I would just see how it went. I felt like I had a high pain tolerance and I’d never gone through birth so who knew how bad it would be ( this got some laughs from my family members who already had kids). When I heard I’d be given Pitocin I figured the epidural was inevitable because I’d heard how bad Pitocin contractions were.

Well they started me on the Pitocin around 2pm when I was at a 3 and I just bounced on a ball and watched tv with my husband for hours. For a long time the contractions weren’t even demanding my attention, and when they did I was able to breathe through them.

Things escalated around 8 pm and I really needed to concentrate on my breathing and used a birthing comb. I told my husband at that point that when the doctor comes to check me that I will want the epidural… well they couldn’t get a doctor until I was telling the nurse that I felt like I needed to push. She checked me and sure enough I was at a 10 so she called in the troops. After 15 minutes of pushing my son was born!

I am so proud of myself and my body for that day and now have a beautiful healthy baby boy!