"Just Let Me Watch the 49ers Game First!" - My Positive Unmedicated Birth Story
On Sunday, January 28, 2024, around 4 a.m., I woke up with mild lower back cramps that felt like menstrual cramps. I honestly thought they were Braxton Hicks, so I went back to sleep.
By 8 a.m., while getting ready for church, I noticed they were coming every 5–10 minutes, sometimes up to 20 minutes apart. Then I lost the rest of my mucus plug and my body was definitely clearing itself out too.
At that point I knew labor was probably near, so I stayed home.
My only request to baby girl was, “Please let me watch the 49ers NFC Championship game first.” 🤣
Funny enough, my contractions slowed down during the game. But once it ended, I told her, “Okay girl, you can come whenever you want now.”
Apparently she listened. 🤣
Around 9 p.m., contractions started picking back up. I showered, made a smoothie, checked that everything was ready, and by 10:30 p.m. they were getting stronger and more frequent.
I got on my yoga ball, focused on deep breathing, and played my Christian Hypnobirthing tracks.
By midnight, contractions were 3–5 minutes apart, so we headed to the hospital.
When we arrived, my blood pressure was extremely high at 181/90. I had already been on medication for high BP during my third trimester, so they admitted me.
I was 3.5 cm dilated.
Because of my blood pressure, my OB ordered bed rest and magnesium through my IV.
I had to stay on my side with a peanut ball between my legs.
That was hard because I wanted to walk, move, and labor freely.
Instead, I had to surrender.
I trusted God and focused on one contraction at a time.
I was offered an epidural and declined it.
Around 4 a.m., the contractions became much more intense. I kept praying, breathing, listening to my tracks, and keeping my eyes closed.
When my new nurse came in and realized I didn’t have an epidural, she told me how impressed she was by how calmly I was breathing through everything.
At 4 a.m., I was already 7 cm dilated.
I quickly learned that whenever I tensed up, the contractions hurt SO much worse.
So I kept reminding myself:
Relax.
Breathe.
Surrender.
By 6:48 a.m., I was 9 cm.
The pressure was intense, the contractions were back-to-back, and I finally told my husband, “I can’t do this.”
That’s when I knew I was in transition..
Around 7:30 a.m., my OB broke my water.
Through it all, I kept my Christian Hypnobirthing tracks playing, especially the one with Psalm 91.
That Psalm has been meaningful to me since childhood, so hearing it while bringing my daughter into the world was incredibly special.
As labor intensified, I reminded myself that every contraction meant I was one step closer to meeting my baby.
Around 8:20 a.m., I told my nurse I HAD to push.
I also felt like I needed to take the biggest poop of my life.
She told me, “That’s the baby’s head pressing on your colon.”
We started doing practice pushes, and I pushed for about 30 minutes.
Then I saw my OB putting on his gloves and remember thinking, Dr. Allen, you better hurry because this baby is about to fly out.
And she almost did!
On January 29, 2024, at 8:51 a.m., my baby girl was born.
6 lbs 6 oz.20.5 inches long.
I couldn’t believe what my body had just done.
My birth didn’t look exactly how I imagined it would. I couldn’t move around like I planned, I had to be on magnesium, and there were things completely outside of my control.
But I surrendered.
I trusted God.
And I still had a beautiful, positive, unmedicated birth.
One of the biggest things I learned was how much relaxing helped me. The more I fought the contractions, the harder they felt. When I breathed, prayed, and trusted my body, everything felt more manageable.
And no, I don’t have a high pain tolerance.
I’m just so proud of myself for believing I could do it.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading my birth story.
And to the mama preparing for birth: it may not happen exactly how you picture it, but there can still be so much beauty in surrendering the plan, trusting your body, and trusting God through it all."
Thank you for sharing your birth story with us! @MamaUnedited @hope.r.payan
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