Hudson’s birth story:
On Monday night light but consistent contractions started at around 8 pm
They continued till around 1 am when labor picked up a little more.
Regular contractions continued through the night until around the time the girls wake up and then things stalled.
I tried to sleep a lot that day since I had been up all night but I also cleaned and the house and did some organizing projects in the kitchen that I had really wanted to get done.
That night labor started back up and was pretty active starting around 1 am again just like the night before.
The contractions were about 10 min apart but several minutes long and increased in intensity over the following hours despite never getting any closer together, which I was grateful for because they were long and left me exhausted.
At around noon (after laboring for 11+ hours which was almost as long as both my other 2 birth experiences combined ) I decided I should try to sleep for a bit.
In longer labors I know it’s normal for your body to slow down and give you a break to sleep.
My intuition was right. I had a 30 min break from contractions and crashed hard that entire time.
I was woken up by the feeling of a super strong contraction coming on.
I don’t do well laying down during contractions and feel much better standing, kneeling or on my hands and knees so I , as quickly as I could manage, got up to stand up.
As soon as I stood up there was a huge movie style water breaking SPLASH!
YES! finally, I thought!
I had theorized that labor being so much longer was because the amniotic fluid was not allowing his head to apply pressure and help me dilate and once it broke even the slightest bit things would pick up really quickly!
I was fully expecting the sensation of a physical change and the urge to push very very soon.
But it didn’t come.
I was feeling the intensity and doubt and overwhelmed of transition with none of the physical progress!!
I was actually starting to get mad!
With contractions lasting 3 min but still 10 min apart I wondered what was going on!
The words came into my head “slow is safe”.
And I kept repeating them to myself over and over for the next 12 hours.
Yes 12 MORE hours of labor.
Trent fed me and gave me water and prayed over me and with me.
After almost 24hrs of labor I was done “surrendering to the waves”.
I yelled NOOO!!! And some other stuff I’m sure.
I said “I’m not doing this anymore!” And with all the strength that I had I resisted and fought that contraction.
It felt good so I did it again for the next one.
And what do you know, somehow whatever I did was exactly what I needed and I was ready to push.
I was EXHAUSTED! And I could tell he was ready to come super fast.
Ironically I then told Trent “he’s coming too fast” and started panting and walking around the house trying not to let my body push too hard.
I am NOT good at holding still when I’m pushing haha.
I could not imagine what would happen if I were ever in a hospital.
They would all be screaming at me to lay down.
I ended up feeling most comfortable pushing on the bathroom floor except that my arms were exhausted so Trent went and got me the ball to lean over.
Trent got to watch him be born slowly and stop and adjust as he came out. Unlike with our other 2 who literally FLEW out of me. He caught him and asked me if I wanted to hold him.
I said no because I was afraid to drop him from being so tired.
I was also scared to stand up because I was so tired so I literally crawled to bed haha.
If you can imagine Trent was following behind holding the baby attached to me still via the umbilical cord hunched over so it didn’t pull.
When we got to the bed I stood up and he passed him through my legs and I was able to lay down and finally hold him.
The placenta was born perfectly with no complications about 10 min later.
However there were some anomalies that I want to get checked out and I didn’t feel comfortable eating any of it because of that.
We are going to send it to a pathologist to have it reviewed. I may or may not share more about that in the future. 🫶🏼
Trent was really the star of the show and did everything perfectly.
It was everything I dreamed of and more (like 18 hours more 😂)
I would not have had it any other way.
It was perfect just Trent and I and baby Hudson working together.
I know there are so many points that having someone else there would have discouraged me, seeded doubt, or just made me feel like what my intuition was telling me to do was not the best option. In every. Single. Case. It was.
Some people freelance, some people free solo but me, I Freebirth. And no one will ever be able to take that away from me.
A huge shout out to my amazing husband who never once had any shred of doubt or fear when I told him this is what I wanted to do.
From early on when I prayed to know if this is what I should do or if it was just what I WANTED to do I had the recurring and constant thought that “everything will go smoothly”
At some point of labor going on way longer than I had anticipated Trent gave me a blessing.
In it he said ““I bless you to know that Heavenly Father prompted you to tell you that everything would go smoothly for a reason.
And to trust him and remember the feeling that he gave to you.
… know that this experience is not to teach you a lesson but to bring Hudson into the world.
Not to teach you trials but to show you that the Lord is faithful when he gives you his word”.
That Carried me. That’s when the words “slow is safe” first came to my mind.
He was there to support me every step of the way. Not many men are that confident in their wife’s abilities to birth.
Someone implied a few days later that there wasn’t much for Trent to do but watch me and of course he humbly didn’t protest, but I was there 😉
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