The Birth Story
The short version:
Natural unmedicated water birth. Labor started at 6:30am and I went to the hospital at 8am. After about a half hour of pushing, he was born at 12:59pm. I was released from the hospital just before 8pm. The whole experience was AWESOME!
The long version:
My original due date was December 26. There was no question as to whether or not this was correct because I was certain that I conceived on April 4. Nevertheless, my due date came and went with no real changes. I had made a point to take really good care of myself during my pregnancy. I had been taking prenatal yoga and prenatal aquafit classes for exercise. On top of the prenatal vitamins, I drank red raspberry leaf tea and in the last month, took evening primrose oil orally and as a vaginal suppository. I tried to make sure I had done all I could to prepare myself for labor. I read pretty much every book under the sun and half of the internet.
My midwife told me about a birth tincture that I could buy from a local health store and told me that if I felt ready, I could take the tincture as early as Christmas Eve and it would likely bring on labor. If it did not, to repeat the process the next day and then be sure to have a day of rest. I was certain that the tincture would work, so I decided to wait to take until after my due date. I didn't really love the idea of the baby being born on Christmas day, so I decided to wait and see what happened all on my own.
The birth tincture was a mixture of black cohosh, arwen and pustilla and the instructions were to put two drops under my tongue every five minutes for two hours. I had a midwife appointment on the 27th, so I went to that. The baby was fully engaged and everything looked good, but they scheduled me for a non stress test on the 3rd if I still hadn't delivered on my own. I was told that the soonest they would look at induction was the 5th and the latest they could hold off was the 8th or 9th. I was curious to know if I had made any progress, but I didn't want an internal exam (and my midwifes prefer not to do them until you are 41 weeks) so I went on my way. I decided I would do the tincture the next day.
I made sure I was well rested and had eaten something substantial, and then took the birth tincture. I didn't feel any different than the occasional twinge and period like cramp I had felt for days. I repeated it on the 29th, and still nothing. I was completely disappointed and frustrated, but I took a day of rest. I did the tincture again on the 31st and the 1st and still nothing. Now I was starting to worry a little because induction day was looming closer and closer. Plus on the 3rd there was supposed to be a party for all the women who delivered in December. I had been part of a midwife care group and we were all supposed to get together and show off our babies and share our birth stories. It didn't look like I was going to make it in time, and I was right, I didn't. I still went to the get together, but I was the only one there who was still pregnant. Even the girl who was set to deliver on January 1st was there with her baby - her baby had been the New Years Baby! I was bummed out completely now but made a point to hold as many of those babies as I could in an attempt to make my own son jealous enough that he would want to come out. I had my non stress test and everything looked great and my midwife asked if I was interested in "stirring things up a bit". I would have preferred to leave everything alone, but knowing that the next step they would offer me would be Cervadil, I jumped at the chance to have my membranes stripped. The midwife in the office that day, Noreen, told me that it wouldn't hurt, but that it certainly wouldn't be my favorite thing in the world either. She totally lied, because it actually hurt a lot. She didn't tell me how dilated or effaced I was, but did say that she didn't think it would be long now and that I should go home and sleep and that she'd see me at midnight, because she was the midwife on call that night. I knew she was just joking, because we also scheduled an induction for the 5th, but I was hoping anyway. She was my favorite of the three midwives that I saw and I was really hoping she would end up at my delivery.
Anyway, I went home and rested. I had little bits of cramping here and there, but nothing really worse than your average menstrual cramp and nothing that made me think I was going into labor. I ate a good dinner and went to bed for the night, sure I would wake up in labor. I woke up on the morning of the 4th disappointed again, but my dad and brother were coming into town today, so at least I had that to distract me. When I went to the bathroom I saw that I had lost my mucus plug, and I was all excited. I took a shower, thinking that would be probably be the last shower I would take before I gave birth. My mom and I had dinner with my dad and brother and the day flew by with nothing more than some more of those nagging menstrual like cramps. I was scheduled for induction at 8am the next morning with Cervadil and then would be sent home to wait and see. I really hadn't thought I would need to be induced, so I had kind of blocked it from my mind. Now, the night before my induction, I was all panicked and looked up Cervadil online. I wanted my birth to be natural with minimal interventions and the induction was really not something I wanted. I tried to go to bed and get some sleep, but I was now too worried to fall asleep and my mom and I stayed up talking until almost 4am. Finally, she went to bed. I tried to sleep but I had terrible heartburn and I had to keep sitting up so as not to get sick. The alarm was set for 6am so that we could both get up and showered and get to the hospital for 8am. My mom got up and made coffee and I still hadn't slept a wink. I got out of bed anyway and called the hospital to confirm that they had room for me to come in for my induction. I was hoping they would say they were too busy, but no such luck. They were ready for me. I got up and got into the shower and that is when the contractions started. They didn't feel anything like I had expected them to but I knew 100% that they were the real deal. I had read in Sheila Kitzinger's book that if you are standing up when you have a contraction to let yourself "hang from your hips" so I did that as I finished up my shower. I think I had three contractions in the time it took me to shower and two more before I actually got myself out of the bathroom and dressed. My mom was all excited and got into the shower immediately after me, but neither she nor I realized that the contractions were already about five minutes apart. I actually lost pretty much all sense of time throughout my whole labor and wouldn't have had any idea how often they were coming if someone wasn't timing them for me.
I tried to finish getting cleaned up, and I actually had to drag a chair over to the mirror so that I could sit down through the contractions as I blow dried my hair and put on some cover stick. It might seem odd but it seemed really important at the time to act like everything was normal. At the end of every contraction I was starting to get really nauseous and I was pretty certain I was going to throw up. My mom got out of the shower just in time for me to run in and throw up. And I don't think I've ever thrown up so hard in my life. I felt awful after, so I laid on my side in bed while my mom finished getting everything together. She wanted me to eat some fruit and yogurt but the thought of eating anything made me want to throw up more. I had packed some hard candies in my labour bag and I tried to have one just for something to suck on but the flavour made me almost throw up again.
Now sure that I was in labour, I tried to convince my mom that we should just call the hospital and let them know that I was in labour and that I'd come in when it was closer to the time. I really didn't want to go all the way there and then just be sent home. We timed a few contractions and my mom said that we should just go, and then at least we'd know for sure how I was doing. She honestly didn't think they would send me home, but I was so sure that we were coming right back that I wanted her to leave the hospital bags in the car rather than bring them into the hospital. We were only about 5 minutes from the hospital, so we popped over there and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I starting throwing up again. It took me a good ten minutes to stop being sick and get myself together enough to walk into the hospital. We walked to the nurses station and I told the nurse there that was was there for an 8am induction. She looked at the clock (it was about quarter after) and told me I was going to have to wait. The night shift nurse was giving her the run down of the events of the evening and since I was late, I had to wait. Finally, about fifteen minutes later, she came over to me and started talking. I have no idea what she said, because my eyes were closed and I was in the middle of a contraction. She asked my mom if I was having a contraction and she replied that I was and that she didn't think I'd be needing that induction! The nurse was really upset that she had made me wait since she had no idea I was actually in labor. She introduced herself as Nicki and took me into a room to check me out. She did an internal and told me that I was at 4cm and about 75% effaced and that she could go ahead and admit me. My mom had been in the hallway, calling my dad and letting him know that I was in labor, and when she came in she told me that the nurse said that I was closer to 5cm. I was totally thrilled, almost halfway there! I got changed into my hippy dress that I was planning to labor in, but I didn't want to walk around or move at all. The contractions were most manageable when I stayed on one hip so I laid in the bed, in an almost fetal position, trying to keep my body as relaxed as possible and just flipping from my left side to my right and back again as my hips got sore. All the lights were off in the room which made it so much easier to concentrate and relax. At some point the midwife working the day shift in the clinic popped in to see me and she gave the okay for me to have some Gravol, since I had been getting sick pretty steadily in between contractions. I had a pill, which I promptly threw up, so they ended up giving me a shot, which actually worked for a little while. The clinic midwife, Maureen, told me that Noreen was the midwife on call (YAY!) and that I could do whatever I wanted throughout the labor, but they wanted to save the tub until I was 7 or 8cm. I continued to labor in bed in the dark for another hour, and then I asked my mom to find out if I could get into the tub. The nurse agreed without doing an internal and my mom and her started filling the tub. I remember the nurse mentioning that the tub had a slow leak, so they left the detachable shower head in the tub and kept it slowly running with hot water. That turned out to be awesome, because not only did my tub never get cold, but I could hold the hot water on my stomach and back during contractions and it made everything feel so much better. The nurse did an internal and let me know that I was 7cm, but that my cervix was dilating fasted in the rear than in the front. She encouraged me to try some contractions on my hands and knees or facing forward. I decided to try leaning on the side of the tub with my legs spread and that was probably the most painful contraction I had out of all of them. I got back under the water and instead of laying on one hip I tried to lean forward as much as possible. That's when I realized that she had said 7cm, so that meant transition! It didn't really seem like my contractions got closer together (though my mom told me later they were only 30 seconds apart), but they certainly got more intense. I had to make little whimpery noises to get through them, and I probably sounded a lot more desperate than I actually felt. I made a point to relax my hands and feet and to fight the urge to clench them up or grip the sides of the tub. I also starting throwing up again at this point and spent all the time between contractions throwing up. I had little sips of water and ginger ale to help keep me hydrated. When the vomiting stopped, the contractions seemed a little bit milder and then felt better if I pushed a little bit at the end. On one of those contractions, when I was pushing lightly, the bag of waters actually came out partly. It didn't burst, but the actual bag came out. The nurse remarked how rarely they see that but by the time she got the hook to break my water, it had already broken on it's own. I told my mom to let the nurse know that I was starting to feel like pushing and she came and examined me. She told me that I was at 9cm and that she was going to call the midwife now. Noreen had been on call all night and had done a delivery late that evening, so the nurse had wanted to let her rest as long as possible before calling her in. My mom told me later that my nurse didn't think that Noreen was actually going to make it in time for the birth and that she had let another nurse know that she might need her help to deliver. Luckily, Noreen showed up about 12:30pm and she told me that I could do light little pushes. I pretty much already had been doing that anyway. She did an internal and told me that I was fully dilated but that I had a lip of a cervix still in the front and that she would push it back with the next contraction. I was worried that it would hurt but it didn't at all and now it was okay to start actually pushing. I had no idea how much hard work it would be. I felt like I pushed for forever before there was any progress. Between contractions I felt completely normal again, and had sips of water and joked with my mom and Noreen. I realized my mom was crying and had to let her know that it wasn't time to cry yet! Finally, Noreen told me to put my hand down and feel how close the baby was. I could feel a little almond shaped patch of what was definitely Not Me, and that gave me the little boost I needed. Noreen remarked on what long dark hair he had and that "The hair is born!" when his hair was floating in the water. With another push, and the most incredible awesome but painful feeling I've ever felt, his head was out. I reached down and felt his head, which felt so amazing and so impossibly large. Noreen checked to make sure that the cord wasn't around his neck. My mom told me that I was doing a "Damn good job", to which Noreen reminded her that she shouldn't be cursing because "The ears are out!" and we all had a good laugh. With the next contraction the rest of him was pushed out and they put him on my chest. He whimpered for a minute and then let out the loudest, most pissed off yell I think I've ever heard. Noreen put a towel around him and he immediately quieted down and we spent the next few minutes just checking each other out. My mom cut the cord (the fifth birth she attended but her first time getting to do this!) My mom took him while the placenta was birthed and then I was helped out of the tub and cleaned up a little. Noreen helped me into bed and they weighed him and did all his other work. He was 8lb 12oz (I knew he was over 8lb!), 21" long and his head circumference was 35cm. After a few stitches (I ended up with a second degree tear) I was told that I could be released whenever I felt comfortable leaving. Because I hadn't eaten or slept, they offered to bring me some food and that I could take a nap before I went. There was a murphy bed in the wall, so Nicki and Noreen set that up for me while my brother and dad visited and then everyone left so that the baby and I could nap. As it turns out, I only slept about a half hour before the baby woke up and we got our first shot at breastfeeding. He took to it like a pro and actually nursed for about an hour. After a bit of paperwork, I was released about 8pm and we started our life together!
I'm totally thrilled will my whole birth experience and I can't imagine going through that drugged! I would have missed so much! I'm also glad that I decided not to hire a doula, as I think she probably would have gotten in the way or at least would have been bored. Having just my mom there with me ended up being perfect - she didn't have to do anything other than hold a bowl for me to vomit into and pass me my cup of water. I felt pretty certain that I would want to be left alone for most of labor and that was exactly what did work for me. My mom even got a chance to take some incredible pictures. I've posted some of them below but most of them are personal (and fairly graphic). Here are a few that I want to share:
His very first yell.
More content once he's been covered up.
My mom cutting the cord.
Exhausted but happy!
My little brother, holding his nephew. He'd never held a baby before!
Natural unmedicated water birth. Labor started at 6:30am and I went to the hospital at 8am. After about a half hour of pushing, he was born at 12:59pm. I was released from the hospital just before 8pm. The whole experience was AWESOME!
The long version:
My original due date was December 26. There was no question as to whether or not this was correct because I was certain that I conceived on April 4. Nevertheless, my due date came and went with no real changes. I had made a point to take really good care of myself during my pregnancy. I had been taking prenatal yoga and prenatal aquafit classes for exercise. On top of the prenatal vitamins, I drank red raspberry leaf tea and in the last month, took evening primrose oil orally and as a vaginal suppository. I tried to make sure I had done all I could to prepare myself for labor. I read pretty much every book under the sun and half of the internet.
My midwife told me about a birth tincture that I could buy from a local health store and told me that if I felt ready, I could take the tincture as early as Christmas Eve and it would likely bring on labor. If it did not, to repeat the process the next day and then be sure to have a day of rest. I was certain that the tincture would work, so I decided to wait to take until after my due date. I didn't really love the idea of the baby being born on Christmas day, so I decided to wait and see what happened all on my own.
The birth tincture was a mixture of black cohosh, arwen and pustilla and the instructions were to put two drops under my tongue every five minutes for two hours. I had a midwife appointment on the 27th, so I went to that. The baby was fully engaged and everything looked good, but they scheduled me for a non stress test on the 3rd if I still hadn't delivered on my own. I was told that the soonest they would look at induction was the 5th and the latest they could hold off was the 8th or 9th. I was curious to know if I had made any progress, but I didn't want an internal exam (and my midwifes prefer not to do them until you are 41 weeks) so I went on my way. I decided I would do the tincture the next day.
I made sure I was well rested and had eaten something substantial, and then took the birth tincture. I didn't feel any different than the occasional twinge and period like cramp I had felt for days. I repeated it on the 29th, and still nothing. I was completely disappointed and frustrated, but I took a day of rest. I did the tincture again on the 31st and the 1st and still nothing. Now I was starting to worry a little because induction day was looming closer and closer. Plus on the 3rd there was supposed to be a party for all the women who delivered in December. I had been part of a midwife care group and we were all supposed to get together and show off our babies and share our birth stories. It didn't look like I was going to make it in time, and I was right, I didn't. I still went to the get together, but I was the only one there who was still pregnant. Even the girl who was set to deliver on January 1st was there with her baby - her baby had been the New Years Baby! I was bummed out completely now but made a point to hold as many of those babies as I could in an attempt to make my own son jealous enough that he would want to come out. I had my non stress test and everything looked great and my midwife asked if I was interested in "stirring things up a bit". I would have preferred to leave everything alone, but knowing that the next step they would offer me would be Cervadil, I jumped at the chance to have my membranes stripped. The midwife in the office that day, Noreen, told me that it wouldn't hurt, but that it certainly wouldn't be my favorite thing in the world either. She totally lied, because it actually hurt a lot. She didn't tell me how dilated or effaced I was, but did say that she didn't think it would be long now and that I should go home and sleep and that she'd see me at midnight, because she was the midwife on call that night. I knew she was just joking, because we also scheduled an induction for the 5th, but I was hoping anyway. She was my favorite of the three midwives that I saw and I was really hoping she would end up at my delivery.
Anyway, I went home and rested. I had little bits of cramping here and there, but nothing really worse than your average menstrual cramp and nothing that made me think I was going into labor. I ate a good dinner and went to bed for the night, sure I would wake up in labor. I woke up on the morning of the 4th disappointed again, but my dad and brother were coming into town today, so at least I had that to distract me. When I went to the bathroom I saw that I had lost my mucus plug, and I was all excited. I took a shower, thinking that would be probably be the last shower I would take before I gave birth. My mom and I had dinner with my dad and brother and the day flew by with nothing more than some more of those nagging menstrual like cramps. I was scheduled for induction at 8am the next morning with Cervadil and then would be sent home to wait and see. I really hadn't thought I would need to be induced, so I had kind of blocked it from my mind. Now, the night before my induction, I was all panicked and looked up Cervadil online. I wanted my birth to be natural with minimal interventions and the induction was really not something I wanted. I tried to go to bed and get some sleep, but I was now too worried to fall asleep and my mom and I stayed up talking until almost 4am. Finally, she went to bed. I tried to sleep but I had terrible heartburn and I had to keep sitting up so as not to get sick. The alarm was set for 6am so that we could both get up and showered and get to the hospital for 8am. My mom got up and made coffee and I still hadn't slept a wink. I got out of bed anyway and called the hospital to confirm that they had room for me to come in for my induction. I was hoping they would say they were too busy, but no such luck. They were ready for me. I got up and got into the shower and that is when the contractions started. They didn't feel anything like I had expected them to but I knew 100% that they were the real deal. I had read in Sheila Kitzinger's book that if you are standing up when you have a contraction to let yourself "hang from your hips" so I did that as I finished up my shower. I think I had three contractions in the time it took me to shower and two more before I actually got myself out of the bathroom and dressed. My mom was all excited and got into the shower immediately after me, but neither she nor I realized that the contractions were already about five minutes apart. I actually lost pretty much all sense of time throughout my whole labor and wouldn't have had any idea how often they were coming if someone wasn't timing them for me.
I tried to finish getting cleaned up, and I actually had to drag a chair over to the mirror so that I could sit down through the contractions as I blow dried my hair and put on some cover stick. It might seem odd but it seemed really important at the time to act like everything was normal. At the end of every contraction I was starting to get really nauseous and I was pretty certain I was going to throw up. My mom got out of the shower just in time for me to run in and throw up. And I don't think I've ever thrown up so hard in my life. I felt awful after, so I laid on my side in bed while my mom finished getting everything together. She wanted me to eat some fruit and yogurt but the thought of eating anything made me want to throw up more. I had packed some hard candies in my labour bag and I tried to have one just for something to suck on but the flavour made me almost throw up again.
Now sure that I was in labour, I tried to convince my mom that we should just call the hospital and let them know that I was in labour and that I'd come in when it was closer to the time. I really didn't want to go all the way there and then just be sent home. We timed a few contractions and my mom said that we should just go, and then at least we'd know for sure how I was doing. She honestly didn't think they would send me home, but I was so sure that we were coming right back that I wanted her to leave the hospital bags in the car rather than bring them into the hospital. We were only about 5 minutes from the hospital, so we popped over there and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I starting throwing up again. It took me a good ten minutes to stop being sick and get myself together enough to walk into the hospital. We walked to the nurses station and I told the nurse there that was was there for an 8am induction. She looked at the clock (it was about quarter after) and told me I was going to have to wait. The night shift nurse was giving her the run down of the events of the evening and since I was late, I had to wait. Finally, about fifteen minutes later, she came over to me and started talking. I have no idea what she said, because my eyes were closed and I was in the middle of a contraction. She asked my mom if I was having a contraction and she replied that I was and that she didn't think I'd be needing that induction! The nurse was really upset that she had made me wait since she had no idea I was actually in labor. She introduced herself as Nicki and took me into a room to check me out. She did an internal and told me that I was at 4cm and about 75% effaced and that she could go ahead and admit me. My mom had been in the hallway, calling my dad and letting him know that I was in labor, and when she came in she told me that the nurse said that I was closer to 5cm. I was totally thrilled, almost halfway there! I got changed into my hippy dress that I was planning to labor in, but I didn't want to walk around or move at all. The contractions were most manageable when I stayed on one hip so I laid in the bed, in an almost fetal position, trying to keep my body as relaxed as possible and just flipping from my left side to my right and back again as my hips got sore. All the lights were off in the room which made it so much easier to concentrate and relax. At some point the midwife working the day shift in the clinic popped in to see me and she gave the okay for me to have some Gravol, since I had been getting sick pretty steadily in between contractions. I had a pill, which I promptly threw up, so they ended up giving me a shot, which actually worked for a little while. The clinic midwife, Maureen, told me that Noreen was the midwife on call (YAY!) and that I could do whatever I wanted throughout the labor, but they wanted to save the tub until I was 7 or 8cm. I continued to labor in bed in the dark for another hour, and then I asked my mom to find out if I could get into the tub. The nurse agreed without doing an internal and my mom and her started filling the tub. I remember the nurse mentioning that the tub had a slow leak, so they left the detachable shower head in the tub and kept it slowly running with hot water. That turned out to be awesome, because not only did my tub never get cold, but I could hold the hot water on my stomach and back during contractions and it made everything feel so much better. The nurse did an internal and let me know that I was 7cm, but that my cervix was dilating fasted in the rear than in the front. She encouraged me to try some contractions on my hands and knees or facing forward. I decided to try leaning on the side of the tub with my legs spread and that was probably the most painful contraction I had out of all of them. I got back under the water and instead of laying on one hip I tried to lean forward as much as possible. That's when I realized that she had said 7cm, so that meant transition! It didn't really seem like my contractions got closer together (though my mom told me later they were only 30 seconds apart), but they certainly got more intense. I had to make little whimpery noises to get through them, and I probably sounded a lot more desperate than I actually felt. I made a point to relax my hands and feet and to fight the urge to clench them up or grip the sides of the tub. I also starting throwing up again at this point and spent all the time between contractions throwing up. I had little sips of water and ginger ale to help keep me hydrated. When the vomiting stopped, the contractions seemed a little bit milder and then felt better if I pushed a little bit at the end. On one of those contractions, when I was pushing lightly, the bag of waters actually came out partly. It didn't burst, but the actual bag came out. The nurse remarked how rarely they see that but by the time she got the hook to break my water, it had already broken on it's own. I told my mom to let the nurse know that I was starting to feel like pushing and she came and examined me. She told me that I was at 9cm and that she was going to call the midwife now. Noreen had been on call all night and had done a delivery late that evening, so the nurse had wanted to let her rest as long as possible before calling her in. My mom told me later that my nurse didn't think that Noreen was actually going to make it in time for the birth and that she had let another nurse know that she might need her help to deliver. Luckily, Noreen showed up about 12:30pm and she told me that I could do light little pushes. I pretty much already had been doing that anyway. She did an internal and told me that I was fully dilated but that I had a lip of a cervix still in the front and that she would push it back with the next contraction. I was worried that it would hurt but it didn't at all and now it was okay to start actually pushing. I had no idea how much hard work it would be. I felt like I pushed for forever before there was any progress. Between contractions I felt completely normal again, and had sips of water and joked with my mom and Noreen. I realized my mom was crying and had to let her know that it wasn't time to cry yet! Finally, Noreen told me to put my hand down and feel how close the baby was. I could feel a little almond shaped patch of what was definitely Not Me, and that gave me the little boost I needed. Noreen remarked on what long dark hair he had and that "The hair is born!" when his hair was floating in the water. With another push, and the most incredible awesome but painful feeling I've ever felt, his head was out. I reached down and felt his head, which felt so amazing and so impossibly large. Noreen checked to make sure that the cord wasn't around his neck. My mom told me that I was doing a "Damn good job", to which Noreen reminded her that she shouldn't be cursing because "The ears are out!" and we all had a good laugh. With the next contraction the rest of him was pushed out and they put him on my chest. He whimpered for a minute and then let out the loudest, most pissed off yell I think I've ever heard. Noreen put a towel around him and he immediately quieted down and we spent the next few minutes just checking each other out. My mom cut the cord (the fifth birth she attended but her first time getting to do this!) My mom took him while the placenta was birthed and then I was helped out of the tub and cleaned up a little. Noreen helped me into bed and they weighed him and did all his other work. He was 8lb 12oz (I knew he was over 8lb!), 21" long and his head circumference was 35cm. After a few stitches (I ended up with a second degree tear) I was told that I could be released whenever I felt comfortable leaving. Because I hadn't eaten or slept, they offered to bring me some food and that I could take a nap before I went. There was a murphy bed in the wall, so Nicki and Noreen set that up for me while my brother and dad visited and then everyone left so that the baby and I could nap. As it turns out, I only slept about a half hour before the baby woke up and we got our first shot at breastfeeding. He took to it like a pro and actually nursed for about an hour. After a bit of paperwork, I was released about 8pm and we started our life together!
I'm totally thrilled will my whole birth experience and I can't imagine going through that drugged! I would have missed so much! I'm also glad that I decided not to hire a doula, as I think she probably would have gotten in the way or at least would have been bored. Having just my mom there with me ended up being perfect - she didn't have to do anything other than hold a bowl for me to vomit into and pass me my cup of water. I felt pretty certain that I would want to be left alone for most of labor and that was exactly what did work for me. My mom even got a chance to take some incredible pictures. I've posted some of them below but most of them are personal (and fairly graphic). Here are a few that I want to share:
His very first yell.
More content once he's been covered up.
My mom cutting the cord.
Exhausted but happy!
My little brother, holding his nephew. He'd never held a baby before!