by Oksana, USA
With my first pregnancy I had a breech baby, and without doing enough research, I decided that I had no choice, so I had a c- section at 40 weeks, and my darling daughter, was born, weighing 6 lbs, 8 ounces.
I listened to a lot of ill advice, and stopped breastfeeding her at 5 months, and lived to regret it. When she was 18 months, I was delighted to find out that I was pregnant again, and swore that this time would be different.
I ate better, did more research, and found a midwife who would help me deliver the baby naturally. My water broke when I was 37 weeks pregnant, and when labor didn't start within 24 hours, we went to the hospital, where they found that the baby sealed off the leak, and I had a full bag of waters still.
So they broke my waters, thus starting hours of intense labor, and being hooked on to monitors, I couldn't handle it, so I had an epidural. I did have a vbac, and gave birth to a 8 lbs 6 ounce baby boy.
This time, I breastfed completely until my son was 2. With my third pregnancy, I did more research, and changed to a private midwifery practice. I ate healthy, and did exercise, and during my ninth month drank evening primrose.
My ninth month I had a lot of braxton hicks, and false starts. Just day before my due date, I was celebrating my sons birthday, and had a lot of contractions, and at first I didn't really pay attention, but when they started coming every 5 minutes, I got excited and nervous. Somehow I made it until the guests departed, going into a different room whenever a contraction hit. By the time the last guest left, I had the contractions every 3-4 minutes, and my sweet husband didn't even realize that I was in labor!
He put the kids to bed, and called in our baby sitter, grabbed my bag, and off we went to the hospital. At the hospital I was checked, and I was 6 cm, so I went into the tub, trying to relax, and having my husband do counter pressure on my back whenever a contraction hit. They seemed to be coming on top of another, and finally I got out to have them check me again, and I was 10, and ready to push. They broke my waters, and I had my baby within 5 minutes. I loved my labor experience, but for my fourth baby, I want a natural birth fully, with no breaking of waters!
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