Stella Taylor – you are sassy and just like mama – LATE to everything! Daily exercise, raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil, bouncing on a ball, breast pump nipple stimulation, sex, spicy food, even castor oil – nothing I tried would help me meet you any sooner that a full TEN days after your due date! And after a 38 hour natural labor!
At my 40 week Midwife appointment on August 3rd, we discussed a possible induction at the 41 week mark. I was so naive to your stubborn timing, and thought to myself there was no way in heck I’d go to that point, doing every labor inducing tactic I could since 37 weeks.
40 weeks on August 6th came and went, as did 41 weeks August 13th!
I so badly wanted to experience labor and childbirth in its most true, natural, and unmedicated state. As each day beyond your due date passed, I became more frustrated, discouraged, and fearful that my body just didn’t know how to go into labor on its own!
Wanting to give my body every last chance at a natural delivery, I chose to push back my scheduled induction from August 13th to August 16th, hoping a weekend of (painful) walking and self-pep-talks would send me into labor.
Around midnight the night of August 14th into 15th – I started having contractions! And some bloody discharge. I’d describe them as gnarly menstrual cramps, but inconsistent at that initial point. I was so excited, despite the discomfort, that my body was going into labor on its own! And that meant I was sparing myself from a medically induced delivery.
My goal was to labor at home as long as possible, before calling my midwife and heading to the hospital. 14 hours of labor at home (and by home, I mean the gym, the park, Home Goods, just about anywhere to continue walking and keep this labor progressing!), and my contractions had advanced to a tempo of every 3 minutes for about 2 hours. It was time to go!
The frantic packing up of the car you see in all the movies was so not the case for us – at 9 days past due at this point, the car had been packed for 2 dang weeks already. It was actually a really calm process getting out of the house, at least in between contractions.
We savored that last close of our garage door, knowing the next time we’d be coming home, we’d have a baby with us!
Taylor and I checked in to Labor & Delivery around 5pm Sunday August 15th, 100% effaced and 4cm! Meeting criteria for admission, we were so happy to not be sent home. We’d get to meet you soon! I was also told my bag of waters was “taught and bulging”, and that it wouldn’t be long! Amen to that!
Taylor and I were in the zone during labor. Every 2-3 minutes, a contraction would come on. I’d get onto my hands and knees, breathe like a beast, and sway my hips back and forth while the surge passed over my like a wave. SURRENDER was my mantra word. Surrender to the contraction, surrender to the pain, surrender to this natural experience I truly had no control over.
22 more hours of SURRENDERing went on before I was 10cm and instructed to push. Let me repeat that timing for some added effect, twenty two MORE hours.
Being in the zone, and having tunnel vision on getting through whatever length of time it would take to meet you, we really weren’t even aware of how many hours had passed. The fact that neither of us had eaten, drank or slept in 36 hours, and the fact that I’d been at 9.5cm for 6+ hours with no progression just seemed to be so far from the forefront of our minds.
As a first time mama, I had what my midwife called a cervical anterior lip. This little flap really slowed down that last 0.5cm of dilation, so much so that my contractions started to slow in frequency, responding to the intense mental and emotional fatigue I was experiencing.
Because I so badly wanted a spontaneous delivery without augmentation, the entire process just took WAY longer. But I was ok with that – it was the birth we wanted and planned for!
About an hour before pushing, I shared with my nursing team that I was hitting a wall emotionally. Up until this point, I truly was coping well. What Taylor and I were doing was working. But, It had been 37 hours. I had hardly eaten, drank, peed, slept. I had vomited a few times, and labored in more ridiculous positions than I could remember. I was so ready to meet you, but concerned about the steam I was quickly losing, and the amount of energy I’d need to push!
It was at that point, we decided to start a small dose of Pitocin. We had already discussed starting Pitocin after birth, but I was needing that extra oomph a bit sooner. Not even 15 minutes into the start of that infusion, things really ramped up. My contractions sped back up, this time with more intensity. And along came the animalistic, guttural grunts that were the soundtrack of your birth.
I asked if I could start pushing on the toilet – they say to push like you’re pooping – so why not be in the environment where I’d do just that!
To my surprise, the giant poop I thought I was pushing out, was actually YOU! Pretty crazy how similar those sensations were to me. Thinking back, I kept asking the midwife if I was pooping LOL and that I’d like to do that while in the bathroom before moving back to the bed. I straight up even asked her to look make sure I wasn’t pooping. TMI, but I’m telling you, that’s what I thought was happening! No poop, just a baby haha. Biggest “poop” of your dang life.
About 20 minutes into pushing on the toilet, my team felt I was getting close, and that we weren’t tryna birth you into the toilet! Upon waddling back to the bed, with much assistance, we noticed some leaking fluid dripping onto the floor. I had FINALLY broken my water!! 37.5 hours of labor, 10cm dilated, 100% effacement – and I finally broke my bag of waters. High, they told me. Which was why it was a slow trickle, not a big gush.
When I got back into bed, my midwife finished breaking my water bag. And after that gush, I positioned myself onto a squat bar for the next 20 minutes.
After a total of 45 minutes of pushing, with my midwife and Taylor right in between my legs the entire time, I pushed out the most beautiful baby GIRL!
You were so warm, and purple, and slimy. But hearing you cry after such a G dang long labor, was the most validating sound.
We had planned to have Taylor announce the gender, but in the heat of the moment, he was crying and speechless. And while the labor was LONG, the moment you came out and were placed on my chest really was so stinkin fast!
Monday, August 16th at 2:39PM we met you for the first time, Stella Taylor Wilson.
Just 3 hours before your scheduled induction. Down to the wire, girl! God is so good.
Taylor and I spent the next two golden hours snuggling you, smelling you, attempting to breastfeed, and just looking at each other in absolute AWE of the miracle we were just a part of! All the while, my placenta delivering, sutures stitched, and ice packs applied to my downstairs.
Labor and birth is an INSANE experience. I’m so beyond grateful we were able to bring you into the world in the natural way we had planned.
Would I do it naturally again? Heck yeah! Just hoping it’d be shorter next time!
What I expected to happen, but didn’t:
I thought I was carrying a boy, I wasn’t! Just about every boy myth was true, aside from craving sweets.
I thought I’d give up on the no pain meds thing after 24 hours, I didn’t! 38 hours, i did it!!
I thought I’d poop during labor, I didn’t! Though it felt like I did.
I thought the first postpartum poop would hurt, it didn’t! Colace is a gift from God.
I thought breastfeeding would be intuitive, it certainly isn’t. Seek help from a Lactation Consultant ASAP.
I thought I’d want to labor in the tub, I didn’t! On my hands and knees, or on a birth ball, were my positions of choice.
I thought I’d have a July baby, I didnt! I should have known I’d go far beyond my due date being a first time mama.
An insane, rewarding, eye opening, miraculous, and memorable experience that is SO tough to accurately put into words!
