The Quick Arrival of Baby Noah born 7.17.23; A Natural Birth Story

Thank you to first time mom, Katie, for sharing her birth story with us. It's always a welcomed gift to share birth stories with other families. Special thanks to Mindful Birth Doula Tara for supporting this very special family.

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"Monday, July 17 at 12:05 am, my water broke in bed and it was not like a trickle- it was like Niagara Falls! There was no question what was going on, but I was only 38 weeks and 4 days so we were definitely not as prepared as I would have liked because I thought I was going to go into labor late. Or at least we thought we had 2 more weeks, and I had planned to labor mostly at home! Oh well- we knew the clock starts ticking once your water breaks so we made the decision to head to the hospital. We were at the house getting things together for about 45 min. because we still had some last minute things to get ready (we will be completely ready for the next one a month in advance!) We got in the car, and I had another gush as soon as I sat down, so I had to jump out and change one more time before we left!

My contractions started in the car but were really inconsistent (4 min, then 8 min. 4 min.) so I didn’t think I would be dilated much. But by the time I got to triage, I was already 4 cm! That was around 1:30. From that point on, I flew through active labor- I swear I skipped centimeters because every time they checked I was usually more than one at a time. Pain was intense, but manageable with help from Tara doing pressure points, having me get into different positions and my husband talking me through each contraction. I felt like I was ok at that point and was just trying to listen to my worship music. Everything moved so fast I didn’t even look at my list of labor activities! Even if I had wanted an epidural, I was progressing so quickly there was no time to get one, so I just kept breathing and making my low sounds through every contraction.

Transition was brutal, and I basically kept switching from side to side as Tara and my husband got me through each contraction- some of which were back to back. Those were NOT fun. At this point, I like to say my low sounds became full on animal grunts lol. This was the only time I cried and felt like I couldn’t do it anymore, but both of my supporters encouraged me to keep going and that I could! I luckily only had a 1.5 hour transition, but it truly felt like an eternity! One humorous thing is that I kept feeling like I had to have a bowel movement and Tara continued to reassure me that it was just the baby pushing down- we joked after that that’s mainly what I kept saying all through transition!

By the time I was 10 cm around 6:30 ish, I was ready to push with every fiber in my being, but the nurse said I was still negative 1 and not ready to push yet. Tara THANKFULLY told me if you feel like you need to bear down, you bear down and move him down. So I did. The doctor got there around 7:00 and said “If she feels like she has to have a bowel movement, then she’s ready to push. We don’t need to wait? (THANK YOU Dr. SHEPHERD!) Do some practice pushes and I’ll be back.”

Well I did two practice pushes, and they saw his head so the doctor came back real quick! I pushed for 22 min and baby Noah was born at 7:26 at 7.10 lbs and 20 inches long. Beautiful, perfect with a head full of hair!

I’m sooo so thankful for all the preparation I did ahead of time to get the baby in honestly perfect position, and why I think my labor was only about 7 hours! I couldn’t have done it without this course or Tara. I was blessed to have a very smooth labor and delivery. I couldn’t believe for my first baby it was that quick, but I was super thankful!"