The story of how
Maximus came into the world!

My name is Meaghan. I'm now a mother of 3 at the young age of 22. My first two daughters where born in a hospital with epidurals. When I got pregnant again for the 3rd time, I really wanted to do things the natural way. I did not like the way I felt with epidurals. I felt so tired and so did my babies.

When I got pregnant with my son I decided to go to a birth center for my prenatal care. I also wanted to give birth there. They told me there was no epidurals here, and I told them I was ok with that. I felt like the temptation of it would be gone. Plus there is a birthing tub there. That really appealed to me.

As my due date approached I read as much as I could on natural birth, and different ways to handle it. I read that pain I felt was a good thing, and that I could perceive it as "sensations" instead of pain. Thinking that really helped calm my nerves. I also read to RELAX. I read that relaxing will speed up dilation. I always tensed up when I had a contraction with my other two labors.I knew when labor day did come I would not tense up, and I would not overwork myself.

I had a lot of false labor when I was near my due date. I kept thinking "this is it" and my husband and I would get so excited, but then the contractions would putter out. It was frustrating. With my other two pregnancies I went a week or two early, but this pregnancy seemed to drag on. I was in pain. My back hurt, I had to pee too much, and I was just tired of being pregnant.

My due date was March 1st, and I passed it. I told myself if I wanted a natural birth then I need to be patient and let it happen when it does.

March 5 I was DONE. I had it. I said to my baby, Ok this is it your coming today! I prayed to God. I prayed that this day would be the day. I had an appointment that day in the morning. I had been feeling contractions, but they were irregular. I thought maybe I’m getting closer. I told my husband to come with me to my appointment. I told him this is it. No one believed me!! I had so much false labor, everyone thought I would be pregnant forever.

When it was time for my appointment the midwife walked in. Her name is Kat. It was the first time I met her and I felt an immediate connection. She was bright, and colorful. She was just passionate about her job and I could sense her happiness. I thought I want this woman to help me bring my baby into the world. She felt my belly and said your going to have a big baby! I said yea I probably will. She said "My sons where 10 pounds and 11 pounds at birth." I said "WOW"...little did I know how big my baby was going to be....

She checked my cervix and I was 4 cm. Progress!! I was so happy. Kat the midwife said this could be it, or it could be a couple of more days. She told me to come back in a couple of hours to see if I made any progress.

I live 45 min away from the birth center, so my husband and I decided to take a walk around the mall. I felt more and more contractions. It was tolerable, but noticeably more intense.

We went and got checked again and I was 4-5. A small progress. My contractions were still irregular! I was mad, but I was so determined.

Kat said we could either go home, and drive back when things really started to happen, or we could check into a hotel. We decided to go to a hotel. We were not going home until we had our baby!

When my husband got us a hotel, he surprised me with a hotel sweet! It had a big tub with jets. Just what I needed. I got in that tub, and just relaxed. I used the jets to stimulate my nipples. That helped jump start even more contractions.

My water had not broken, so my husband and I made love to help with the labor process. And yes, it really helped. 30 min after making love I was in hard labor. I was having the kind of contractions where you KNOW this is it. They were coming like tidal waves. I used my birthing ball and moved around while having them. After having a lot of diarrhea ( one of the annoying things of labor) we went on our way to the birth center. I was sooooo glad I only had a 5 min drive and not a 45 min drive. I would yell relax relax relax during a contraction. I yelled I never want to have kids again! It was intense.

I ran into the birth center after a monster contraction. Everyone could just tell I was in labor. I ripped off my clothes. I felt like a wild woman. Kat checked me and I was 8 cm. She asked if I wanted to go into the tub and I said yes please! My husband was trying to give me a back rub but I told him to back off. I was so surprised that I did not want a back rub. I just wanted to go inside of myself and disappear from earth and reality. I did not want to interact at all.

When I got into the tub it was too hot, but Kat fixed that. My husband would pour a huge jug of water on my back. I really liked that. I leaned against the tub in a squatting position and made lots of noises. Contractions kept coming and it felt like I did not have a break in between anymore.

I did not even know it, but I pushed. It was this natural urge that just came without me even thinking at all. It was like my body did the work, while my mind did its best to deal with the 'sensations'

I told Kat I got to push. She said let me check you and I said no, no. But she did and I was ready to go. I wanted to push squatting down, but she said she wanted to me lay sideways so she could catch the baby. So I went sideways and she held up my leg. I pushed without anyone telling me to. I pushed when Iwanted to. No one counted to ten like in a traditional birth. I was in control and I liked that. My husband encouraged me. Push push. I liked that. I pushed and it made the pain feel better. I felt something HUGE going threw my birth canal and I did not like the feeling. It was strange. As the baby got near, his amniotic sac was still intact. I started to give birth to him in his womb! Kat broke the water and out he came. I felt a little burning as he came out, but other than that it was not so painful. It took about 10 min of good pushing to get him out.

I held him to my chest. It was sooo awesome. The pain went away! Oh how nice what a relief. My son was born. He looked very chubby and Kat was really eager to see how much he weighed!

After I had him I felt like I was in a dream. Slowly everything started to become more real. I felt a joy I never felt with my other two deliveries. I felt everything, and the pain was actually good.

I had menstrual like cramping after I had him. As I gave birth to the placenta it felt so good to get it out. The contractions were gone, now it was just a cramping sensation. I got to nurse right away. He was awake and nursed soo good.

When we weighed him he was a 11 pounds 7 ounces and 23 inches!!! wow was all I could say. I had a healthy pregnancy, and did not have gestational diabetes. I'm also a naturally small person at 5'5 and my normal weight is 125. How did he fit? I don’t know, but I did gain 40 pounds.

Amazingly I did not tear. I was in good health and good spirits. I got to go home 5 hours after I had him! I got to go home to my other two kids and love them up and show them their new brother. It was so nice to be home. It was a perfect birth and I'm so happy to have my big boy. His name Maximus really fits him:)

<-More Birth Stories

New! Comments