Halle's Birth Story ~ Part 1

Prior to having children, having an unmedicated birth experience was never even on my radar. Never. Still, as many of you moms know: motherhood brings about many changes. I  initially thought that women who actually wanted to have unmedicated, natural births were just plain crazy. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why these poor women just didn't take advantage of the breakthroughs in modern medicine (that the good Lord had provided) in order to escape the "torture" that we call childbirth. Little did I know, after having a "epidural-fiasco" with my first baby and a "pitocin-fiasco" with my second baby, I would become one of these "crazy" women.

In addition to my dissatisfaction with my first two birthing experiences, I was inspired by my friend who gave birth to her first-born naturally. Remember that? If not, you can read about it here. I was also inspired and awakened to the downside of birth interventions after watching The Business of Being Born. You can see the trailer here. 

So, while pregnant with my 3rd child, I got a midwife and a doula and prepared for my first unmedicated birthing experience. Boy, did I have high hopes! I pictured myself after having the baby feeling a sense of accomplishment and strength. I had thoughts of a deep sense of affection I would feel for my baby right after birth. 

To my dismay, I ended up in a ridiculously long labor, felt a horrendous amount of pain in my lower back, and gave birth to a posterior baby. I walked away from the experience convinced that "torture" was indeed the appropriate term for an unmediated birth. If you think you can handle the gory details of that one, you can read about it here.

So, why on earth would I try to go for another unmedicated birth with baby #4? (I did mention I was crazy, right?) I figured that if I prayed alot and took the proper precautions needed in order to make sure my baby "spinned" I could avoid another posterior birth. Then, I could finally have my ideal birth experience.

My faith that God would help my dream birth become a reality was increased after I read this birth story. I thought that if God would have that much mercy and love toward this woman, why wouldn't he do the same for me. I also found a website called Spinning Babies, in which I found a ton of information on positions and exercises I could do to turn my baby. I did them and I did them often in the weeks leading up to the birth of the baby!

To be continued...