Rachelle's Birth Story: A Natural Birth at the Hospital

2-3 days before Asher’s birth day I started experiencing some early labor contractions. They were never consistent but they did wake me up at night and make me start to wonder if Asher would come early. I also had lots of energy this week and was able to finish all of the projects on my list of things to do and everything seemed to be ready at home.

The weekend before I started experiencing contractions, we finally decided on a name. Michael and I had gone to do a session at the temple we both went in praying to find a name for our baby. I was doing a family name with the last name of Ashworth and it kept sticking out to me, I couldn’t think of any boy names that started with Ash. I thought of Ashton, Ashley, and a couple other girly names, but no boy names. When we went into the sealing room I asked Michael if he had thought of any names and he said, “no… wait! I just thought of one. What about Asher?” I hadn’t shown him my card or anything and I knew that was his name. Asher William, I was so excited that we finally had something to call him.

On the morning of August 18th at 2 am I woke up to expansions that seemed more consistent. The sensation of expanding started in my front lower abdomen and would radiate to my back.  It did not feel good to lay in the bed and so I soon got up and went downstairs, I was trying not to get too excited or start timing them because I didn’t want to scare them away and just wanted to let my body do what it needed to do. I turned on some relaxing Paul Cardall music and got my birthing ball out of the car so I could labor in my living room. After an hour of meditating relaxing and breathing through the contractions I woke Michael up because I felt the need to have someone with me for comfort and support. I was having some back labor and thought that some counter pressure and light touch might help. I was relieved to find that in between contractions I was able to relax and feel normal, with my first birth the expansions were close together with a lot of back labor and it was hard for me to find relaxation in between. I was able to laugh and joke and even dance in between each expansion. My favorite thing to say during an expansion was Asher. I got to talk to him and tell him I was so excited for him to join us. It was a really neat bonding experience. I got really emotional and could feel his spirit very strongly especially at the beginning of the labor. I asked Michael to give me a blessing of comfort after a couple of hours. I could feel the love of my Heavenly Father and Michael and of my baby Asher. I felt really loved and supported and knew that everything would be ok.

After a few hours the expansions became a little bit stronger and longer. Instead of 30-45 seconds they were about 45-60 seconds. I took this as a good sign of being the real thing. We decided to call Michael’s sister to come and get Riley for us about 7 am so we could head to the hospital. I was Group B Strep + so I wanted to make sure I got there in enough time to get a dose of Antibiotics. We were delivering at American Fork Hospital. I was able to say goodbye to Riley and give him a big hug and he was so excited to go with Aunt Lorraine. I felt really peaceful about everything happening.

We got in the car and started going to the hospital. I did not like laboring in the car because I couldn’t sway my hips or relieve the pressure in my back, but I was excited and hopeful and just prayed that the hospital would let us stay there, I was a week early and had a little bit of fear that they would tell me I wasn’t in actual labor. When we got to the hospital we had our Doula and good friend Brittan come. They took us to a triage room and got me set up on the fetal monitors. Everything was healthy looking and we had the textbook perfect heart rate baby. We had two nurses Heather and Sara while in Triage. I was looking good and was 4 cm dilated, so they had us walk the halls and come back every 30 minutes until I was at a 5 and then I would be admitted and be able to go into a labor and delivery room. Walking the halls was good, I liked being up and moving and I even had enough energy in between contractions to attempt a heel click. Brittan and Michael were making me laugh and it was a bright feeling that they didn’t send me back home. At about 11 am I was admitted at 5 cm. My labor was a little bit inconsistent and I did have it slow down after being admitted. The expansions were further apart. When this happened with my first birth I was VERY quickly asked to use pitocin. At AF they respected my birth plan amazingly well and did not once ask if I wanted pitocin. They just let me labor run it’s course. We set up mantras around the room and taped them to the walls. We turned on my Paul Cardall music and tried to make the room feel as comfortable as possible. I also stayed in my pretty blue dress and not the hospital gown this helped me feel a lot more comfortable!

  

Dr. Young was not on call so Dr. Allen was the doctor who came to see me, it was my first time meeting him and at first me and Michael didn’t quite know what to think of him. He was very gentle when checking my cervix but when he asked if we wanted to have my water broken and when we said we didn’t he made me feel like I was making a mistake. And then he hovered for a few minutes, we ended up loving him… so stay tuned!

So I labored for another 4 long hours, we swayed and walked and talked and read meditation scripts. My least favorite part was having the intermittent monitoring. Especially when they would forget to come and take off the monitors and I would be stuck and attached for a long time. Brittan and Michael were amazing at relieving all of the pressure points I needed. Michael would squeeze my hips and Brittan would do shoulder and back counter pressure. Brittan was great at light touch and her hands were very cold and felt SO good. They both would say mantras and remind me to relax my face, hands, jaws. I was pretty vocal during every expansion making deep moaning sounds, and saying the words pleasure, pressure, Asher, and open.

At the end of those 4 hours I could tell my labor was VERY slow and I hoped this was what a rest and be thankful period was… but I was also worried that my labor was going to stop completely. The energy in the room became somber, Michael was nodding off and Brittan was tired and quiet. I was trying to think what else I could do. Should I rest? Should I not rest? Was this the rest and be thankful period? I couldn’t figure out what my body needed. I decided to have my cervix checked again. After learning I was only at a 6… I felt VERY discouraged and didn’t know if I could go on. My back was in a lot of pain and hadn’t been able to relax between contractions for several hours now. I had been laboring for 13 hours at this point. They suggested that I lay down in the bed and rest for awhile and I broke down sobbing, I didn’t know what to do. We had tried belly lifting, swaying, pressure points, different positions. Brittan was amazing and kept repeating your body knows what to do, trust in the process, every expansion brings your baby closer, these things helped but I still was so discouraged and felt a lot of exhaustion. I was so grateful because the nurses still did not suggest pitocin or say ANYTHING about labor being slow, they were REALLY encouraging and great and let me do whatever I wanted. In fact no one ever said that labor was slow or not progressing as it should be, it all was just in my head, but I knew I needed the expansions to be stronger and closer to get my baby here eventually.

   

After praying silently, I had the thought to ask Michael for another blessing I needed to feel the support of Heavenly Father again. I don’t remember exactly what was said in the blessing, but immediately after I felt like I should go get in the tub. I do not like tubs or baths in general so I was surprised at this. Brittan immediately perked up and said “That is a GREAT IDEA!!”. I loved her positivity. They filled the jetted bath tub for me and the moment I stepped in the water I felt not only my pain alleviate but my mood completely changed. I felt so happy and light! We turned off the lights and Brittan got cool rags for my face and neck. The water was so warm and comforting. And I felt happy and hopeful again. It would all work out; I was so excited! My expansions started to get stronger and I started feeling a lot more downward pressure as I was in the tub. We tried different positions in the tub. I was so relieved that it was working. Michael read a script to me while Brittan did some light touch and counter pressure.

At one point I was on my knees and felt a lot of downward pressure during an expansion and then I felt a jelly like thing pop out. At first I was worried it was the baby already, but then I realized it was my water that had broke! YAY!!! I did a couple more expansions and then the nurse came back and we told her my water broke. At this point we had switched nurses to a nurse called Kimmy. It was a little bit before 6 pm. She was great, we were sad to see Sara go, but she had FULL confidence in Kimmy’s ability to assist with a natural birth. And I could tell she was very good, we were right; she was wonderful. My vocals during expansions started getting more primal and intense and I had to remind myself to take a full deep breath in before moaning out.

I would say Pressuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeee. OOOOOOOPPPEEEENN. I would make Awwwwwwhhhhhh sounds and Ooooooooo sounds. It reminded me of one of the very vocal birth videos we watched in Lauralyn Curtis’s class, and I started feeling like a birthing goddess. After my water broke Kimmy checked my cervix and I was at a 7, I did a full cycle of monitoring on the bed while we drained the yucky tub water and refilled it. Kimmy went and got Dr. Allen after my water had broke. I had gotten back into the tub when Dr. Allen came to check on me. After watching a couple of my expansions he asked if he could check me. He said I was at an 8, but that Asher was sideways. He was LOS? Instead of LOA. He said, “we can try and turn him… but you will probably want an epidural for it.” I didn’t know what to say I was SO flipping close; I didn’t want an epidural, but I had heard that flipping a baby was pretty painful. Thankfully I didn’t have to say anything. Kimmy said, “Dr. She can do it! She has done SO well all day today and she can handle it; I just know it!” So Dr. Allen agreed and they got me into a position where he could attempt to flip the baby.

Dr. Allen put his hand up through my cervix and I could feel him attempting to flip the baby. It wasn’t as painful as I was expecting and actually relieved some of my back pain or took the focus off of my back. I did a couple of expansions while he was working on the baby. Dr. Allen said finally that he had relieved the pinched cervix and that if I did a couple of contractions on my right side it should successfully flip the baby. I rotated to my side and Brittan knew exactly how to massage my back and rotate my hip and back to alleviate that pressure and Michael was so good at holding my hand and telling me encouraging things. I felt like things were getting close and I was so excited!  

After a couple of expansions I started to feel the urge to bear down I was ecstatic, but also nervous that Asher hadn’t successfully flipped yet. Dr. Allen came back quickly and checked me again and said that I was ready!

They asked me how I wanted to deliver, I was really tired and felt like I needed to bear down quickly so I opted for a sitting position in the bed. Michael and Brittan held my legs up so I could bear down. I love that the nurses used Michael and Brittan as tools and people that could help, instead of pushing them to the side or away, so “they could perform the procedure”. I felt like my whole birth team was united and ready. Dr. Allen asked if he could invite a medical resident in to observe and I agreed. I’m glad I did because the medical student added a very positive vibe to the room and was smiling and was excited for us. I kept exclaiming “I’m just SO excited! I’m just so excited!”

After I got in the correct position and had the next expansion I felt a strong urge to bear down. At the same time Dr. Allen alleviated an anterior lip and I could feel Asher’s head descending and the ring of fire sensation. It is hard not to keep pushing when there is a lot of pressure, but I kept reminding my body to only push during a contraction, I also focused on breathing and using my abs to help the baby descend down. Within two more contractions he was completely out!

They immediately set him on my tummy and stimulated him to start breathing. He did great and calmed down so quick. They waited until my chord was white and limp to cut it or to move him up to my chest. Michael was right there speaking to him and us and touching him and I LOVED having the three of us in that moment together. It was so incredible. Brittan quickly started taking pictures and being of any other assistance that the medical team needed. Once the chord was clamped they helped me move my wet bra and moved Asher up to my chest. The placenta was shortly birthed after that, just feeling like a floppy fish as it exited. 

Then Asher did an amazing thing! He started lifting his head and moving toward my breast. He latched on with little to no effort! I was SO happy because nursing had been really difficult and not natural with my first.

After that, I was stitched up I had one little 2nd degree tear, but it didn’t hurt at all as he stitched.

Through this entire process I was AMAZED at the love that I felt by everyone. I was reminded of how capable my body is. After 18 hours of consistent contractions and labor, I was able to birth my baby successfully. My body did exactly what it needed to do, when it needed to do it. I was able to handle the pain, the pressure, the fear, the unexpected. I did it with the help of God and angels, with my birthing team, with the training and education I got from the Curtis Method hypnobirthing class, and with the help of Asher. It was an incredible experience. 

I recovered really quickly. I was able to walk and shower within a few hours of the birth. I was able to go home after 24 hours. And we are all healthy and happy!