Laura & Jace's Natural Birth

Feb 18, 2016
5 min read

Scarlett Noel

The night before the birth of my daugher, I had some pretty intense cramps and the few times I got up to go to the bathroom I felt fluid leaking but just attributed it to urine. It wasn't a lot and I just didn't think it was my water breaking. Around 3am I started to time the cramps and discovered they were about 10 minutes apart. That's when I started to think that maybe they were contractions. I slept through them and my best friend and I went to my prenatal appointment for 9am. Once there I told my OB about the cramps and leaking. So she did a cervical check and discovered that I was 80% effaced but only 1cm dilated. She tested the fluids and said that it was amniotic fluid and not urine that was leaking.

Thankfully, because I wasn't on any drugs or pain medicine I was free to walk around and move about as I pleased. The first position I got in was on my medicine ball. I just sat around and bounced on that thing while my husband, dad, mom, in-laws, best friend and doula, Caitlin, all just hung out. The contractions were getting more and more intense and before I knew it, I was 5cm dilated and cursing up a storm. I do remember that in between contractions, I apologized for saying the "F word". So there's that. At least I tried to act like a lady. After that I don't really have an exact timeline of events. I just know that I had my most intense contractions BEFORE transition. Most women have intense contractions when they're 7-10cms along. Nope, not me. I had them before that and they were back to back to back with almost no breaks in between. And they lasted for HOURS. I screamed. I cursed. I pulled on my husband's shirt in dramatic fashion and asked, no begged, for an epidural. I labored on my hands and knees. I pulled on the hospital sheets like a woman possessed. I labored straddling the toilet. I labored standing up. I labored in a squatting position while hanging on the labor bar the hospital staff connected to my bed. I stayed in that position the longest. Praying and begging for the baby to drop. It would not. I was fully dilated and the baby was in the zero position. Meaning nowhere near time to push. I remember begging God to let me poop on myself because I knew if I pooped then that would mean the baby was dropping. I was so desperate to get the baby out that I literally asked God to let me shit on myself in a room full of people. Caitlin, and my husband and my mom and my best friend and my mother in law were all in the room and all so helpful. They encouraged me to breathe. They massaged me. Caitlin rubbed oils on me to help me calm down and to also aid in healthy contractions. My husband literally held me up when I became too tired to hold up myself. My mom offered to pray for me and she rubbed me and was there for me. I had all the support in the world but mentally I wasn't sure I could do it anymore. I think at one point I even said "I just want to go home". Yeah. Keep wishing. So after hours of being fully dilated and still nothing, the nurse came in and said that my OB was there and she wanted me to start pushing. I was scared shitless. I mean, I still hadn't even shit myself and she wanted me to PUSH!?? I didn't even know if I had the energy to push. I was tired. I had been at this for hours upon hours with almost no break. But it was either push or cesarean. The choice was simple. I had my husband and my mom on my left side, my doula and my best friend on my right, my OB between my legs and a team of nurses on all sides. And I pushed through contractions. For about one hour I pushed and pushed and pushed. My nurse massaged my perineum while I pushed. My husband was amazing. In my ear telling me that I was doing great. That I was beautiful and so strong and that I could do it. That he was so proud of me. That everything we had been through together had prepared us for this moment. He was my rock and looking back, I relied on him so much during my entire labor. And when it came time to push, he was amazing. He would look in between my legs for me and tell me when he could see the head. He held my hand and I think he even held his breath when I did! The pushing actually felt great because it felt like something was getting accomplished. The worst part of the pushing is when I felt what they call the "ring of fire". Holy hell, is that termed 100% accurately. That shit burned. I felt like I was being ripped in half. I was sure that I was going to tear end to end. And right when I was thinking "screw this ring of fire shit", everyone in the room started to scream excitingly. Saying to me "Laura you're almost there! You're almost there! You can do it!" And then before I knew it, I felt this huge release and just like that, the pain stopped. The burning stopped. And our baby was here. Our baby was HERE! Our baby was here and had finally started to cry too. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. They gave her to my husband and he handed her to me. It was so beautiful. I'll never forget that feeling of having her on my chest for the first time and having my husband right there with me. The three of us. A circle of love. It was perfect. After giving birth the way I did, with no medicine and no medical interventions, I truly do feel like I can do anything. I look back and I am so proud of myself. I DID IT. I set my mind to it and even though I may have not handled myself as gracefully as I imagined I would, I still handled myself. I took everything I learned from my doula and the Natural Birthing Classes and used it all to my benefit. Knowledge IS power. I listened to my doula as she guided me through my contractions. I relied on my husband more than I ever have and I remember not wanting him to look at my lady parts when the baby was coming out because I wanted him to still be attracted to me after. That's the dumbest thing I've ever thought. I am glad that he looked. He thought it was beautiful and he still talks about how he felt when he saw the baby's head for the first time. This experience has bonded my husband and I in ways I never imagined. Caitlin was/is phenomenal. She really prepared me so well before all of this and I am so blessed to have had her at my side. You can find her information I literally don't know if I would've been able to do this without her. God Bless and Welcome to this beautiful world, Scarlett Noel!