12/27/2021
My unmedicated birth center birth turned into a hospital transfer and ended in a gentle c-section 🥺
I went into labor at 40+3 with contractions picking up at 2am. I was able to labor at home in the bath tub until 6am when they had become regular and quite intense. So my husband called my mom to come & the midwife to meet us at the birth center.
We arrived just after 7am and after checking me I was 90% effaced, 4cm dilated and my water had broken (being in the tub at home I had no idea it had broken but there was definitely an intense transition in my contractions which I assume is when it happened). So it was time to get to work on progressing.
I got in the shower, the tub, used the peanut ball in the bed, leaned over the CUB, did side lunges on the wall ladder, side lying release, some miles circuit and listened to my hypnobirthing rainbow relaxation track. Between 10pm and midnight I was checked and had progressed to 8cm, I was so excited that I was so close to meeting my baby. Contractions were getting even more intense because baby had dropped really low and my body wanted to push, but I wasn’t open enough and did end up with some cervical swelling.
By 3am I was still at 8cm and made the decision with my husband to transfer for an epidural. At this point I hadn’t slept in 26 hours and was beyond exhausted from laboring all that time. I was able to nap at the hospital before it was time to push and I was so ready when the time came!!
After pushing for 3 hours we discovered that baby was ROT and was coming down my pelvis sideways. He was not rotating as he should no matter what we tried, however he was very stable so there was no need for an emergency. So they prepped us for the OR and not even an hour later we got to meet our son!
I am still working to process it all, but thanks to a wonderful support system and my beautiful baby I am doing well. I just want to say it’s okay to not be okay after your birth even if you came out with a perfectly healthy baby. And if that was your experience I am sending you so much love! If you’ve read my whole story, thank you for staying 🙏🏻❤️