Positive Unmedicated Hospital Birth Story
My little baby is turning one in a few day! I have been looking back on this past year of his life and remembering not only his life the past year but also the day of his birth. It was a whirlwind, precipitous labor and I still think about it a lot to this day!
My pregnancy experience

My pregnancy with my second baby was pretty similar to my first. I had terrible morning sickness from the time I got my positive test to about 16 weeks. It was a lot harder this time around with a toddler. I actually ended up staying with my parents for quite a few weeks so my sisters and mom could help with my toddler. I was way more active with this pregnancy (once I started feeling better). I continued going to my group fitness classes until about my third trimester and then just transitioned to walking regularly after that.
I decided to see a Certified Nurse Midwife at the same practice as the OB I saw with my first pregnancy. I actually saw her for one appointment during my first pregnancy when my OB was busy with a c-section and she was on call. It was near the end of my pregnancy and I remembered she asked me if I wanted to do a cervical check. I was so surprised because my OB always said something along the lines of “Okay, now we are going to do a cervical check!” and I never even realized I had an option. After some side effects from my epidural, I wanted to do my next labor and delivery unmedicated and I was hoping a midwife would be more naturally-minded and offer some more support for that decision.
Why I wanted an unmedicated birth
I decided I wanted an unmedicated birth this time for a couple of reasons. I had a really positive experience with my first birth with an epidural (you can read about my experience here!) but there were some things I wanted to go differently this time around. First of all, I didn’t love the long-term side effects I had from the epidural. I had to have a urinary catheter once my epidural was placed and it was so painful and uncomfortable because my epidural wasn’t fully working. I would honestly say that was the most painful and worst part of my whole birth experience. Then, for several weeks afterward, I had pain and then some discomfort every time I peed. It was terrible! Second, I still to this day have some back pain/soreness where my epidural was. It is very, very mild and doesn’t bother me much but I want quite a few children and it made me nervous that it could get worse with every birth (I have no idea if that is based in fact, it was just a fear I had).
When I was pregnant with my first, I was on the fence about whether I wanted to go unmedicated or get an epidural. However, most people in my life were very negative about going unmedicated. They told me they would never do it, once contractions started I would be begging for an epidural, labor is the worst pain you will ever experience, etc. This time around, I kind of wanted to prove everyone wrong! I also didn’t really tell anyone but my husband about my plan and thankfully he was a very supportive and on-board birth partner.
Preparing for an unmedicated birth
Education and preparation is the key to reducing fear and anxiety around birth! I read two books to prepare: “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth” and “Mindful Birthing”. The latter was recommended by my midwife but my favorite was definitely Ina May’s! I watched as many positive, unmedicated birth stories on YouTube as I could find. I watched videos on YouTube where people gave tips and advice for unmedicated birth. I followed a bunch of positive birth accounts on Instagram as well and eventually the algorithm was feeding me videos about preparing for labor and birth. I compiled all the tips I thought were helpful into one place that I could reference. I didn’t take a birth class for financial reasons but if you are able to, do it!
Also…I practiced! I had a better idea this time around of what labor and contractions were like so I practiced all the tips I could. I practiced techniques while holding ice in my hand (you can learn more about the ice cube exercise here), during Braxton Hicks contractions that weren’t painful, and, later on, during prodromal labor that was painful! I also had my husband practice some things he could do to support me like counterpressure or helping me breathe.
Leading up to the birth

My first baby came right on his due date! I know that is pretty rare, so I tried really hard not to get my hopes up that would happen again. I wanted to avoid an induction, so I mentally prepared my entire pregnancy to go over my due date. I finished my last semester of college in mid-December, we celebrated Christmas, and I picked up extra shifts at work to save some money before the baby came. Three weeks before my due date, I had an idea to have my sister-in-law come up to visit us and watch our toddler so we could go on one last date before the baby came.
My husband and I went to see the new Avatar movie in theaters and I was having painful contractions throughout the movie. The last few days I had been in so much pain and having so many contractions, but I was trying to prepare to be pregnant for a few more weeks. Two of my husband’s sisters came up to watch our toddler during our date and that night, he was joking with them that they should just stay the night. They had plans that night, so they headed home about two hours south of us.
Surprise!
That night, my water broke at about 1:30 am. It was very dramatic. My sheets were soaked and I had no doubt it was definitely my water breaking. After my water broke, I didn’t start having contractions right away. I was worried that labor might not start on its own. Since my husband’s sisters had just left, I suggested that we wait to go to the hospital until about 7 am. However, when I called the hospital, they wanted me to come in right away. I called someone from our church to come stay at our apartment while our toddler slept. By the time we left for the hospital, regular contractions had started.
Arriving at the hospital

When we got to the hospital, they checked me in and confirmed my water had really broken. I was 4 cm dilated at that point. My husband was helping me breathe and relax through my contractions and find positions that were comfortable. At one point, I started throwing up and I was hopeful that meant I was in transition because I threw up in transition with my first labor. However, when I was checked, I was only 6 cm dilated and I was a bit disappointed with that.
At that point, they called my midwife (my midwife said she would come when I was 6 cm dilated) and I decided to get in the tub. My hospital only had one room with a tub and so I had to specifically request that one when we checked in. The warm water helped me so much for a little bit but pretty soon I felt like I wasn’t getting a break between contractions and the pain was really intense. It was only an hour earlier that I was 6 cm dilated and I was sure I had hours of labor ahead of me so I told my husband I wanted to get an epidural because I didn’t feel like I could keep going for hours. Even though I told my husband in the months leading up to labor that I did NOT want an epidural, he ran to the nurse’s station as soon I said that!
My midwife shows up
Right after I decided I wanted an epidural, my midwife showed up. I told her that I couldn’t do this anymore and I remember telling her it felt like my pelvis was breaking. She said she thought I might be close to delivery if I was feeling that way and had me get out of the tub to get checked. Sure enough, I was 9.5 cm dilated and it was almost time for the baby to come! I went to the bathroom and then decided to get on the hospital bed. I remember I kept saying, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this” and my midwife was so sweet and encouraging and kept telling me, “You ARE doing it!”
Pushing
The position I kept getting into during later was kneeling while leaning over the back of the hospital bed (in an upright position) and that’s the position I got in to push. My husband was right by my head, holding my hands and encouraging me so much. As I prepared for this birth, I keep hearing people say that the urge to push felt like you had to poop but I thought there was no way that that was true! However, I remember telling my husband “I feel like I’m pooping!” My plan was to try very controlled pushing and breathe my baby out but at that point, I was just pushing him out as hard as I could. I was sure I was going to tear so bad. He was out in just three pushes and hearing his cry and seeing him was the best feeling in the world!
After the birth

Our baby boy was born at 5:08 am. He was 7 lbs, 5oz (just one ounce different than my first) and 19 inches. After he was born, I just felt like I was in so much shock. Everything happened so fast and it was very intense. I didn’t want to let go of my baby. They let me hold him while my midwife delivered my placenta and stitched me up (I only had a very small tear that needed just one stitch). Because he was born so quickly, he didn’t have a cone head or swelling and he was just the most perfect and precious looking newborn. My midwife helped me get him latched pretty soon after birth which was so important to me because breastfeeding didn’t work out with my first and I ended up pumping for 9 months. I wanted to establish that breastfeeding relationship right away and I’m so grateful for my midwife helping make that happen.
My advice for other moms
I don’t necessarily think that every mom should have an unmedicated birth, but I just wish that every mom knew that she COULD! I hear so many women say things like “I could never do that” but your body was literally made to do it and you absolutely can. It’s not for everyone but if an unmedicated birth is something you want, you 100% can do it. My advice would be:
- Decide WHY you want an unmedicated birth. Make a list, write the reasons down, and focus on them.
- Create a list of affirmations you can ground to. (My favorites were “My body was made to do this”, “I can do anything for 60 seconds”, and “This is power and pressure not pain”.
- Research and practice coping strategies.
- Find a supportive provider and a supportive birth partner (if your spouse doesn’t feel like he can do it, consider getting a doula!).
To read about my positive hospital birth with an epidural, click here!