Phoenix's Natural Hospital Birth
Happy Birthday my Baby!
In commemoration of Phoenix's first birthday, I thought I'd share his birth story with all of you. (Whoever you maybe)
Phoenix James Riedel was born on December 8th, 2015. I found out I was expecting my second child at a routine ob exam. I was 17 weeks along and I was stunned! I had none of the usual signs of pregnancy. I had no morning sickness, no nothing, but it was happening. I was nearly halfway through my pregnancy and I had to figure things out.
To my sadness and disappointment, I would be unable to give birth at the birth center where my first son was born. Due to financial/insurance issues, the best choice was going to be to deliver at a hospital. Although I would not be in a birth center, I was still determined to have a completely natural birth in the hospital setting.
Fast forward to the end of my pregnancy, my due date of December 4th came and went. My midwife was worried and tried to encourage me to be induced. Knowing what I have learned about the birthing process, I knew that being induced would disturb my birth plan of going intervention-free. So, I stuck to my guts and told her that I was prepared to wait until my baby was ready to make his appearance. I had days of false labor, but never the real thing until...
Monday, December 7. My contractions began to get very intense and close together. I'd done this once before, so I knew when it was the real thing. All-day the contractions were building up. It wasn't until around 7pm that they started to come a lot more frequently and I knew it was probably time to head to the hospital. My boyfriend, our 2-year-old son and I loaded up the car and headed to the hospital.
We were taken to a labor and delivery room and I got dressed in a gown and prepared to give birth.
When we arrived the nurses checked my cervix and dilation. I had dilated to about 4 cm and the nurse informed me that my bag of waters was still intact. The nurses hooked me up to two monitors. One monitoring the fetal heartbeat and one monitoring my contractions. They took a look at the monitors and realized that every time I had a contraction, my baby's heart-rate would drop. This had the nurses pretty concerned and they encouraged me to get into many different positions including all fours, to see if that would help the heart-rate remain more consistent. To me, it seemed logical that the baby's heart rate would slow a little when he was being basically squeezed by the contractions, but they continuously came in to check on the matter. I felt like the constant monitoring was causing unnecessary stress and worry, so I took it upon myself to remove the monitors. (plus they were really uncomfortable.)
The next time the nurse checked me, I was nearly 7 cm. So, because I was progressing really well they allowed me to keep the monitoring to a minimum. This time when she checked me, however, she said she did not feel my waters. I knew they had not broken in the time I'd been at the hospital but I did recall that 3 days prior when I used the bathroom a little more liquid comes out than usual, and I thought that may have possibly been my waters. That thought was thrown aside because my contractions never picked up and I thought I was validated when the nurse told me she felt my waters upon arriving at the hospital.
Considering that my baby could have been out of the protective bag of water for days, the nurse was now very concerned. She left the room to have a word with the doctor. (My midwife was not on call that night, so I had a fill-in doctor who I'd yet to meet. ) We all began to get a bit nervous. When the nurse returned to the room she said the words I'd most feared. She said the doctor had suggested a C-section to remove the baby a soon as possible in case he had been exposed to any infections while being out of the waters for so long. I weighed the pros and cons with my boyfriend and we quickly came to the decision that we would just wait it out. I figured that if my baby had already been exposed to an infection, then what would be the harm of him being kept in me for a couple more hours. I was already dilated so much. Of course, the doctors, and his messenger, the nurses, weren't too happy with my decision, but this was MY birth. They did, however, hook me up to an IV of antibiotics as a precaution. This was the only thing I received through the IV.
My pain level at this point was about a 2. The contractions were intense but I was on my feet and moving and managing the discomfort well, with the help of my boyfriend who would squeeze my hips or rub my back when I felt a contraction coming on. We watched a movie and listened to music while we labored together.
Soon I begin to feel that oh so familiar pressure and discomfort that I remember feeling with my first son. Except for this time, instead of fighting the feeling, every time I had a contraction, I pushed with the pressure. This was the most uncomfortable part of the whole experience, when the baby's head is right there, ready to come out.
The nurse came in and checked me once more to discover that baby's head was right there and it was time to get him out. By this time it was about 1:30 am. Before I knew it a whole team of people had entered the room. There were about 10 nurses and a doctor prepped with a tray of utensils that looked like something out of a horror movie. I turned to my boyfriend and said, Do not let them cut me! After that, I left my body. I watched myself rip off the hideous hospital gown exposing my fully naked body to all the people in the room. I watched myself pull myself into the squatting position with the bar above my bed and dig deep down and push. I was in a world of my own. It felt surreal. I was the portal and this living breathing being was emerging from inside of me.
Before I knew it, I gave one more push and he was out. He was suctioned and placed in my arms. I breathed sighs of relief and kissed him all over. He was perfectly beautiful, and I was so proud of him and I for working so hard to meet each other. For that moment he was outside of me yet we were still connected via the placenta.
I was in a birth bliss bubble and everything else that happened to have to do with the staff was a blur.
Phoenix James Riedel was born at 1:50 am on December 8, 2016. He was 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 in long.
In commemoration of Phoenix's first birthday, I thought I'd share his birth story with all of you. (Whoever you maybe)
Phoenix James Riedel was born on December 8th, 2015. I found out I was expecting my second child at a routine ob exam. I was 17 weeks along and I was stunned! I had none of the usual signs of pregnancy. I had no morning sickness, no nothing, but it was happening. I was nearly halfway through my pregnancy and I had to figure things out.
To my sadness and disappointment, I would be unable to give birth at the birth center where my first son was born. Due to financial/insurance issues, the best choice was going to be to deliver at a hospital. Although I would not be in a birth center, I was still determined to have a completely natural birth in the hospital setting.
Fast forward to the end of my pregnancy, my due date of December 4th came and went. My midwife was worried and tried to encourage me to be induced. Knowing what I have learned about the birthing process, I knew that being induced would disturb my birth plan of going intervention-free. So, I stuck to my guts and told her that I was prepared to wait until my baby was ready to make his appearance. I had days of false labor, but never the real thing until...
Monday, December 7. My contractions began to get very intense and close together. I'd done this once before, so I knew when it was the real thing. All-day the contractions were building up. It wasn't until around 7pm that they started to come a lot more frequently and I knew it was probably time to head to the hospital. My boyfriend, our 2-year-old son and I loaded up the car and headed to the hospital.
We were taken to a labor and delivery room and I got dressed in a gown and prepared to give birth.
When we arrived the nurses checked my cervix and dilation. I had dilated to about 4 cm and the nurse informed me that my bag of waters was still intact. The nurses hooked me up to two monitors. One monitoring the fetal heartbeat and one monitoring my contractions. They took a look at the monitors and realized that every time I had a contraction, my baby's heart-rate would drop. This had the nurses pretty concerned and they encouraged me to get into many different positions including all fours, to see if that would help the heart-rate remain more consistent. To me, it seemed logical that the baby's heart rate would slow a little when he was being basically squeezed by the contractions, but they continuously came in to check on the matter. I felt like the constant monitoring was causing unnecessary stress and worry, so I took it upon myself to remove the monitors. (plus they were really uncomfortable.)
The next time the nurse checked me, I was nearly 7 cm. So, because I was progressing really well they allowed me to keep the monitoring to a minimum. This time when she checked me, however, she said she did not feel my waters. I knew they had not broken in the time I'd been at the hospital but I did recall that 3 days prior when I used the bathroom a little more liquid comes out than usual, and I thought that may have possibly been my waters. That thought was thrown aside because my contractions never picked up and I thought I was validated when the nurse told me she felt my waters upon arriving at the hospital.
Considering that my baby could have been out of the protective bag of water for days, the nurse was now very concerned. She left the room to have a word with the doctor. (My midwife was not on call that night, so I had a fill-in doctor who I'd yet to meet. ) We all began to get a bit nervous. When the nurse returned to the room she said the words I'd most feared. She said the doctor had suggested a C-section to remove the baby a soon as possible in case he had been exposed to any infections while being out of the waters for so long. I weighed the pros and cons with my boyfriend and we quickly came to the decision that we would just wait it out. I figured that if my baby had already been exposed to an infection, then what would be the harm of him being kept in me for a couple more hours. I was already dilated so much. Of course, the doctors, and his messenger, the nurses, weren't too happy with my decision, but this was MY birth. They did, however, hook me up to an IV of antibiotics as a precaution. This was the only thing I received through the IV.
My pain level at this point was about a 2. The contractions were intense but I was on my feet and moving and managing the discomfort well, with the help of my boyfriend who would squeeze my hips or rub my back when I felt a contraction coming on. We watched a movie and listened to music while we labored together.
Soon I begin to feel that oh so familiar pressure and discomfort that I remember feeling with my first son. Except for this time, instead of fighting the feeling, every time I had a contraction, I pushed with the pressure. This was the most uncomfortable part of the whole experience, when the baby's head is right there, ready to come out.
The nurse came in and checked me once more to discover that baby's head was right there and it was time to get him out. By this time it was about 1:30 am. Before I knew it a whole team of people had entered the room. There were about 10 nurses and a doctor prepped with a tray of utensils that looked like something out of a horror movie. I turned to my boyfriend and said, Do not let them cut me! After that, I left my body. I watched myself rip off the hideous hospital gown exposing my fully naked body to all the people in the room. I watched myself pull myself into the squatting position with the bar above my bed and dig deep down and push. I was in a world of my own. It felt surreal. I was the portal and this living breathing being was emerging from inside of me.
Before I knew it, I gave one more push and he was out. He was suctioned and placed in my arms. I breathed sighs of relief and kissed him all over. He was perfectly beautiful, and I was so proud of him and I for working so hard to meet each other. For that moment he was outside of me yet we were still connected via the placenta.
I was in a birth bliss bubble and everything else that happened to have to do with the staff was a blur.
Phoenix James Riedel was born at 1:50 am on December 8, 2016. He was 6 lbs 4 oz and 20 in long.
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| He was a nursing champ since birth |
4 Days after giving birth, I walked in my college graduation.
We are so in love with our new addition. Him and big bro are already the best of friends.
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