22 Hours of Back Labor…No Drugs
It really is possible to survive a full-length labor without drugs, even when there is pain involved. To my husband and me, the benefits were worth it, especially in retrospect.
From the time we knew we were expecting, we also knew that we didn’t want to have our baby born in a hospital. Of all the reasons, the most notable was that I kept reading about relaxing helping labor along, and I knew I’d never be able to relax in a hospital, and I’m not much of a fan of pain. After a few months of searching and researching, we found a birth center in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with close ties to high-quality emergency medical facilities. From the first visit to their website, we were pretty confident that this is where we would to birth our baby.
With our decision to plan to have our baby born in a birth center, we were, in that decision, choosing to plan a natural delivery, with no drugs or “preventive” procedures that can be done only in a hospital. Since this was our first baby, we didn’t really know, entirely, what we had coming, but now that we’re on the other side, we wouldn’t do it any other way.
Right from the start, my only sensation of labor was lower back pain that alerted me to contractions. The baby was born with the cord around her neck, and the midwife believes that she (the baby) had her head cocked into my spine througout the entire laboring process, with triggered the back pain as contractions pressed her harder into my spine. Poor kid…it seems a rough way to get started!
There were definitely moments when I wanted to just be done and/or give it all up. Funny thing, though, when you’re in the middle of labor and giving birth, it’s too late to change your mind. Thankfully, I had my wonderful husband with me throughout, and God strengthened him as much as He did me. From the jacuzzi to the shower to the floor to the bed, we experimented with many things that we had read, but for the most part, we just had to breathe through it all, and there was always a break right when I “couldn’t take it any more.”
I remember, all too clearly, that when it was all done, and our healthy baby girl was on my belly, then in my arms, that I was sure nothing would ever hurt again. After twenty-two hours of repetitive pain in my lower back, I was confident that I could take any discomfort and it would be nothing, in comparison. Less than nine months later, the least little paper cut hurts like crazy. So they were all right–the memories do soften over time.
After the fact, when our little girl had been born healthy, it was wonderful to be able to hold her right away. Since I had no drugs, I was very alert (until I crashed, a few hours later) and fully able to enjoy our daughter. She, too, was quite alert, and we had a great time getting to know her, right away. It was wonderful to be able to go home, since all systems were functional, and we were thrilled to have our first night altogether in our own home–what a great start! This was all possible, since I’d had no preventive procedures or medications. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gifts!