Meet Vigo!

9lbs 7oz 

He came at 42 weeks and 1 day

It’s been the most amazing, exhausting time and we are so madly in love it hurts. Thanking God for a healthy little guy. Giving birth to him was the hardest and most meaningful thing I’ve ever done.

With our baby boy being so late, there was pressure to get an induction, which I really wanted to avoid. I opted to try the castor oil brew instead, and 12 hours after taking it, my contractions started. I labored at home 43 hours which was a really sweet time for my husband and I. Our doula, Lindsay Neal, was an amazing help towards the end as things got more intense. Her gentle massage helped me relax through contractions and she showed my husband and I some techniques like “the lift and tuck” to help baby engage in my pelvis better. 

Our goal was to get to the hospital during transition but ended up getting there at 10cm! In hindsight, I can see I was in denial that I was in transition because I was still able to talk and wanted to eat (I had a fried egg sandwich lol), though I had other signs like shivers and shaking. After waiting so long for labor to start, it felt hard to believe it was really happening. I eventually followed my gut instincts when I started to feel like I had to poop and wanted to start pushing, and so we packed up quickly and headed to the hospital. 

Once at the hospital, I followed Julie’s advice and wore headphones and closed my eyes so I was able to stay in the zone going through the hospital. The midwife wanted to check my cervix before I could get in the tub. I told her I didn’t want her to because I didn’t want to risk breaking my water. But alas, she wouldn’t fill the tub without a check, so we did it. My water broke as soon as she put her hands up there lol, but it was good news to hear I was complete and could get in the tub. 

I pushed for 3.5 hours in the tub and was able to eat some grapes in between pushes for energy. Everything was going great but we had a scare at the end with his heart rate dropping when his head was half-way out … they asked me to leave the tub and get on the bed (not an easy walk at that point), and brought in an OB. I was feeling very scared and discouraged at that point, at the end of myself but knowing at that point we needed to do whatever it took and had to trust God with whatever would happen next. I ended up with an episiotomy which is making for a slow recovery, but SO worth it because my baby boy came out crying and is doing great. 

It was very meaningful for me to experience a natural birth, to see how strong my body is capable of being when it needs to be. It was also humbling to feel like I gave it my all and hit points where I didn’t know if I could go on. The Mindful Birth class really helped me feel more prepared and confident going into this experience.

[Editor Note: while episiotomy is not recommended as a routine practice, it is evidenced-based for the rare situations in which there is fetal distress during crowning.]