This is an exciting birth story from Dana Schlies. She blogs at Rustic Farm Life where she shares about foraging, wildcrafting medicinal herbs, and making homemade herbal remedies. She lives on a 27-acre farm in rural Wisconsin with her husband and 4 young children where they raise milk goats and lots of chickens, as well as nurture organic vegetable and herb gardens.
Dana’s water birth story is an encouraging read for any expectant mama. Her experience with an unmedicated and intense labor – which left her incredibly satisfied – is sure to leave you feeling positive about the birthing journey!
I’ll start this story by stating that not every birth is the same. In fact, they are usually all different. Even for myself, having four pregnancies and births, all of them were different. Even my pregnancies were different.
Three labors were somewhat long – at least 5+ hours, except my second birth. My midwife joked that the second birth is always the fastest. Well, my second birth confirmed that notion for me and this birth was by far the most exciting.
Let me set the stage …
My second pregnancy was exceptionally easy compared to my first. I didn’t gain quite as much weight as with my first and I was able to exercise, garden, and function like usual. I really felt great overall – not something that continued with my later two births.
When I came around to 40 weeks pregnant, there was no sign of baby arriving anytime soon. So I waited and closely tried to watch for signs of labor. My first birth and later births all went past 41 weeks.
Finally, at nearly 41.5 weeks pregnant, labor seemed to begin. Early labor was very sporadic, starting and stopping over a period of 2-3 days.
I really didn’t keep track but my contractions would start and stop regularly. They typically started at night, I would start timing them, even call my midwife, and she would tell me if they don’t stop – call again later.
I thought for sure I was in active labor one stormy night. I had called my midwife and I was timing my contractions and then everything stopped again. I went to sleep and waited another day.
In the morning, contractions started again, but it was the 4th of July, we had a family picnic to go to, and I was set against having my baby on our country’s birthday – Independence Day. I wanted him to have his own birthday.
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We got ready, packed our lunch, and were on our way. At the picnic, we visited with family, ate our lunch, even took family pictures and enjoyed the morning.
Then it happened. I went to get a drink from my water bottle a few steps away from the picnic table and my water broke. Not only did it break, but it burst open! This wasn’t a tiny little trickle of water in my panties, but a huge gush of water down my legs, over my feet, and soaking my maternity capris and sandals. Ugh!!
I was in disbelief; this wasn’t a movie! How could this happen in front of all these people??
I called my husband over, he packed our things, and we were on our way home. Not without a few curious eyes and questioning grins though.
Contractions hadn’t started yet, but I called my midwife right away. I also called my Dad who was supposed to watch my older son while I was in labor. He was cutting hay in the fields and rushed right over.
After we arrived home, my contractions started and I called my midwife again to tell her. She said to stop and breathe through a contraction if I needed to and I definitely did. They were strong from the start! She said she was on her way.
I jumped in the shower to provide any pain relief I could while my husband gathered my son’s things and went to set up our birthing tub.
My dad arrived to take my son and I was finally able to jump in the birth tub. My contractions were consistently strong throughout this half an hour window.
The water in the birthing tub felt amazing! It significantly lessoned my discomfort with each contraction, even though they were strong and consistent.
My midwife, who had left a family picnic as well, raced to our house in record time. She surprised us by how quickly she was able to get there, and I was greatly comforted when she finally arrived.
We were all set up and waiting for labor to intensify. My second midwife arrived not long after.
In labor, once my contractions get stronger, I needed to focus solely on breathing through them. With this birth, it felt like each contraction was right on top of the last. It was all I could do to stay on top of my labor progress and not get overwhelmed.
My husband was so helpful in meeting my needs. We should have worked out a sign for specific needs, but he read my nodding and pointing pretty well. He kept me hydrated after breathing heavily through each contraction.
I am not able to speak or yell like some mama’s I know can. I need to be quiet and just breathe.
I also kept an ice cube in one hand for the entire birth. I had prepared a gallon size bag of ice cubes for labor. This was a trick I learned in a birth class.
The ice cube was so helpful in distracting me from the discomfort of a contraction. I kept one hand squeezing an ice cube and the other squeezing my husband’s hand. Both were very helpful to ‘pass the pain out of my body’ into something else.
My contractions continued to be one after the next for what felt like an hour and it very well may have been that long. It was a very intense time. I rested between contractions the best I could, but my contractions were so close together that I felt like I was breathing hard constantly.
(Note: My other births were very different in that I had time to rest for a few minutes between contractions.)
Finally, I felt my body start to push down. It was the most amazing feeling after so many rapid, intense contractions. I was excited about the change because I knew labor was almost over and I could meet my new baby!
This was just at the point where I felt like I couldn’t continue much longer at this rate. Labor was so intense! And every book says you’ll feel like you can’t go on any more and labor will finally change into the pushing stage. It was absolutely true for me.
I had two more pushing contractions and after the third, he came right out! Popped right out in some people’s descriptions.
We hadn’t found out the sex of the baby, nor had any ultrasounds – so we were elated to find out we had another beautiful baby boy!
Find out why you should think twice before getting another ultrasound in this post.
Both of my midwives were hands off and let labor and delivery happen as my body needed. It was a powerful experience compared to my first delivery in which I was induced and given Pitocin at the hospital. That was much more painful than this delivery at home.
With my first son, I had pain for weeks from the constant prodding of doctors, nurses, and epidural. After my second son’s birth, I felt back to normal in two days or less. I felt fantastic and energetic after birth. It was amazing!
For my third and fourth births, I went on to also have water births at home. Each were also different – much less dramatic, that’s for sure!
I loved reading birth stories while I was preparing for this particular birth. I followed several natural birth blogs and read every natural birth story and book I could get my hands on.
It was amazing to read about how strong women are while in labor and during birth. It empowered me to think big about my labor and birth and it helped prepare me mentally in many ways. I am so thankful for those stories!
This birth was my fastest birth of all four of my babies, which made it more difficult. I truly needed the mental preparation I had done to keep myself ahead of each contraction. They seemed to come right after another and were very intense. Which surprised me quite a lot.
My later births were much different with contractions spaced out more that allowed me to rest between them. I could have easily lost myself to the intensity of this birth. My preparation really paid off.
I also want to note that the majority of woman will not have their water burst with a large amount of water like mine did! Mine was the unusual event that did happen that way.
My best tip that someone gave me was to keep a large bath towel in the car wherever you go in your last few weeks of pregnancy. I was so thankful for that towel for this birth!
I call my second son my “firecracker baby,” because not only was he born on Independence Day, his labor was also fierce and fast!
I share this story solely to encourage you, Mama!
God made your body, beautifully and wonderfully, to labor and deliver these precious little gifts. You can birth this baby! You are strong!
For more reading on natural birth, check out the posts below!
- How to Prepare for a Natural Birth
- Hospital vs. Home Birth: What Are the Risks of Each?
- My Natural Hospital Birth Story
Do you have a birth story you want to share, Mama? Email me your original story (not published elsewhere) along with your name and bio to get your birth story on Mama Rissa. Let’s encourage and inform expectant mamas together!
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