I've known Stephanie since we were teenagers! It's been such a privilege to photograph her little family over the years. She really wanted to have a birth photographer at this birth but because of the pandemic, she couldn't. But I was able to photograph her pregnancy and a snuggly, sweet newborn session.
I asked Stephanie if she would like to fill out my Birth Story Survey to help write her birth story and if I could share it here on my blog and she agreed! I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I did.
"Elliot, my third girl, was 8lbs 5.9oz"
Stephanie had an induced labor with a vaginal birth at the hospital, born in the midst of the pandemic.
"I was super nervous and anxious to give birth to my third girl. I really wanted to go into labor naturally but my body just wouldn't go into labor on its own. I tried pretty much everything but I was in a lot of pain so we went ahead and scheduled the induction. We were both very excited to meet our new little girl and we were as ready as could be."
" I was giving birth in the middle of a pandemic and I wasn't allowed to walk the floor or do what I did with the previous births. I was also worried about masks and I didn't want to push or labor with a mask on"
"this time I wanted to try my hardest not to get an epidural. I wanted to have my birth to be as natural as possible. Once they put me on the monitor when I got settled in my room, they told me I was actually having contractions on my own, which I didn't even feel. I was also 3 cm dilated (but I had been for like 2 weeks already) so that got me a little excited that maybe my body was doing what I wanted it to do"
"Contractions were incredibly tolerable and I was smiling and talking and laughing through the whole thing. Then my midwife came in and started the Pitocin. I was still tolerating everything very well to the point where my midwife came in and said I look too comfortable and jacked the Pitocin up super high and broke my water. That's when things started getting really intense. I asked them to bring a laboring ball in and I did a lot of hip swirling on the ball and my husband massaged my back while I breathed through the contractions."
"They needed the baby's head to come down further so then they put me on the bed with the peanut ball to spread my legs and hopes that she would come down. I kept feeling the need to push but every time they checked me they said I wasn't ready yet. The need got so intense I just said forget it, I'm pushing. I was in so much pain, I was shaking, I couldn't open my eyes. My midwife checked me again at that point and said I was at 9 and she was trying to help me get to a 10 in hopes to prevent any tearing or anything. I guess it worked because I was able to push her out with no complications or tearing. I only pushed for about maybe 15 minutes. The need to just bear down and push was so intense, my body didn't want to take a break. I just wanted her out. My husband was able to pull her out and put her on my chest and my first words were "I did it!" She was so beautiful and so perfect and I was so proud of myself."
"The best part of my birth was definitely being able to do it without pain meds which was my goal. I got scared at one point because I told the nurse about my sciatic pain and my pelvic pain and she said I was going to need an epidural because that was going to add a bunch more pain to an already painful labor. So I kind of freaked out about it for a minute but I set my mind on it and did it! Another highlight for me was my husband being able to pull her out and put her on my chest and both of us crying over her. He doesn't ever cry but he has for every birth and it takes my heart ❤️ every time."
Thank you for sharing your birth story with us Stephanie!
"The moment a child is born, a mother is born also"
much love,
Olivia
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