Our Birth Story
august 2020
our baby was born in pensacola, fl and we didn’t find out the sex until birth
this is the story of my natural, unmedicated birth
my husband was stationed in florida while he was attending school for the navy. due to covid travel restrictions, he wasn’t going to be able to make the birth. at 36 weeks i packed up our car and found the remaining 2 inches left for our two dogs to sit. we made the 8 hour trek and lived 1 mile outside of the military base to be close to my husband.
it was 3 days past my ‘guess date’ on august 9th and i woke up with my husband by my side. i decided to do a workout. at the time he wasn’t able to live off base with me and I snuck my husband in the house to have a sleepover. we had slept in and it was around 10:30AM and i still remember the workout.
20min EMOM
min 1: 15 kettlebell thrusters (15lb)
min 2: activated bounce on my yoga ball
i was actively trying to engage our baby at the time and following my workout with yoga to open my sacrum + pelvis. after this workout I had sex with my husband. i remember feeling like a balloon on the inside and my husband was trying to pop me with a banana 😂 this was the last time we had sex before our little one arrived.
cameron returned to base later on around 4pm. we had went on a day date. we ate sushi and walked around downtown pensacola. around 5pm I started contractions with the mixture of period cramps and using the restroom 💩 so I was alone and texted my midwife
our midwife jenny allen was sent from heaven and kissed by jesus himself. i contacted the doulas in pensacola when I arrived looking for a midwife in the area and they directed me to jenny. the day I met the great jenny she walked into the room, looked me dead in the eyes and said if you want a natural, unmedicated birth I’m your girl. she also made me recite these words in every visit with her
my baby knows how and when to be born
my due date is a guess date
my body knows exactly what to do
she never mentioned interventions, medicine, or induction to me. not once, not ever. she truly believed in my ability.
*sticky thick discharge
so this was the start of my labor and I was alone pacing the house with the dogs while FaceTiming my husband saying “this isn’t real labor” and surely enough it was. my husband was transported to the house around 11:30pm from the military base and I had the bags packed waiting to go. I texted jenny, my midwife telling her to get out of bed it’s go time. once my husband arrived and got the car packed, I started throwing up. It wasn’t something I could stop so we grabbed a trash bag and my husband helped me into the car. i was sweating BAD.
we had a bumpy ride to the hospital. my husband can’t drive.
we arrived at the hospital around 1:15am and my contractions were 2 minutes a part. up until this point in my pregnancy I had opted to not have my cervix checked or any internal interventions. this sweet older lady named Rita was my check in nurse who got me settled in. I was still throwing up at this point so it took awhile for me to sit down. Rita checked my cervix and with wide eyes she said
“yeah you’re 8cm, almost 9cm - let’s get you to the delivery room”
this was right after I stopped throwing up enough to have my cervix checked.
I walked my contracting self to the delivery room and passed my on call nurse, shannon, on the way to the room. I remember smiling and laughing on the way. shannon had just arrived minutes before I was making my trip to the delivery room down the hall. I laughed and chatted with her at the nurses station while she read over my birth wishes. jenny was still in route to the hospital at this moment.
I was using the side of the bed to help with my contractions once I got into the room. shannon told me she had to get an IV into my arm but since my contractions were 2 minutes a part at this time it was almost impossible. my husband used counter pressure behind my back while I laid over the bed. at this moment i could not stand up straight and i was rocking back and forth. shannon was on the other side getting an IV line in. she needed to get this for precautionary measures.
shannon was hands down the best nurse to bring our baby into the world. she and I danced through my labor. shannon would get behind me to help sway my hips while singing and dancing. I never wanted a hospital birth, but I felt so at home in the room we welcomed our baby.
at this point it was 2:30am and we had been at the hospital for an hour. I quickly wanted to move to the tub and at this point my water had not broken, yet. the bath water only made me want to bare down to push. hanging my body over the water was what I liked best, breathing deep into my gut in and out. Soon the steam made me woozy and I transitioned.
I threw up all my previous hydration I had been intaking. we brought coconut water in the delivery room and my husband remembers me gagging at the sight of it.
right after this moment my husband helped me up from the tub. I probably was in the tub for 20 minutes.
standing next to the bedside with my husband holding my hair back my water broke on his feet 💦 I remember apologizing to shannon that I made a mess. cameron was so calm and smiling when i exploded liquids all over him LOL he grabbed towels trying to clean it all up. cameron said he could feel it soaking into his socks.
i was never scared about giving birth— not once during my pregnancy. at this point I remember saying YES under my breath that we were soon to see our baby
my pain at this point had elevated slightly, but i had butterflies knowing that we were going to find out the gender soon
i almost had our baby in this backward position above but I turned around eventually and just sat like a frog in a full squat
this was at 2:50am and everyone was scrambling to prepare for our baby
at 3 am I started pushing
jenny got the pull up bar out and this was magic for me. she coached me into curling my body IN. I shaped my body into a letter C shape on every contraction. My mind wanted to to tell me to push AGAINST and away from the pull up bar. jenny had to keep reminding me to CURL IN. i can remember her tone of voice saying - come on hayes CURL IN towards the bar.
I was clenching my teeth on every contraction while also managing to get in a few smiles + laughs. You can see my husband in the background smiling in awe of my courage. I was also making jokes with jenny and the nurses.
my husband braided my hair during delivery and by the time the pull up bar came out it fell down
i was in a pure state of knowing my ability to birth my child. cameron had his hand placed on my body and whispering in my ear that I could do this. our baby was seconds from being completely out and we saw the glimmering of the head coming out. this was a surreal moment. we could see our child’s face, but still didn’t know gender. our midwife said “let’s get these big hips through” and the baby slid right out on my final push. she was taken straight out and flipped over for gender. I remember Jenny shouting “you were jump roping in there with your cord wrapped around your feet”
i pushed for almost 25 minutes.
this is the most surprised someone can be in their lifetime. waiting to find out the sex of our baby was so fun. the delivery room shouted in in an uproar welcoming our GIRL into the world.
I held our girl for an hour+ while her cord and placenta stayed attached. jenny held my placenta for me to look at with amazement. I was so proud of what my body created and the life I grew inside me. our girl continued to stay in my arms for 3 hours after delivery -before anyone touched or weighed her. I believe this should be normalized in hospital settings more to wait, even past the golden hour.
this is the look of complete awe and fulfillment of holding our baby while feeling like a total badass that my body + mind just did this. i remember trying to pee after i just delivered and saying to cameron that i was so proud of myself.
after 3 hours of holding our little girl, dad got shirtless and held his girl for the first time for some good skin to skin.
her first latch
she latched immediately and did not want to leave my side, nothing much has changed since.
we are still in awe that we got a girl— still getting used to calling her name.
she is our greatest love , our iris hazel.
xoxo,
hayes
