The experiences of the first birth were scribbled, so why not document the second one as well?
Because these are two very different experiences, and my body is one. I manifested a natural birth as much as possible and I succeeded!
The girl warmed up in the belly for as long as she could and was in no hurry to come out. When the last days of the 41st week were drawing to a close, my anxiety was skyrocketing, and I felt impatient. However, I kept telling myself that when she is ready, it will happen.
And I did everything I could to speed up the process (because I really did not want to experience an induced birth again): acupuncture, spicy food, laughter, long warm showers, Miles' circuit, pineapple juice, fast running around the house and outside, and diagonally climbing stairs.
And it all started! I put my firstborn to sleep with a slight back pain, but as he sank into deep sleep, I suddenly began to feel waves of contractions. I thought I would gather my strength and take a nap myself, but there was no time to even lie down, because the pain was recurring every 5 minutes.
After calling the hospital and talking to the midwife, my head couldn't comprehend that everything was happening so quickly, so after half an hour I was already being examined. Lying on the hospital bed reminded me of the agony caused by pain during my first labor and I still ask out loud why a woman who is about to give birth is put to bed when, in my opinion, this is the most painful and unfavorable position to give birth?!
The midwife says: "That's it, 10 cm", and I scream: "I only want to give birth in water!"
However, I didn't manage to bathe. After asking for a yoga ball and swaying slightly-> I wanted to push. The waters only broke in the active stage. My partner lightly massaged my waist, and I was pressing the wooden comb in my right hand so that my brain would focus only on that (I recommend it!). Between contractions, I laughed and was able to catch my breath in between. And everything happened at lightning speed. I also used gravity, because my body was in a kneeling position. With the help of a “moo” breath, I pushed out the head (only when the ring of fire appeared, I remember shouting: “What the fuck is this feeling?!”, even now I am
giggling), and her soft body came out in one or two pushes. And here she is!
Throughout the active phase, I listened to my body, which easily guided me. And it was and still is the most empowering feeling.
I felt amazing having given birth completely without any interventions and in the safe space of the hospital. However, after a beautiful birth and birthing of the placenta, I started to bleed profusely. A large team of midwives and doctors rushed to help my body. Luckily, they managed to stop the heavy bleeding (I lost more than 2 liters of blood). Meanwhile, some thoughts were running through my mind that maybe it was good that I didn't give birth in water, and maybe 100 years ago or even less, I would have already passed away. So a big shout out to modern medicine!
And that's how my beloved lioness-Ronja Marija was born <3
