My Birth Story
- Bri
- Apr 28, 2024
- 5 min read
In this week’s blog, I am going to share my birth story. Trigger warning I’m not going to leave out any details. This is a positive birth story so I hope you enjoy it.
An important part of any birth story is the setting. I was very fortunate to be able to receive prenatal care and give birth at the San Antonio Nurse Midwife Birth and Wellness Center with Certified Nurse Midwife Nikki McIver-Brown.
SANM was an obvious choice for me because I got to work with Nikki and her team as a doula while I was pregnant. The care that I saw provided to clients regardless of what they looked like was a wonderful change of pace from other places I saw clients give birth. On top of the fact that the space is beautiful. When I became a client I got to experience what a prenatal appointment was like at SANM. It honestly was similar to visiting your favorite family member cozy and comfortable. The staff was genuinely invested in the health and wellness of me, my baby, and his father Kasai. On to the actual labor and delivery.
I thought I was going into labor on April 2nd in the middle of the night when I started having stomach pains that felt like diarrhea. I was stuck on the toilet for who knows how long. Kasai and my two brothers were in the apartment knocked out cold. So no one heard me calling for help. When I finally crawled myself off of the toilet I was in a diaper and I told Kasai to call the doula. I called Nikki right after calling my doula Crystal. I honestly don’t remember much of the phone call besides Nikki asking me if I could feel the baby’s head. Here’s where it gets a little gory so skip to the next paragraph if you’re not into that. I was having loose bowels which is a symptom of early labor for a lot of women and my diaper was full. Kasai turned on the shower for me and when the water was ready he helped me undress and I was so embarrassed about having him take off my poop diaper and clean it up. He told me not to worry about that and to get in the shower he would take care of it. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the diaper and into the shower. The water was so relaxing as I labored on my hands and knees.
When Crystal made it to my apartment I was still having contractions a few minutes apart. She pulled out a handheld back massager that felt AMAZING and helped me through contractions a lot. After getting some sleep the contractions were back and I wanted to move so Crystal and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I had to stop a few times and sit on the ground to rest when the contractions got intense. After that, I remember contractions slowing down and going back home to get some more rest. For the next 10 days, I would have contractions on and off throughout the day and night.
On April 11th I had enough, I was ready to give birth and meet my son. Nikki gave me a recipe for a midwife brew that would hopefully get things into gear for real. I’ll add the recipe below but if you are pregnant reading this do NOT take it without consulting your care provider first. The brew worked! About an hour after taking it, contractions started back up again with consistency this time. At some point, Crystal came back over and helped with comfort measures while my Dad and someone else held my hand as the contractions turned into waves. Kasai was using the handheld back massager for most of the time. While my mom was making some homecooked meals for me to have postpartum. As things got more intense I was ready to get checked out at the birth center to see how far along I was. Kasai went to get the car and I got help walking to the car. We called Nikki to meet us there.
At the birth center, I was at 2cm and I thought to myself how am I going to do this? We went back to the apartment and I don’t remember too much besides my mom and Crystal comforting me during contractions and thinking I was peeing myself when in actuality my water had broken. At some point, it was time to go back to the birth center. There was no way I was going to be able to sit in a car with a seatbelt. So I was wrapped in blankets and loaded into the back of our small SUV.
Back at the birth center, I was 8cm dilated. I was sleeping in between contractions for what felt like hours but was only a few minutes. As I was getting an IV put in (I was GBS positive) I remember asking Nikki for the hand-held back massager that I had seen used at other births there. I labored through the night in various positions and places in the Ida birthing suite while my labor playlist played several times, on the birth stool, on the bed, in the shower, in the bath, and on my back it felt like we did it all. Looking back at it now I know it took so long because I had a mental block I was scared to push his head out, scared of pain, scared of tearing, just scared of the unknown. Someone told me during that time the only way through it was to go through it … or something like that. So at that point, I knew I couldn’t be scared anymore I had to submit. It was time to push for real.
It was morning at this point and Kasai sat in front of me along with Nikki another midwife and birth assistant. Crystal held me as I cried with contractions and slowly pushed my son’s head out. I’m so glad this moment was captured on video because it gets fuzzy in my memory. Everyone was telling me I was so close to meeting him but I didn’t believe them because they had been telling me that all night long. Nikki gave me a mirror so I could see my baby crowning and touch his head. When more of his head was out Kasai was so excited and overwhelmed he started to cry and so did everyone else in the room. “That’s our son!” he exclaimed. It was so beautiful. I vividly remember his shoulder popping out of me and the rest of him finally arriving. His Dad caught him and handed him to me. Ashtro was born with his eyes wide open. So that’s my birth story. All and all my labor was 24 hours which is pretty normal for a first-time Mom.
If you happen to be in San Antonio, Texas, or the surrounding area I’m going to link info for San Antonio Nurse Midwife and my doula Crystal below. Als,o enjoy the photo of my birth team.
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