Hello my darling sovereigns! It has been quite some time since I’ve sat to create an entry for you all and it has all been for good reason as baby Alessandra graced us with her presence on May 10th, two weeks early of her due date.
Initially, I wanted to share a video of her birth story, but as time carries on, I realize that I either get it down or risk forgetting it and realized maybe documenting it this way would be better suited for the season that we are living alongside a newborn.
This eventful birth began on Thursday May 6th when I went in for a routine weekly check-in with my OB at 38 weeks and was told that I was 3 cm dilated.
This was quite shocking to me as I felt relatively normal and had zero discomfort. In my experience beginning at 3-4 cm it can start to get a little hairy pain wise. With this information, I left the office and informed my husband and my in laws (who were going to be in charge of childcare for Santi) what was going on and to basically stay alert.
Apparently, my in laws took this information as come over right away and set up camp because this child will be arriving any moment.
Within a few hours of my message to them, they were in our home cooking, and prepping to stay over the weekend fully knowing this baby was gonna come. I was not as certain as they were that this would happen so quickly, however, my husband seems to have sided with them because a few hours shy of them being in our home, my husband walked in declaring he wasn’t going back to work and that we should prepare for baby.
Mind y’all – I hadn’t even had a single contraction yet.
I was crampy and kinda weird feeling but no other sign of baby coming earthside.
By Sunday (the 9th) and Mother’s Day I had started to feel a TAD more cramping but I was moving with relative ease, going for long walks, laughing and enjoying my day out with my husband and son.
When we returned home around 2 pm, I did begin to feel a very slight elevation in discomfort. Nothing I couldn’t talk through, however. By 8 PM that night my husband made the call to go to the hospital and get checked.
Why the early move? – this paranoia in part is due to the fact that my son was born REALLY fast (from water break to delivery it was only 7 hours) and we hardly made it to the hospital. My husband did not want a repeat of this incidence so he was attempting to get AHEAD of this. However, due to the fact that I felt so normal I was really thinking we were going to get to the hospital and they were gonna send us home.
Well, we got there and they did not send us home.
As it turns out – I was 6 cm dilated and having regular contractions I couldn’t even feel. For every 2 I thought I had, I was actually having 4. Again, I am mind blown because I had NO IDEA. I would think by 6 cm I’d be flailing around in agony like an insane person. That did not happen. I was able to walk and talk and was totally fine.
They admitted me into a labor and delivery room and the wait began. From about 9 PM to about 6 AM I labored in my room with inconsistent contractions and interrupted naps that would get jarred by that one contraction that felt pretty rough. When they checked me again at that time I had BARELY progressed from 6-7.
It was at this time that my midwife gave me an option. She knew I didn’t want to do anything chemical and she also knew I could probably labor indefinitely for a while. She offered to stretch my cervix a bit and see if that could kick start more regular contractions and if she happened to feel the water bag she would strip my membranes. Although I did NOT want this, I was exhausted and starving at this point and I was ready to have this baby. So, she stretched me – did not feel my water bag – and left me to continue to labor.
From that point active labor happened LIGHTNING fast. I jumped from 6-8cm in a few hours with contractions coming in strong and steady.
When they came in to check me they could tell it was nearing game time so they started preparing my room for delivery and they asked me to tell them when I felt like I needed to push.
Welp – I went from 8cm to 10 cm in 2 contractions and began pushing before they were even ready. Mind you, my water had STILL not broken.
Unfortunately for me I began delivering my water bag which felt HORRIFICALLY painful and at that point my midwife asked me if she could break it to ease the discomfort and baby’s delivery. I agreed and she cut it, water gushed everywhere and out came Alessandra in a push and a half riding that water wave.
This was my second unmedicated birth and it was more painful than my first. I think because my labor felt so long and I was so tired and hungry, by the time it came to push I was DEAD. On top of that, I suffered two lacerations and a postpartum hemorrhage which flung all the nurses and the midwife into a spiral as they rushed to suture me, and hook me up to Pitocin, IV and other medications to stop bleeding and calm my body down.
As all that was happening, Alessandra came out DESPERATE to nurse and was rooting immediately. It was so overwhelming and overstimulating I wanted to cry. But I was SO GRATEFUL she was out and I no longer had to feel those delivery pains.
Listen, I 100% stand behind natural delivery, but one word of caution – be prepared to handle a level of pain you’ve never met before. Be prepared to use your breath like your life depends on it because it does. Be prepared to feel like you might die, and know that you won’t. This kind of birth requires TOTAL commitment because once you’re in – YOU’RE IN.
I ended up losing 3x the amount of blood they allow for a delivery and nearly ended up with a transfusion and the only reason I didn’t, was because my hemoglobin was so high and I was so vitally healthy, it sustained me through this delivery.
HERE IS WHAT I WANT Y’ALL TO HEAR: My lifestyle literally saved my life. Had I not spent 5 years PRIOR to her arrival honoring my body with movement, nutrition, supplementation and my mind with the level of growth that has allowed me to level up – I would’ve been in a CRITICAL condition.
We were discharged within 24 hours because both babe and I were doing so well. We’ve been home since and it’s been totally wonderful.
I am forever grateful to my past self for investing in herself with programs and products that TRULY contribute to quality of life and that sustained me when I needed it most. As I always say – fitness is about living your life with EASE. It’s about training for your LIFE. When it becomes part of who you are and how you operate with ease – it’s a game changer.
Today I celebrate being home with a healthy baby, a healthy body and an uplifted attitude.
Have any questions for me about my delivery? Ask below!
In love and sovereignty,
xoxo Shakti