Tyra’s Birth Story: “Ask and you shall receive”
Andaluz client Tyra shares the empowering, fearless story of second birth. Below are Tyra’s words:
Friday morning around 3am I woke up to minor contractions but enough to wake me up. These continued until about 7amish but I was definitely able to sleep and get all the rest I needed. We finally got up for the day around 7:40ish and I had told Riley that I had had contractions but they had stopped. (This had been happening like the last 2-3 days so that was a normal conversation we had).
Around 8:40-9:00am they started back up, so what did Riley and I decide to do? Go to Costco of course. In my mind I’m thinking we’re having a baby either tonight or tomorrow morning and Riley still in denial thinking we have another few days to a week.
After Costco, contractions were still happening and Shawna came over to go on a walk with me and Paisley while Riley went to work. During our walk I continued to have them. Every now and then having to breathe through one or two but still feeling good.
After our walk, I made Paisley some food & then put her down. Contractions were starting to pick up in intensity so I decided to do some side laying and rest as much as I could. They quickly became 5-1-1 which means 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute and going on for 1 hour.
I asked my mom to come over because Paisley decided to only sleep an hour and they were starting to really pick up & Riley was still at work (luckily he had a short day)
My mom got there around 4ish and Riley got home around 5ish. At this time I was on the ball and having to focus each time a contraction came. It was when I began to shake that I figured we should probably head to the birthing center (I had been in contact with my midwife).
We said goodbye to Paisley, left around 6 and got to the birthing center at around 6:30.
They had the room all ready for me, tub was filled, lights were low, candles were on, oils were diffusing. I remember walking in and saying “that water looks very nice right now” and thinking “wow it smells wonderful in here.”
My midwives checked my vitals and listened to baby and then let me do my thing. One thing I prayed was that the Lord would just naturally lead me into whatever position I should labor in. Naturally I went to the edge of the tub and did a little squat. My midwife had Riley come behind me and lift my belly when I did that. This helped baby drop down onto the cervix.
After doing that for 20-30 minutes I wanted to change it up. I decided to go to the dilation station (aka the toilet). At first I was planning to only be there for 3 contractions but ended up staying longer. While on the toilet I remember being very vocal about any thought negative or positive that passed through my mind. One thing I remember saying was “Wow, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” Later Riley told me when I said that it made him very nervous because he thought we had a lot of time left.
My midwife came in and listened to baby and she checked where baby had been but the heartbeat wasn’t as strong so she said let’s check again, and she checked right below my belly. I asked “Does that mean he dropped??” She said “Yes” and I remember yelling “Praise Jesus!”
Shortly after that I had another contraction, Riley goes to lift my belly and POP! My water breaks. It was wild! With Paisley’s birth we had to break my water. Another answered prayer, that my water would break naturally.
Right after that I say “I want to get in the tub!” And I get very strong contractions and I start to push! My midwife said “Let’s get you in the tub so you don’t have a baby on this toilet.” The plan was to move in between contractions but they were on top of each other. Finally I just started moving over, trying my best to quickly get in the tub.
I started to push and I yelled “There’s a head!” 3 minutes more of pushing and he was here at 7:47pm, an hour and 17 minutes after arriving at the birth center. I didn’t experience ring of fire (answered prayer) I had very minimal bleeding (answered prayer) the whole process was fast (answered prayer) fear/pain free (answered prayer) so so so many answered prayers and I give all the praise to Jesus!
Ask and you shall receive!
Click here to read Tyra’s first birth story.
Are you interested in sharing your Andaluz birth story with our community? Email your story to us at info@waterbirth.net.
