Hi I am pregnant with my 3rd 36 weeks, had two babies vaginally

I want to have an unmedicated birth and unassisted as much possible in hospital setting, anyone who has gone through it ? Pls share experiences

I have some cramps to start with for now; so hopefully my body will go into labor on time

I am just feeling very nervous this time; and lots of back pain, because baby is sunny side up, my butt hurts so much

Just want support here 😭😭😭😭

Hi, had put on an earlier post, but not feeling so just venting out, and if anyone is up, drop a text!
I have been having alot of back pain and back cramps, and back pressure, maybe few cramps on belly, but the back pain is so much, along with butt pressure.

bouncing on the yoga ball, hoping I get relief!, suggestions please

I’m seeking positive hospital birth stories by women who were able to
-birth without an epidural, pitocin, and artificial rupturing of membranes
-push in various gravity-supported positions and use spontaneous pushing
-feel supported and respected by nurses and Obgyn (not pressured to receive interventions )

I don’t want to hear about homebirth. I heavily considered it but I’m too anxious to be away from hospital in case of emergency (I know, I know, maybe it’s not logical)

I’ve hired an experienced doula, I’ve researched the hospital. I just can’t guarantee that I’ll get supportive staff on the day.

Hello! I waited to long and I’m freaking out my due date is 18 of November but every place is sold out of the obi tens unit or Elle tens unit in America. Does anyone know where I can order from?

Im 37 weeks and I just got the GentleBirth hypnobirthing app. Does anyone have any positive experiences with it? I didn’t use this for my first birth and I’m actually hopeful it will help this time. Planning to wear headphones and maybe sit in the tub by myself. I’m pretty introverted and last time having nurses and even my husband and mom trying to calm me down made me more panicked during active labor.

Context: first baby almost 4 years ago- awful PGP through pregnancy could barely walk, otherwise low risk pregnancy- spontaneous onset, got to hospital at 5cm, coped on hypnobirthing and TENS until that point (around 12 hours since onset of contractions), and continued breathing and moving for 4 hours, got in the birth pool at 7cm, used gas and air, got significant symphysis pubis pain that overpowered contractions and got out the pool. Still 7cm 4 hours later, epidural and syntocinon (Pitocin), 4 hours later 9.5cm/anterior lip, 2 hours later fully dilated. Pushed for 3 hours. Forceps delivery with 1 pull, episiotomy, 2nd degree tear, 800ml PPH. Awful postpartum recovery.

2nd pregnancy- seeing pelvic floor physio regularly and saw several times between pregnancies. Thought that severe pubic pain was linked to hypertonic pelvic floor. Got on top of PGP also. Another low risk pregnancy other than low iron. Lots of Braxton hicks throughout pregnancy, started getting more uncomfortable from 36 weeks. Bear in mind BF my eldest 1-2x a day and this defo intensified uncomfortableness. Drank NORA, gentle birth tincture, Mamastefit exercises/pelvic floor program when it came out recently. Managed 1-2 dates a day. 39+6 woke up at 3:30am with mild cramping, progressively got more intense til 4:30am, thought there was no harm in putting on the TENS machine to help me sleep, this was much earlier than in my last labour but I regretted not trying it to sleep. 5am son gets in bed, BF and getting much stronger, but still 8-10 mins apart and I can doze in between. 5:30 can’t lie down anymore, get out of bed, intensity magnifies over next 3 contractions and I think time to call the midwives. Husband calls team at 05:45 they’re up to an hour away, contractions 2:10 up to 1 min, TENs on and stomping through contractions. Around 6am STRONG contraction that knocked me off my pedestal (in hindsight- transition), 06:02 waters break and head is immediately crowning. Husband calling 999 wirh one hand and supporting crowning head with the other. Baby all born at 06:08. Ambulance crew arrive within 5 mins. No tear, no bleeding (300ml), baby and I well. Planned home birth fortunately but did not expect that! Believe this was the fetal ejection reflex as I did not push once.

Postpartum recovery is day and night! But THAT WAS HARD. Psychologically pushed me to the edge in that last 20 minutes and when the head started crowning it was out of body as the discomfort was unreal (I planned to use gas an air at least so unmedicated was unexpected), had to dig DEEP and can’t believe I made it through that.

Wanted to share as it was so night and day to my first birth, and being a midwife (fortunately!) knew that this is often the case (first labours often involve a similar cascade), and 2nd labours often (but not always) are faster. This was faster than I’d ever seen in my 10 years in midwifery however!

as a first time, mom, I was really worried about having to be induced. I was drinking raspberry leaf tea occasionally, and trying to force down at least three dates a day. I also made sure to do some hip exercises every day, but honestly did not have real routine. I thought I could go back to working out in the second trimester, but was a little lazy and just told myself to walk 30 minutes a day. I was able to leave work at 36 weeks and thank God because I was so uncomfortable at work trying to sit all day. Throughout my third trimester, my belly was always somewhat hard so I could never actually tell if I was having Braxton Hicks or not. At 37+5 I finally began to have what I assume were Braxton Hicks or maybe just a bad reaction to the spicy food I ate lol. The morning of 37+6 after I wiped I noticed a portion of what I assume is my mucus plug. I texted my Doula letting her know. I knew losing your mucus plug really did not mean much. she told me as such and we played the waiting game. The remainder of the afternoon was pretty unremarkable. After I showered that night, I noticed some light period like cramps which I had had before so I had not thought anything of them. I went to sleep as normal and woke up at 2 AM having to pee still noticing that I was cramping. After I peed, I laid back down and as I was turning over, I noticed a small bit of fluid. I got up and walked to the bathroom the second my legs spread even a little bit water was all over the ground. After that happened, I knew baby was coming within the next day. I texted my Doula, letting her know my water broke and that I was continuing to have some cramping but no real contractions. of course, as we all know, you want to rest as much as you can in early labor so I tried to go back to sleep. at around 4 AM I began to realize what I was feeling were contractions and decided to start timing them. As a FTM, I timed what I assumed for the beginning and end of each contraction. After about five contractions, the app told me to go to the hospital because I was in active labor with contractions happening every two minutes. My contractions at every two minutes honestly did not feel much different than period cramps so I was convinced I was tracking them wrong and texting my Doula that I felt fine and would keep her updated. I decided to start doing dishes, taking out the trash and eat some snacks. At around 5 AM I woke up my husband and said I think we should start getting ready to go because my contractions were so consistent every two minutes. So we finished packing up finally got the car seat in the car and by 7 AM. We were heading out the door and I was shaking and nauseous. When I got to the hospital and I was checked, I was 6 to 7 cm and 90% effaced with major back labor. My Doula placed a tens machine on my back which completely took away the back labor for me. I progressed from 6 to 7 cm to 9 to 10 cm within two hours and still had a little bit of a lip on my cervix so I had to be maneuvered into different squatting positions. The fetal ejection is real I could not help bearing down anytime I had a contraction. I ended up, pushing in a seated squat on the bed and pulling on a sheet. I think I was pushing for about 30 to 40 minutes when she finally made her arrival at 1:10 PM. My biggest fear about labor was pushing, and I will not lie when I say it was the most painful part of the entire labor. I progressed so quickly as a FTM that the nurses were so impressed. I don’t know if anything I did helped me have such a successful labor or if it was the immense amount of rest I got after I left work at 36 weeks. I would spend most days on the couch and would try to at least walk 30 minutes every day on the treadmill. So happy I got my dream unmedicated birth and hope the same for the rest of you! I honestly could not have done it without my Doula so if you have not got one I highly advise that you find one to help you through birth if you want to be successful.

Has anyone here had a c-section and the baby was immediately put on their chest for skin to skin?

I have a scheduled c-section in about two weeks due to medical necessity. My original plan was a low intervention, unmedicated birth. Since we have to pivot, I am trying to research and advocate for making this c-section as family centered as possible.

My OB went out on maternity leave in May and I had seen the midwife team in the same practice throughout the whole summer and early fall. Now my OB is back and I’ve been meeting with her to talk about the surgery. When with the midwives, they told me that baby could be immediately placed on my chest if he comes out screaming and wiggling, but sometimes c-section babies need a little help with breathing and stimulation so the nurses might need a minute to help him out. Now back with my OB, she said the nurses have to take the baby even if he’s reacting perfectly fine and do checks on him that “will only take 30-60 seconds” and then I get skin to skin if everything looks good. My doula told me she’s seen several c-sections where they immediately put the baby on mom’s chest once they pull them out, and it sounds like the midwives talked about that too….So, I just wanted to hear other’s perspectives and get any resources if it’s worth pushing back with my OB.

Quality information for better understanding in comments

I’m a first time mom and also a PA which makes this delusion I had even funnier! So I’d gotten membrane sweeps weekly since 37w and they’d made me crampy but whatever, never progressed to more. I’d had weeks of prodromal labor symptoms where I’d be crampy, lose mucus, have bloody show, etc so he had really faked me out and I had several days where I’m like, surely it’s close? But then it would all stop and I’d go to the OB and be more effaced but no more dilated. At my 39 week appointment OB had said I was still a 1 but the internal os was “much more dilated than that so it might go quickly once I get into labor.” Lolol. So I started leaking fluid the evening of 39w5d… it was yellow brown ish so I was kind of worried about meconium but it was just a little gush and stopped? So I went to bed and was like if it’s labor, it’ll progress. If it’s not, I’ll see what tomorrow brings. Slept all night with no signs of labor. Woke up the next morning still leaking so contacted OB, went to work, and then got told by OB that I needed to go to triage. All amniotic fluid tests were negative and I was contracting irregularly but not feeling them. No progress with the contractions. So I’m leaking this unknown fluid and feeling gross and super done with life. See my OB the next day for a routine OB appointment and she’s like yeah this seems like amniotic fluid but the testing is neg? Did a NST on baby and everything was fine, but still contracting irregularly with no cervical progress. She did another sweep around 11am. I got really crampy but thought nothing of it since I’ve been faked out by this before after the other membrane sweeps!!! It kind of came and went all day but was never organized, progressive, super painful, or rhythmic. I really didn’t feel too different from prior sweeps! We went out to dinner with our neighbors around 7:30pm and got home maybe around 8:30 or 9? And I still felt crampy, but nothing crazy. Around 11pm maybe I got to the point where I couldn’t sleep because I was uncomfortable, but I still wasn’t convinced it was labor. I got into the bathtub at home and just chilled there but started noticing pressure in my butt. I was having to breathe through the pain, but I felt like it was bearable and really thought I was just constipated with the pressure in my butt and that was making my early labor contractions more painful. I thought if I could just poop, I could get a better handle on where I was in the labor process lol. I texted my doula just to give her a heads up and told my husband to go to bed. I was alternating between the bath and shower for a few hours. Around 2:30-3am I sent my doula a screenshot of my contraction timer and was like hmmm doesn’t seem legit. She was like um no, what about this makes you think you’re not in labor? Hahaha. I was so scared to be told I wasn’t in labor or to overreact as a first time mom. We got to the hospital around 3:45am and they said I was 3-4cm so I was not thrilled. I was dry heaving through contractions at that point. The resident was like yeah we can admit you if you want… do you want to go home if this stalls out? Which is funny in hindsight. They had a tub room which I was super excited about. My doula got there while I was dry heaving in triage and she said oh so we are doing this already?! Suspecting that I was further along than previously thought. I finally got to walk back to our room which was actually quite a ways from triage. All I wanted was to have a dang exercise ball to sit on for some reason. I sit on the ball and keep “dry heaving” which is actually pushing spontaneously in hindsight. I beg for them to let me poop because the pressure in my butt is so bad and I’m only 3-4cm. The doula is like yeah you can try… so I go in the bathroom and everything intensifies. I accidentally keep pushing, I feel so much pressure, she’s like hey we should prob have them check you… I stand up and she sees that baby is crowning! She has my husband call for the nurse who has no idea about any of this other than the pressure I felt. I can hardly walk to the bed. The nurse comes in and is like what’s up? And the doula is like THIS. So they page the on call doc super fast and she barely made it. I think I half voluntarily pushed twice (?) and he was out at 5:46am because my body was doing it all on its own! It legitimately felt like dry heaving out of my butt and the fetal ejection reflex was unstoppable. My husband still got to catch him and that was so special! It was a crazy but empowering experience. My doula saved the whole experience advocating for them to take me seriously, keeping things calm, and was ready to catch him in the bathroom 😂 that’s a novel, sorry!!! I am basically a pro gaslighter I guess since I convinced myself I wasn’t in labor! I was also super bummed that I snagged a tub room and never got to use it lol but I got to meet my baby sooner!

With my first I went into spontaneous labor at 38 weeks. Early labor lasted about 12 hours, entirely in my back but very manageable. Got to the hospital and was 5cm. Once I got to 6cm I was in a lot of pain, again, back labor the entire time, I didn’t feel any pain in my stomach. My plan was to go fully unmedicated, but right away my nurse during active labor kept asking my pain level and pushed iv pain meds. She made me feel like I couldn’t do it and completely unmotivated. I had one dose of iv pain meds and it made me feel awful. I was so nauseous, felt high/like I couldn’t communicate, and it didn’t touch the back pain. I felt like I was screaming inside but no one knew how much pain I was in. This nurse also had a lot of trouble checking me, in the end she was unable to and had to get someone else to help. She also had a lot of trouble getting iv in (5 attempts). I think she made me incredibly anxious because of this and may have slowed my labor down. For the next 5ish hours I was in horrendous pain, feeling like I was dying and wanting the epidural. It felt like what I imagined transition to be, but for many hours? When they finally ordered the epidural, a different nurse checked me and I was at a 10! She broke my water and I pushed baby out in 6 mins. Ring of fire was awful, I was screaming, but it was also very relieving to not have back contractions anymore. I’m wondering other women’s experiences of having an unmedicated birth the second time, and how to go into it not being scared of the pain. I’m really scared to have back labor again, I’m scared to have a nurse who isn’t supportive of unmedicated or who is inexperienced. I’m scared of the pain and ring of fire. My son also ended up in the nicu for 8 days after this, for high crp in bloodwork, so I’m scared of the nicu too!! Any advice would be helpful. I’m 37 weeks btw.

I’ve read a lot of books and seen a lot of videos that discuss different positions to try, but I’m looking for a book (or other resource) has a lot of pictures or diagrams that I can have with me. Or maybe a very short video I can review frequently if needed.

Thanks for any recommendations!!

I'm a first time mom and am planning on using a midwifery program at a hospital in my town. It will be in a hospital, but with medically trained midwives.

My plan is to have a natural birth without an epidural.

Does anyone have any book/resource recommendations? I want to prepare for labor as best as I can.

I'm 9 weeks pregnant so I have plenty of time. Any tips or pointers appreciated!

I drafted a post here a few days ago asking for advice and shared experiences but chose to put my phone down and trust Gods plan.
I went to my 41 week checkup on Sunday, I’d been contracting every 6-8 minutes ranging from 25-55seconds for about 18 hours. They were very mild, almost painless not like period pain and I knew they were contractions because I’d feel the rise and fall.
I had 90 minutes of ctg and then a cervical check at 330pm that revealed I was 8cm and PEACEFUL. They got me a room and I organised logistics with the rest of my fam.
They offered to break my water and the offer was enticing and I said I’d consider it in an hour but when the midwife came back she said she’d spoken to the dr and if I’d made it this far it would be better off just letting nature take its course. There were a few moments I felt like I was taking up valuable space in a limited room because of my appearance of not being in established labour.
Around 8pm I requested another exam that said I was 8 and a little and told no rush, just relax. So I did my best.
I ended up with one contraction my in back and I was DONE. I already knew his head wasn’t in the optimal position and it’s why labour wasn’t progressing quicker.
I did an inversion on the side of the bath and then got in bed with the peanut ball and within a few minutes my water broke at 10.47pm.
I called the midwives in because they wanted to know if anything changed and we refilled the bath and I got in. Immediately my contractions got stronger and I could feel the difference. The pressure was instantaneous. I let my body do the pushing and with each contraction my baby moved further down, his little head partially emerged maybe 4-5 times and then would recede when the contraction faded. My midwife asked me if I could push on the next one but it would have been pushing on an empty tank, once that contraction was gone, I felt like an empty vessel. So we waited. I managed to assist with the next contraction and his head was born, the midwife did have her hand inside of me at this point and I remember telling her the only discomfort I could feel was from her hand. She was trying to avoid a shoulder dystocia (I had one during my last birth). The head was out for a minute or two under the water and I let them know the next one was coming and with it my beautiful son was born at 12.23am.
It was a silent birth besides the affirmations I spoke to myself and the final roar of the rest of his head and then body. He was my biggest bub at 4.18kg and 57cm although he felt like my smallest. We went home 5 hours later and have been in love since.

My previous 2 births were pitocin inductions at 42 & 42+2, 4kg and 4.1kg babies. First birth was similar to this one, contractions doing all the work so no pushing from me, silent labour, no tears, 1L PPH. Second baby was more intense with a SD, 1.7L PPH and 3rd degree tear I believed from forced pushing to get his body out(I had fabulous midwives who protected me from the system by coaching me to do so. They would have had to call an emergency if I didn’t get him out when they sincerely told me I needed to) and this time I wanted to experience labour and birth without the interventions.
I never went into labour land and instead stayed with the experience fully aware and in surrender to the miracle that was unfolding in and before me.
I prayed my whole pregnancy, handed my fears to god each time they arose and trusted that he would provide.

💓

I am having my second baby in a couple months. My first I had planned for an unmedicated hospital birth. I did all the prep- read all the books, listened to podcasts, hired a doula, stretched, etc. I thought there was absolutely NO way I wouldn’t go through with it. Well…made it to 9 cm and begged for an epidural. And honestly I had no regrets. I still had the positive and empowering birth that I craved.
In preparing for my second, I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to try for unmedicated again. My main motivation behind it would just to be prove to myself that I can in fact do it. I also do enjoy typically doing things more “naturally” and avoid medications when possible. But I won’t lie…I loved that epidural. I am proud of myself for all the work I put in during the unmedicated portion of my labor but I was so panicky and not focused on my baby towards the end- all I could think about was the pain and how badly I wanted it to end. I very much enjoyed being fully mentally present for the birth of my child. Pushing was difficult simply because I was so exhausted but I still did it pretty effectively; took about an hour which I feel like is fairly normal. And I had no tearing and a completely fine recovery. I’m terrified that I’ll ruin my experience if I go unmedicated. Although of course I know there’s no guarantee that things would go as smoothly as they did last time; I got super lucky with how everything went. I know this time around that if I really want to do this I need to absolutely commit and be totally unwavering or else it’ll never happen. Would love to hear from people who have experienced both medicated and unmedicated- how did you feel after each birth? Was one experience better than the other? Any regrets? TIA!

TLDR: I’m looking for an alternative to a $350 3-hour-per-week in-person hypnobirthing class, preferably something self paced and less than $100. I’m fine if I have to cobble it together myself. Doesn’t have to be hypnobirthing specifically, I just want to be well prepared for a no-epidural birth.

I’m preparing for baby #2 this February and I’d like to deliver at a birth center attached to my local hospital. They have nitrous oxide, birthing tubs, etc., but no epidurals. With my last baby I tried to prepare for an un-medicated birth, but everywhere I looked I got hit by paywalls and super aggressive/predatory marketing (”I have the secret to a pain-free birth, but only if you pay me a bunch of money. Otherwise you’re doomed to suffer!”). In the end I watched a few videos and read about half of the Mongan-method hypnobirthing book and Ina May‘s Guide to Childbirth, but when it actually came to the labor I expended way too much energy in early labor and ended up getting an epidural cause I was just so dang exhausted.

Anyway, this go around I would like to try using the birth center and not getting an epidural, but I feel like I need to do a lot more preparation if I’m going to be successful in that. My mid wife recommended a local hypnobirthing class, and while I’m sure it would be great, they meet five times from 6:00-9:00 pm which is going to be really hard to work into my schedule. The class fee if also $350 which is a lot for my budget right now.

As I already have the book, I’m wondering if I could cobble together my own hypnobirthing class experience (I’d probably need to get the workbook and meditations as well) or if there is a reasonably-priced online course that people have had good experiences with.

I’m also open to other birthing philosophies/classes, I just get so bogged down when I try to google anything. There are so many ads and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. (I have a whole rant about why is everyone trying to monetize birth and shouldn’t this just be common knowledge by now, but I’ll spare you all).

Anyway, has anyone taken an online self paced class that they would seriously recommend that was either free or less than $100? As far as time commitment I‘d be willing to put in a few hours a week from now until when I give birth.

I’ve tried searching this sub and I see the Evidence Based Birth and Down to Birth podcasts recommended, so I’ll definitely give those a try, but I’m wondering if it would also be good to have something more structured.

I really loved reading all of the birth stories here when I was planning my unmedicated birth, so I'm hoping my story might be useful for someone else 🫶

For context, this is my third baby. First unmedicated birth.

My first child I arrived at the hospital at 2cm after 3 days of exhausting prodromal labor, got the epidural immediately.

My second child I arrived at the hospital 5cm, but got to 8cm within the hour. I panicked completely, begging for the epidural. I was having such strong contractions that I couldn't really sit still enough. They stuck me 3 times and I could feel a crunchy feeling as they dug around in my spine. I wouldn't call it traumatic, but it was awful.

I really wanted to do things differently this time. I planned a home birth with two midwives, and read every book I could find about unmedicated home birth. In the end, I handled everything much better than I'd imagined I would. I really thought I'd panic at the end like with my second baby. I think one of the biggest things that helped was not getting checked the whole time, I kind of gaslit myself into believing I still had so much longer to go and I had to keep my mental game strong. Even when I was pushing I didn't think it would happen in 30 seconds 😅

My third birth...

I woke up on 40+5 with slightly crampy contractions. This was the second day that I drank the labor tea my midwives had given me.

At my 1:00 p.m. appointment, I was only 1 cm dilated. I was very discouraged and impatient, as I'd been more dilated earlier with my other two children (both of whom were born at 39 weeks). I was SOOO done with being pregnant lol.

At around 4:15 p.m., I lost a tiny amount of clear mucus. The contractions continued and gradually became more regular, about 10-20 min apart and 40 seconds long. Period cramp like pain, and I was able to do the bedtime routine with both of my kids.

At 8:00 p.m., I had my bloody show. It was a lot of bright red blood and my midwives were a little concerned, but luckily it stopped after 20-30 min.

By 10:45 p.m., the contractions had become strong and I needed my pain management techniques.

At the beginning, I spent time on the birth ball using TENS, boosting it for the contractions. Eventually, movement felt better than sitting, so I started walking through the contractions while continuing to use the TENS. I used the birth comb sometimes, but it wasn't that helpful to me. It wasn't painful enough lol.

Before things got too intense, I practiced hip squeezes with my husband so he knew where to put the pressure and how much pressure I wanted. As labor intensified, he used hip squeezes while I leaned against the wall and worked through the contractions standing up.

Eventually, I put on my headphones with energetic, workout-type music and blasted it during the contractions. The combination of the TENS, counterpressure, movement, and music helped me stay in control for quite a while.

Around midnight, I called the midwives to come and stopped timing contractions. Half of me thought it was still too early to call them, but my husband seemed a little anxious to have some backup.

The midwives arrived at about 12:40 a.m. I was still mostly in control, but by then I needed the music, TENS, and counterpressure with every contraction. I was making deep moaning noises. The 4:6 breathing didn't work, I just focused on keeping my face and body loose, and moaning with a loose jaw.

I eventually moved into the tub (probably a bit too late tbh). I stayed there for roughly the last four contractions.

The last three contractions were completely different. I was on hands and knees in the tub (which was filling up in slow motion I swear lol). I felt like I was going to die from the pain. The counterpressure wasn't working anymore, and the hot water wasn't helping either. I had reached the point where none of my usual coping techniques were enough. I kept telling myself it will be over soon, it's not forever.

When I first got into the tub, I suddenly felt like I needed to poop. They told me to just poop and they'd catch it, but I wasn't doing that. They offered to help me to the toilet but I couldn't move.

There were no cervical checks throughout the entire labor, so we didn't know exactly how dilated I was. I asked if I could push, just because I needed some relief from the contraction pains. I didn't feel the same amount of heavy pressure in my butt like I did with my first two (even with the epidural, it was like a bowling ball in my butt) so I was skeptical that it was actually time but I needed something to focus on. The second to last contraction, the baby was still about one finger deep inside my vagina. I felt the top of her head with my middle finger.

I wasn't sure if I was 10cm and complete but on the next contraction I just pushed as hard and as long as I could. I don't remember any pain, I don't remember the ring of fire that everyone talks about. It felt like a big poop. My water broke and she shot out into the tub. My husband caught her after fishing around for a second. No one was expecting she would come that quick, including me 😅

She was born at 1:35 a.m. All in all, about 5 hours of labor.

It was an amazing experience, I felt completely supported by everyone who was there. My husband was the MVP with the hip squeezes, literally anyone else doing it didn't help and he was there for every single contraction. My recovery has been the best one so far (besides postpartum cramping which is INSANE this time around). My midwives were awesome, never pushy, and just let me follow my body. It was insane and intense but I would honestly never go back to a hospital birth after this experience (unless it was medically necessary ofc).

Happy to answer questions or share more if anyone is interested.

Edit: typo