Hallie's Story

Hello! My name is Hallie and I am a stay at home/work from home first time Mom. When I am working I am an Account Executive for a web development company and I work out of my home office here in Dallas, Texas. My husband, Chase, is a chiropractic student at Parker University.

We had our first baby, a daughter named Molly, on November 10th of last year. I write a blog called ChasingHallie about our life and daily adventures as new parents.

Before we actually got pregnant and I was thinking about having kids (in the far away future) I had always made the comment "give me the drugs as fast as you can!" I never really thought about why, it just seemed like a good idea. No pain, right. Then I fell in love and married a chiropractic student and he opened my eyes up to many things including natural childbirth.

My husband is an advocate of home births but since this was our first child I was a little uncomfortable with not having the safety net of being in a hospital should something go wrong. I wasn't quite ready to dive all the way in the deep end. But I did know that I wanted to do my best to abstain from any sort of intervention and have my baby without any medications.

My main reasons for wanting to go au naturale was to ultimately prevent drugs from entering my child's system and to keep from getting a C-Section. I also felt pretty strongly that my body was designed to deliver a child without the need for drugs or other aids. To give life to another human being is remarkable and I wanted to be completely and 100% present in that experience. And oh boy - I definitely was!

I had a great OB who was extremely encouraging and behind us in our decision to not have drugs or other interventions. We stated from our very first doctors appointment that our goal was an unmedicated delivery and from then on out she was supportive. We were also lucky in that the hospital we would be delivering in is extremely pro natural labor and has also been voted one of the best labor and delivery hospitals in the country.

To prepare for the birth of our baby girl we outlined a very simple and straightforward birth plan for our doctor and to have for the staff at the hospital when we arrived. We also took a natural birthing class at the hospital which was very helpful. I was active throughout my entire pregnancy, exercising and going to the gym as well as doing prenatal yoga on a regular basis. I also used chiropractic care throughout my pregnancy which I believe was one of the biggest aids in my amazing labor and birth experience. Lastly, towards the end of my pregnancy (36 weeks on) I took red raspberry leaf pills to make my uterus strong and evening primrose oil pills to soften my cervix. All of these things helped tremendously and I would strongly recommend them to women desiring to have a med free childbirth.

When the time came and labor began it was intense. We immediately pulled out the birthing ball (exercise ball) and I spent most of the first hour of labor on the ball. It was a huge help. My contractions came strong and often and within an hour of labor they were 2 minutes apart. When I could no longer talk or communicate at all during a contraction it was time to head to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 4:30am so it was fairly quiet. The nurses took us to our delivery room right away and we promptly let them know we wanted to have an unmedicated birth. The nurse told me, I am going to ask you once if you want an epidural as I fill out our paperwork and then I won't ask you again. Thank you.

The worst part of the entire experience at the hospital was having to lay in the bed for the first 20 min we were there so they could monitor the baby. That was excruciating, all I wanted to do was be walking around. Sitting in a bed through a contraction was an absolute nightmare. But as soon as it was done the nurses helped me out of the bed and told me I had free reign. For the next hour I walked around, sat on the birth ball, moaned, yelled and fought through each contraction the best I knew how. I never once asked for an epidural. I surprised myself even.

Within an hour (3 hrs into my labor) I was fully dilated and 100% effaced, time to push. Since I had not had an epidural I had the choice to push however I wanted. I could push on the ball, squat on the floor-whatever felt good to me. I chose to squat using the bar that the hospital had as leverage. I pushed twice, then laid back and pushed once more and our beautiful baby girl was in this world. Whew. The feeling of having my baby out and on my chest was something I will never forget and to this day is very hard to explain. Pure bliss.

I had done it. I had labored and delivered my baby girl without any drugs or other interventions. And it hurt. It hurt like nothing I had ever known and will never be able to replicate (until we have more kids) but it was beautiful and raw and perfect. And I will 100% without a doubt do it again. and maybe again.

I attribute our success in delivering med free to my own strength and willpower, our preparations, my wonderful and encouraging doctor, my patient and loving husband who was everything I needed him to be, the nurses who understood my desire and the forward thinking approach of the hospital.

You don't need to be at home, or have a midwife or doula to have a successful and beautiful unmedicated birth. Hospitals and OBs can still be part of the equation. Just be strong with your decisions and state your intentions to the entire time who will be a part of your experience. And be confident and strong. You can do it, you will do it.

READ MORE BIRTH STORIES >>>

Like what you just read? Stay connected! You can subscribe to the feed of these posts, chat with us on Twitter or Facebook. And you can always email us with your questions and comments.