I have one DS, born this past June. Here is my story:
I was scheduled to be induced at 42 weeks and two days but luckily he decided to come at 42 weeks on his own (I was starting to panic!). My water broke at 3 a.m. with a gush and contractions started immediately. I knew that I should try and get some rest, so I tried since the contractions started out seven minutes apart. DH and I were too excited to get much sleep though! By 7 a.m. they contractions were about four minutes apart and I was just breathing through them. Around 9 or 10 a.m. they started coming every three minutes and lasting 45 seconds to one minute. The contractions were mainly in my back so DH applied a lot of counter pressure. I wanted to stay home as long as possible. This was the best part of labor -- DH and I just hung out, listened to music, he got the house in order while I rocked in my new glider and we were just so excited!! We stayed home until noon because we thought that we must be getting close to delivery. Ha!
When I got there I was 3 cm, 90 percent effaced and -1 station. I had always planned to go home if I was less than 5 cm but since my water had broken my CNM didn't feel comfortable with that. My beautifully spaced three-minute-apart contractions faded away. It was a very long day. The back labor was intense due to baby being posterior. With the help of my nurse, doula, DH and CNM I was encouraged to walk, shower, use the birthing ball and try a lot of positions. The progress was slow and my CNM "threatened" me with pitocin and an IV. Instead of going that route, I drank some apple juice and kept on walking.
Transition lasted two to three hours and my labor still hadn't formed a "good" pattern. At the end, the contractions were all long but they were anywhere from one minute apart to seven! During transition, I did a lot of deep moaning and did the "baby dance" (slow dance with DH). I did ask for pain medication at the end -- I asked for Tylenol! I mentally though that I needed something but that was about as hard-core as I was willing to go! No one gave me any either.
The urge to push was overwhelming and uncontrollable! It was such a relief to be able to push. I had intended to push in the squatting position but I ended up pushing on my side for three quarters of the time because it felt right. I then moved to my back is a semi-sitting position (legs in stirrups, yuck). I pushed for a total of 35 minutes. I had no episiotomy but I had a second degree tear -- partly my fault for pushing when I wasn't supposed to and for pushing in a bad position. DS was 8 pounds 5 ounces. He was alert but not interested in breastfeeding (not really interested for a while!). They put him right on my chest, we waited till the cord stopped pulsing, and DS never left our sight! We roomed in. I left the hospital 20 hours after DS was born -- by choice.
My birthing high is fading a little. But the feeling I had in the delivery room was, "I did it!!!!" It was hard but incredibly awesome! I would choose to go unmedicated every time and would probably have a birth center birth next time. My main advice to expectant moms is to make preparing for the birth a priority! There is so much good information to help you make an informed decision about things like inductions, pain medication, C-sections, episiotomies. Read it! I don't fault any mom for making different choices than I would, but I sure hope that she is making informed choices.