How I Managed To Endure 36 Hours Of Labor Naturally

Are you considering doing a natural birth?

Originally I had planned to have a medicated delivery because I feared the pain of childbirth. I would hear terrible stories of other women’s delivery and they would leave me speechless. However, I did hear some truly amazing and empowering birth stories that inspired me.

It wasn’t until I was 23 weeks that I decided to have a natural birth. This decision was not an easy one. I keep feeling that I needed to do natural, but I ignored those feelings because I was so dead set on having an epidural. I finally brought up the idea of doing a natural birth to my husband and to my surprise he was TOTALLY on board.

To encourage me to do natural I looked up natural birth videos and talked to people I knew who did it naturally on why they did natural and how it was. After many hours watched of natural birth videos on Youtube and talking with friends and relatives, I felt better about my decision to do naturally.

I switched from an OBGYN to a Midwife and changed hospitals. After much research, I knew that I wanted to do a tub birth but I was not comfortable with doing it at our house. Luckily we have ONE hospital that has a Midwife wing and it has a tub! I was so excited and even more confident with doing natural.

I also wanted to freedom to move around, eat and drink whatever I wanted and to have a more intimate birthing experience with my husband. By 29 weeks I was ready, confident and excited but also TERRIFIED! I had no idea how I was going to prepare myself.

*Tip: If you have to decide beforehand that you are doing natural. You can’t just say I will give it a try because you have to really prepare your mind and body for what it is about to go through.

I had no idea that I was going to labor for 36 hours before our sweet little angel would arrive. Those 36 hours were the HARDEST and the LONGEST moment of my life. So how did I do it?

Great question! Let me tell ya…I…

Prepared my mind 

This was one of the biggest reasons I believe that helped me get through those 36 hours. I prepared my mind by saying affirmations such as ” I can do it,” ” I am strong,” ” My body naturally knows what to do.” I would say these affirmations every morning and night. This helped to pre-program my mind into thinking and believing that I could do it.

Believed in myself

If you don’t believe that you can do it, you won’t. Believing that I could do it wasn’t easy. Even during labor, I told my husband I wanted an epidural TWICE! During those moments of unbelief, it was very helpful to have my husband’s belief in me that I could to lean on.

Some ways that helped me to believe in myself was visualizing myself going through labor and going through it like a BOSS! Also, I would imagine how I would feel after. And It was nothing compared to how it really felt to hold my baby for the first time.

There is nothing that can prepare you for that feeling but imaging it really helped.

Took a birthing course

The birthing course I took totally changed my thoughts about birth to a much more positive way. In the course, I learned breathing techniques that I never heard of before (but really helped). Different birth positions, affirmations, and my favorite, the birth partners role.

During labor, you are doing all of the hard work but having my husband know the affirmations, soothing touch points, and pressure points were AMAZING! You are probably wondering by now what this amazing course was that I took. It is called Hypnobubs.

It is an online course which I love because I have it forever! The Hypnobubs course helped to ease my fears about labor pains and the whole birthing process. It helped me understand that birth is a natural process and that is beautiful and natural.

Didn’t fight the contractions

This one challenging for me. I had to constantly remind myself and be reminded by my husband to go with the flow of the contractions. The Hypnobubs course teaches you how to breathe through the contractions and how to not fight them.

My contractions were much more painful when I would fight against them compared to when I would allow my body to do what it needed to. In the early stage of labor, I was progressing very slowly because I kept fighting against every contraction. Once I finally submitted I progressed quickly and with a lot less pain.

Moved my foot and head for distraction

This one sounds funny but It worked! When I was in the tub I would swing my left foot back and forth to help distract me during the contractions. Also, I rocked my head. These small movements helped me to focus on them and made it easier to get through the contractions.

In some birthing videos, you will see the women swaying back and forth or slightly bounce on a birthing ball. It is because doing small movements like that help!

Soothing Touches 

This is another way that helped me get through 36 hours worth of being in labor. My husband would gently play with my hair, tickle my arms or back. This helped me feel his love and support as well it helped me to stay calm. Staying calm and relaxed during labor will help it go by much quicker.

When my husband could tell that I was tensing up he would start playing with my hair or poor cups on warm water softly on my back. This would instantly help me to release my tension and relax. When I was relaxed I would hardly feel my contractions!

Labor is not easy and it is not pain-free. If you want easy and pain-free that is where epidurals come in. I had very intense contractions that were not the easiest to get through, but being prepared and finding distractions made them more bearable.

I look back and can’t believe that I natural. It was such an empowering experience that made me stronger! In the back of my head, I would be telling myself over and over that our baby is almost here. I needed to endure a little bit longer but that she was coming. This gave me the push I needed to keep going.

And what is truly amazing is once our baby was born all my body was experiencing washed away. The pain didn’t linger and I felt so amazing after. You are truly amazed at what you just accomplished to bring your baby into this world.

36 hours of intense labor brought me a lifetime of happiness. Labor is not easy but you can do it! No matter your birthing experience it will be beautiful and special!

Which one of these do you think could help you the most? Let me know in the comments below!