#8cm Dilated

8cm dilated & dancing through contractions with my momma ♥️🤣 #homebirth #waterbirth #naturalbirth #fun #dance #pregnancy #humor #momlife #joy #life

Stop starving laboring patients!!

Birth Story Part 2 As I was 8cm dilated, I knew the hard work was coming. I labored in the bathroom for a few hours and we realized I haven’t even gone to the bathroom this whole time. I had to get cathed to release my bladder so baby could progress. That wasn’t fun, but very necessary. I continued laboring for a while till my water broke around 10cm. That’s when everything got incredibly intense! Time was a blur from here on out ✨ I got in the birth pool which was so relaxing and felt like a kiss from heaven. Even though surges where incredibly intense, the water gave me that “break” I was desperately needing. In the water I was able to reach down and feel her head and I said “she’s got so much hair!” @zeke.conner played the guitar for me and lifted my spirits! I felt so taken care of during the most vulnerable time of my life. 🤍 But as much as I loved the water, I wasn’t progressing - so it was time to get out and try new positions and start pushing. 💫 I labored and pushed in all positions and baby seemed to be stuck. Midwife recommended a position that I was avoiding like the plaque, but I did it, which actually helped baby move down, but it was horribly uncomfortable. I was getting extremely tired by now - basically actively pushing for 3 hours. But instead of saying “I can’t do this anymore” I would say out loud to myself “I CAN do this!” I wasn’t even gonna give myself the option of being negative 💪🏼 Right when her head was about to crown I was able to turn around and got on all 4s which felt like the right position for me to birth in. I pushed what felt like forever but then I felt the ring of fire - and that feeling was more encouraging than it was painful! And as I delivered her head, my midwife found out why these last few hours of active pushing was so hard. Because not just one, but BOTH baby’s hands were by her face! 🤯 Part 3 coming… #homebirth #physiologicalbirth #birthstory

I prepared for a calm, midwife-led home birth here in the Netherlands. And for the first 6 hours, that’s exactly what it was. But things changed. Quickly. I found myself transferring to the hospital at 8cm dilated, in a country that’s still new to me, surrounded by a healthcare system I was suddenly experiencing in a very real way. Baby and I are healthy. 🤍 We’re home. Resting. Processing. And I now have a deeper, more nuanced understanding of Dutch maternity care (of course though still no expert) — from midwives, to hospital teams, to kraamzorgs and postpartum, to the systems that support you when birth doesn’t go to plan. Over the coming days and weeks, I’ll start sharing: • what surprised me • what felt different from the U.S. • what I’m grateful for (and what I’m not-so-grateful for) • and what I’m still making sense of (including hospital birth here and kraamzorg postpartum) If you’ve been curious about pregnancy, birth, or healthcare in the Netherlands, or how plans can change in a home birth emergency, this is where that story begins. What do you want to know most while I make these? #homebirth #homebirthtransfer #birthstory #kraamzorg #homebirthing

Contractions should.. - make you stop - take all of your concentration - get closer and stronger If you’re not sure if it’s time, the car test is a good way to see if it’s time to go to the hospital.

Looking back at these moments have me in tears 🥹😭 #csection #placentaprevia #birth #postpartum

Wednesday night/Thursday morning whinge! . . . #pregnancy #babyboy #csection #induction #birth #mybaby #emergency #liverpool #womens #liverpoolwomenshospital #birthstory #oneborneveryminute

By the time I went to pee I realized it was water that broke and just when I took the contraction tracker to check, It started counting 2 minutes apart immediately so my husband and I hurried to start driving to the hospital and in the car it became so intensee

When I was pregnant with my first baby, I was nervous in the lead up to labour because I just didn't know what to expect. I had been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions, but I had no idea how these differed from actual labour contractions and I was worried that when the time came, I might not know that I was in active labour until it was too late. As it turns out, I didn't need to worry. In reality, "real" labour contractions are quite distinctive and you will almost certainly be able to recognise when you're in active labour, even if you're not sure right at the start of labour. Here is what the contractions feel like to me: Part 1: a cramping low down, like a period cramp. Part 2: the cramping works its way up your belly, to the top of your uterus (in other words, right up under your ribs). At the same time, your uterus will harden like it does during a Braxton Hicks contraction. This hardening will feel more extreme than Braxton Hicks though. Part 3: the contraction will peak. At the peak of the contraction, you'll feel some pressure at the bottom of your uterus. This pressure helps your cervix to dilate, so don't let it alarm you. Part 4: the contraction will begin to weaken and your uterus will begin to relax. Part 5: the contraction will finish and you should feel little to no pain for the next few minutes before the next contraction. Contractions are uncomfortable - it's true. Using the breathing techniques which I described in my latest reel really does help to reduce the pain that you feel though. I hope this was helpful! I'm currently writing a complete "Preparing for baby" guide, which will have tips for labour as well as packing lists for the hospital and checklists for preparing your home. I'm hoping to serve you on this platform, so if that guide sounds like something you'd find helpful, feel free to DM me with ideas for other topics to include in it. And of course I'll carry on sharing educational posts in the meantime 🙂 Have you laboured before? Was it obvious to you when active labour had started or did you have to start timing your contractions to know for sure? Jess x #labour #labor #thirdtrimester #birth #homebirth

At 1–2 cm dilation, don’t panic as yet! This is latent labour. 👉 ACOG ( American Guideline) says active labour starts only at 6 cm, so early dilation can take hours to even days if mom & baby are stable. 👉Prolonged latent stage of labour is at 16 hours or more!! But we can still wait if baby is okay and mom is okay! ❌It is not okay to wait if- 👶🏻Pregnancy at or beyond 40 weeks 👶🏻Rising blood pressure 👶🏻Baby’s heart beat dropping or NST is non-reassuring 👶🏻Meconium stained liquor 👉 WHO agrees—there’s no fixed time limit at 1–2 cm. We wait, watch, and support… not rush. ⚠️Disclaimer- This is not a substitute to a real in clinic doctor consultation. Only for educational purposes. Pregnant, 38-39 weeks, first time mom, MomToBe, normal delivery , labour, cervical dilation, floating head, labour pains #pregnancy #normaldelivery #womenshealth #obstetricsandgynecology Should we wait or proceed with lscs?

7 cm Dilated with no medication can also look like this! If you have all the support and tools to navigate each surge, it is totally possible! This third time around I had my amazing partner @jp_marz and my beautiful friend @kaseyandmaria in the labor and delivery room with me and it was the best experience ever✨ Kasey brought a heating pad that helped so much!! . . . #hypnobirthing #labor #laboranddelivery #deliveryroom #motherhood #positivepregnancy #nycmom #nyccreator

POTENTIAL signs of labor: + Losing your mucus plug + Having sporadic contractions + Diarrhea + Nausea + Achy lower back and cramps in the abdomen (like PMS) The only FOR SURE sign of labor: Surges begin, intensify, and change the cervix. As you feel the signs of labor, it can be very exciting! But try not to get obsessed with every twinge and change… it can make the end of pregnancy feel like it’s taking forever to move into labor. If labor starts, intensifies, and then stops, some may call it prodromal labor or pre-labor: not the real deal. But in my experience, these start stop labors, with intensifying surges in the middle, are due to baby’s position. In this situation, we want to add more room and balance. Try: + Walking with a long stride + Forward leaning inversion & side lying release by @spinningbabies + Cat Cow + Piriformis stretch + Hip Hinges (straight back, bend at the hips to feel stretch down the back of legs) + Wide circles on the birth ball ⭐️ How did you know labor was starting? ⭐️ Once it started, how long till birth? COMMENT BELOW 👇🏼