Aly’s Birth Story

Cullen Marcel Smith

Born 5/28/2022

9:41 am

Weighing 8lbs 9.3oz

20 inches long

14.5 cm head

What a day! So to start off, being that we were having another boy and that our boys had issues transitioning. We decided to change up everything. My wonderful midwife and I had so many discussions about options and how we wanted to handle things.

She consulted with an MFM and we all pretty much came to the same conclusion. The first thing we needed to do was steroids to help his lungs. Along with steroids we put many other plans in motion. We ultimately decided to help increase our chances of the best outcome possible, that we would not be doing a waterbirth this time. While waterbirth is normally a perfectly safe option, we wanted to be sure that we had as little fluid in his lungs possible.

Y’all I was not prepared for a non medicated, out of water birth. I’ve only ever delivered in water and let me tell you. The pain relief from water birth is a life saver.

After having some contractions on and off for awhile last night we headed to bed for some rest. I had only been asleep for about 3.5 hours when 3:00 am rolled around I was woken up to a pretty big contraction that hit so hard. I spent about the next hour and a half laboring quietly in the bathroom and my bed before I started waking people up. After speaking with Trish we decided to head to the birth center just after 6:00 am.

When I got there I labored in the water for a little bit, until I felt like it was time to get out and stay out of the water. The back labor was so intense this go around. Roger was so amazing at helping with counter pressure on my back during contractions.

As things progressed, Trish and the birth assistants would also apply counter pressure to my hips too. Between all of them applying counter pressure, it totally saved me. Sophie was also the sweetest little doula I could ask for. She was so attentive and loving and kept telling me I could squeeze her hand as hard as I needed to.

One of my favorite parts of the birth is that Sophie caught Cullen

If you look at the pictures with the person in purple scrubs and braids, holding their hands under his head. Thats Sophie!

She did absolutely wonderful. She got slightly freaked out when my water broke, but quickly shook it off and pushed through.

We are so blessed and grateful to have this sweet healthy boy in our family and the kids are already so in love with him.

Photography: https://nurturingimagebirthstories.com/

Midwife: https://www.blissbirthcenter.com