My Birth Story: Trusting My Intuition To Change Plans

I'm so excited to finally share my birth story with you! It was an unforgettable experience—both magical and incredibly intense. In this episode, I dive into all the juicy details, picking up where we left off in the last pregnancy journey podcast. I walk you through the final four weeks of my pregnancy and end with a look at what these first 7.5 weeks of postpartum life have been like. 

In this episode, we dive into:

• How I lived my highest joy the last 4 weeks of pregnancy
• Letting go of control and surrendering to Leo's perfect arrival time
• All the juicy details of my birth story, including trusting my intuition to make a surprising change in my birth plan that worked out way better than I expected
• An inside look at my postpartum journey, covering everything from breastfeeding and sleep to navigating partner resentment and healing—both emotionally and physically
• Last 4 weeks of pregnancy 
  • vs waiting and obsessing over baby arriving. 
  • And when i couldn’t stop obsessing, i knew there was emotions/energy that needed to be felt so i’d feel it until i couldn’t feel it anymore and on the other side, i’d be at peace with not knowing when baby would come
  • almost daily chats with IV
  • date nights, getting nails done, weekly chiro/massage, baths
  • When you think you’ve surrendered, surrender more
  • 4 days before going into labor, i started feeling like “omg when is he coming?” again
  • Inner voice said “you feel complete because you are - you literally are completing pregnancy soon”. Haley said same thing.
  • IV also said baby is waiting for best timing: best state of my body, best hospital staff, best state for trevor, all of the pieces i couldn’t put together mentally he was waiting until there was the most ideal arrangement
  • Daily stretches, red raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil, pumping at 39 weeks, chiro, massage, labor inducing yoga, acupuncture, sex
  • All in alignment
  • Skipped dates because it didn’t feel aligned
• Thinking every day could be the day and it wasn’t
• Didn’t want to spend the last moments or weeks wishing it away
• Focused on living the highest now joy, given what is
• Was doing all the things to induce labor starting around 37 weeks
• Mild period cramps started around 38 weeks like once a day
• Felt more emotional around 39/40 weeks
• Once I passed my due date, I was having very mild period cramps a little more often - a few times a day instead of once and i had to pee constantly
• 40+1: happy hour with trev on rooftop & helena’s for dinner

• Spam email “from” Leo 2 days before going into labor - felt like sign and message from him saying im coming soon
• went into labor 40+3
• 6/30 530am woke up to go to bathroom and had contraction
  • Felt like they were like 10 min apart on walk and getting stronger
  • Had to sit down on walk a few times
• First few were lower abdomen like period cramps, then shifted to lower back
• Felt like strong period cramps I had to breathe through 
• Lasting 30-45 seconds 
• Went on walk like 715
• Every 20 min first 2 hours
• Then next 2 hours they were 10 min apart
• Child's pose for every contraction
• 5 min apart: noon-3pm
  • Inside and outside
  • Contraction “I can’t do this”, Break “Okay I can do this”
• Got sub delivered around noon, couldn’t really eat much, no appetite and really had to focus
• Around 1 called hospital and gave them heads up - they said doctor would call me back but never did
• Talked to haley a lot
• On the ball most of this time with tens unit
• 3.5-4 min apart: 3-430pm
• Called hospital again just because i wanted to share what i was experiencing with doctor 
• 430 went to hospital (after laboring at home about 11 hours)
• Bc decreased fetal movement: was perfect timing
• Car ride would have been bad any later
• By time we got there contractions like 2 min apart and was having intense contractions in lobby for like 20 min before they could take me back
• One nurse walked me up while Trevor dealt with car
• she rubbed my arm the whole time and said you’re doing great and it brought me to tears - just felt so supported and cared for and was so grateful 
• 5cm when they checked after like an hour of monitoring in triage, -2 station 
• Heart rate wasn’t varying (like 150 constant) so they monitored me for a while in triage until like 630
• Was really uncomfortable in triage, contractions were very intense and i had to lay down for the monitoring and i didn’t know when i’d get a room
• Was so ready for our private room - big constant noise through every contraction at this point im sure I scared other moms
• Had to get back on continuous monitoring in the room
• they strongly advised against intermittent because of his heart rate pattern and the continuous monitors required me taking off my tens unit and I was past the point of having the capacity to test if they would get worse if I stopped it 
• Labored on ball with continuous monitors and still had decent movement
• Trevor on counter pressure every contraction - couldn’t have done it without him
• Contractions were back to back from then on super intense in back and no relief in between - next one was 30 sec to 1 min after the last 
• 8 - asked for epidural, felt so clear and good about it, no question it was the right move 
• 830 got epidural (I think I was in or right at transition)
• Looked at trev after feeling so happy i gave him relief too
• Trev went to get our stuff
• Only things that would have been good to have earlier were speaker for music & puzzle mat
• Hospital bag blog
• Rested from 10pm-3am, contractions stayed back to back though - they told me from monitors
• 7cm at like 11pm
• Recommended i break waters - i said let’s wait and see what body does
• AROM 3am
• 10 cm right after once they could measure 
• Started pushing 404am
  • Delivered on hands and knees
• Did poop a little at first and could feel it
• Alternated between on knees hunched over bed and side lying with top leg lifted and bent
• Didn’t have push urge but felt contractions so pushed with those - felt right and aligned for my body 
• Prayed to IV right near the end of pushing: IV I need help. Help me get through this as easy and smooth as possible. I need your help now. Baby came very soon after.
• Born 609am
  • Held him right away
• Incredible bliss/relief
• Nothing else mattered - i remember seeing them collecting blood with all the cloths and counting the cloths
• Very little labia and urethra tearing that they did stitch, no perennial tearing
• 8 lbs 7 oz
• Baby was measuring > 99% all 3rd trimester (i never made it a big deal and neither did providers - i trusted my body was making the correct size baby for me and my baby. he ended up being 8lbs 7oz.)
• i think it was back labor (i only felt everything very intensely in my low back, nothing in the front besides like the first 2 contractions)
• My goal was unmedicated but in the moment, i felt so clear from my intuition it was the right choice and timing for me to get an epidural and had an incredible experience with it. Everything “bad" i thought would result because of the epidural didn’t...
• I thought it would stall labor - it didn’t
• I thought it would make me not listen to my body - i still felt very connected to the process and was able to push in sync with contractions
• I thought i’d tear more - i didn’t tear besides minimal labia and urethra tearing
• i thought recovery would be worse - i’ve never met anyone with as easy of a recovery as mine
• i thought i wouldn’t feel the oxytocin bliss and connect to my baby when he was born - i felt the most incredible bliss and connection when he was born
• i thought i’d have to push on my back - i switched back and forth between all 4’s and side lying
• i thought i’d feel like a failure - but i felt so strong, confident and good about my decision and was so grateful to relieve my husband as well (he was doing counter pressure non-stop basically
• i thought i’d have to have pitocin and other meds - i only got the epidural

• Transferred to PP room after like 2 hours
  • Avocado toast, eggs, coffee
  • Sixty vines salad
  • North pizza pasta dinner
  • Avocado toast, eggs, coffee again before leaving 
  • was dying to be home and not be bothered every hour or 2
  • was so tired and worried he wasn’t going to eat and was trying too hard. Lac consult the next day came and told me I was doing great and it was all normal and I was able to completely relax and trust process and it was much easier after that point because I dropped idea that he “should” latch fast or even at all.
• Showered after like 5 hours prob
• Trev got us amazing food
• 1st night in hospital was the worst part of experience
• First night of BF was stressful
• Left hospital after about 30 hours after delivery
• First 7.5 weeks postpartum
  • Continued to get better and easier. By 6 weeks I felt a big shift in just feel more grounded, settled and confident overall.
  • SOOOO glad I’ve been practicing feeling and releasing emotions for a few years now. 
  • I was able to feel really intense emotions come up (more intense than I'd had in a long time) and be on the other side of them sometimes within a few minutes or always within a few hours.
  • Struggled with latch first week but after that it was pretty smooth sailing and has only gotten easier and now it’s pretty much effortless, painless and resistance-less
  • If I could go back I would start with my brest friend pillow
  • And tell myself to just trust the process, your best is all you can do, the rest you can let go of, it’s all happening as it should and it gets easier
  • Night nurse
  • Taking cara babies
  • Crib after a few nights in my room
  • Now sleeping through night sometimes or 1 feeding
  • Speak from the heart
• overall really great, definitely very challenging moments but it’s amazing how you just do it and now I’m able to do what’s required without resistance whereas in the beginning there was a lot more releasing that needed to happen to be at peace with going from doing whatever whenever to basically being on-call 24/7 for another human
• Postpartum resources blog
• High first few days on adrenaline
• Def more emotional/anxious first 2 weeks - allowed myself to cry when i felt like it and feel anything else coming up as best i could like overwhelm, anxiety and resentment 
• Very easy physical recovery overall
• BF going really well overall
• Sleep 
• Partner resentment
• What I’d say to a friend about to give birth:

Listen to The Magnetically You Podcast:

Resources:

• Website: madisonarnholt.com
• Instagram: @madison.arnholt
  
• Free Alignment Guide
  
• 1:1 Coaching 
• Sign up for newsletter  
• 1:1 Coaching: www.madisonarnholt.com/coaching
• Inner Voice Sessions: www.madisonarnholt.com/innervoice
• Postpartum Resources
• Pregnancy Resources
• My Baby Registry
• My Hospital Bag

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