When our first child was to be born, I had not heard of Mountain Meadow Herbs products. Coming from a Mennonite background where birth stories are not shared with someone who has never gone through it, I didn’t really know what to expect.
I knew my body was up to something when I woke up on a Wednesday morning in 2012. Being five days overdue, I knew the sharp pain in the lower part of my belly meant something. I waited all day for more of those pains but didn’t get any until about 7:30 that evening, then they came every 30-45 minutes. Having been told by my midwife to go to the hospital once they were seven minutes apart, my husband timed each contraction. By 11 that night, they were seven minutes apart. We called the midwife and sped to the hospital thinking we would be able to meet our baby in a couple of hours.
When we got there, they were still five to seven minutes apart. The nurse checked me, and I was not even one centimeter dilated! We stayed a couple of hours and then got sent home as things were not progressing. By early morning, we were back at the hospital as the contractions were consistently five minutes apart. This time, I was only two and a half centimeters dilated. I couldn’t even believe it! I knew I had to get to 10 centimeters and it was going SO slow.
The rest of the day and night was a blur. I was on morphine for pain because by now the contractions were two to three minutes apart, yet I was not dilating. When I finally did reach 10 cm, I pushed and pushed for two and a half hours until the baby’s heart rate dropped. Because it had taken so long to get to that point and I was so tired from being awake for nearly 48 hours, they did an emergency C-section. Finally, at 9:14 a.m., Friday morning, our baby girl was born. It was a long, hard labor, only to result in a C-section. I was very disappointed but happy it was over.
Fast forward to one year and five months later; my doctor advised me to have another C-section, but I had heard about Gentle Birth and I wanted ever-so-badly to experience a natural birth. She finally agreed to let me try but set a date for a C-section on April 5 at 3 p.m. if the baby was not yet born.
On the morning of April 4, I woke to the same type of pain I experienced with my first. Just as had happened before, progression was slow until that evening. Around 10 p.m. we dropped our oldest off at my parent's and went to the hospital. The contractions were five minutes apart and I thought surely that the Gentle Birth would make things go by faster. Upon examination, I was only at two cm--a little better than the first time, but not like I had hoped. We got sent home, again.
After another sleepless night, we were back in the hospital by morning. Things didn’t seem to be going any faster than they had with the first one. But I had prayed, and I knew that if my labor would start on its own, I would be able to have a natural birth. Finally, at 2:33 p.m. April 5, a mere half-hour before they planned to operate, our second daughter was born. It wasn’t before I required a dose of morphine, however, so not the perfect birth I envisioned, but better than the first!
Baby number three came due two years and eight months later. This time, I used the Evening Primrose capsules along with the Gentle Birth; I was not giving up on this product I had heard so much about! Four days before my due date, I awoke, once again, to that familiar pain. Thinking that it might be false labor I carried on with my cleaning as we had planned a shopping trip for the next day. But, by 4 p.m. I began to experience the next round of pain and I knew that shopping would have to wait. At 8 p.m. my contractions started becoming more regular at 30-45 minutes. They weren’t as painful as the times before and I could easily breathe through them until it stopped. I tried to relax as much as possible during those minutes when there was no pain.
By 7:30 the next morning we were at the hospital and, to my surprise, they didn’t send us home. Things went quickly from there and at 10:43 a.m. our son was born! I was amazed at how much smoother and faster this labor and delivery had been than the first two. I am happy to say that other than a few Tylenol, I had no medication! When they placed him in my arms I felt, for the first time, a surge of love for this new human being . . . that great joy that I had heard other moms talk about. Yes, I was happy with my first two, but this was different. My mind and body were not high on medication like I had been before, and I could truly feel and experience all of the joy.
I believe those products helped me and I am grateful for that natural, non-medicated, birthing experience.
Our 4th baby is set to arrive at the end of July and I plan to use the Evening Primrose Capsules and Gentle Birth again. They may or may not have helped ease the birth of our son, but I’m not willing to take that risk! Thanks for your products.