A mother who live-tweeted and posted photos from her own home birth has opened up about why she thought it was important to share an honest account of the experience.
British-born blogger Ruth Iorio (née Fowler) who lives in Los Angeles, began labor on Christmas day and continued to post on Twitter about it over the next 12 hours, from the moment her contractions began to when she delivered her baby boy and was transferred to hospital for a blood transfusion.
She told the Huffington Post
her aim was to open people's eyes to the 'unique experience' of home
birth, 'whether attractive or not, and just be honest about it.'
Real-time: Blogger Ruth Iorio, who lives in Los
Angeles, began labor on Christmas day and continued to post on Twitter
about it over the next 12 hours, from contractions to delivery
Revealing: She captioned each of her photos with detailed descriptions of what was happening
When the grueling birth was finally over, she tweeted candidly: 'This mad experience just reiterated how goddamn crazy birth is. . . I don't want to be an ass but this experience has taught me birth is beautiful and primal and mysterious and painful as f***.'
The Cambridge graduate's posts began when she had her first contractions, ultimately designating camera duty to her husband Jared when the pain became too much.
'Contractions started at around 8:15pm,' she tweeted. 'Pretty regular - 30 seconds long, 2.5 minutes apart, mild and crampy. Cleaned house and now gonna take bath. Am tweeting the whole thing.'
She then went on to describe in detail the painful process of her 12-hour labor, including diarrhea, back pain and losing her 'mucus plug'.
'Labor basically feels like sh**** period pain in waves,' she tweeted.
Easing the pain: She went on to describe in
detail the painful process of her home labor, including diarrhea, back
pain, losing her 'mucus plug' and enjoying a whiskey sour in the bathtub
Efforts: She even did yoga to ease the pain.
'It's really helping moving around,' she wrote. 'Can't imagine being
stuck on a bed with an IV. That would suck. Tweeting helps too.
Distractions good!'
Go-time: Mrs Iorio's water finally broke at
around 6am, at which point she posted a picture of herself squatting in
the bathtub. 'Home stretch,' she captioned this shot
And when contractions turned into 'nasty back labor' and 'a****** pains', she tweeted about that, too.
At one point, the blogger did yoga poses to ease the pain. 'It's really helping moving around,' she wrote. 'Can't imagine being stuck on a bed with an IV. That would suck. Tweeting helps too. Distractions good!'
Mrs Iorio's water finally broke at around 6am, at which point she posted a picture of herself squatting in the bathtub.
Triumphant: When her son Nye was finally born
and she was taken to hospital, Mrs Iorio posted a picture of them in the
hospital bed. 'Hello world. F***, that hurt,' she tweeted. 'Totally
natural birth, all doped up now!'
Eye-opening: 'I don't want to be an ass but this
experience has taught me birth is beautiful and primal and mysterious
and painful as f***,' she wrote (pictured: baby Nye)
Shedding light: Part of the reason Mrs Iorio
decided to share her home birth with her followers was in an effort to
show her support for midwifery, which is a dying industry in the U.S.
Her son, Nye Soledad, was delivered successfully
shortly thereafter, and she was then transferred to a hospital because
her placenta did not detach from her body.There, the new mom - who lost a significant amount of blood during labor - received blood transfusions, was given pain relieving drugs and put on antibiotics.
A triumphant Mrs Iorio posted a picture of herself cradling baby Nye in the hospital bed. 'Hello world. F***, that hurt,' she tweeted. 'Totally natural birth, all doped up now!'
'I know homebirth isn't for everyone, but we need to question what's happening,' she said. 'The U.S. is basically trying to get rid of midwives.'
Self-reflection: 'Sexy granny pants with massive
industrial sanitary towels to catch all the blood #ruthshomebirth,' she
tweeted from the hospital alongside this selfie
Sharing the load: When the Cambridge graduate's
pain became too much she designated camera duty to her photographer
husband Jared (pictured with Nye)
'I know that if I went to a hospital now I would be more likely to have unpleasant intervention I would like to avoid,' she added.
Today, Mrs Iorio says she has no regrets about her very public and painful birthing method.
And she says little Nye is as happy and healthy as can be. 'He's amazing,' she said in a HuffPost Live interview. 'He's just a great little baby.'
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