Julia's Home Birth Story

My first birth
My first birth took place in a hospital without the aid of interventions or medications.  I delivered a 10lb 6oz boy. While I had a wonderful nurse and was happy with my birth experience;  I felt that there was too much time sitting around and being monitored.  I decided to seek out a midwife for my next pregnancy.

Turning to Breech
Our second baby was an active one, and had a tendency to flip to a breech position. At 34 weeks I sought chiropractic care, and the baby turned back into position.  At 36 weeks baby had flipped again!  I was beginning to worry that I would require an external version or a cesarean delivery.  I had many people praying with me and I spend an entire weekend doing a host of exercises and movements to bring baby back to a good position.  Thank God, baby turned.

Labor Day
My due date was Palm Sunday, March 24 and I had nothing to report.  I had my 40 week appointment the next day and we learned my cervix was forward and ready for delivery.  My toddler and I took a nap after the appointment and later went out to run to the post office.  On the way there I had my first contraction, around 4 p.m.  That night, I did not feel like cooking so we made frozen pizza and wings.  My husband remained calm as I announced each contraction.

Around 7 p.m. I noticed some brown mucous.  After I spoke to the midwife we continued to time my contractions, we said our evening prayers, swayed to music with my toddler.  My contractions remained strong, so around 8 o'clock I called my parents to let them know they may need to pick up our son.  Right around this a friend of my husband's came over, and I had to excuse myself until he left as I walked through each contraction.  After he left I noted my contractions came about every 3-5 minutes.  My mom and sister arrived and were gathering my son's things, they were amused that I would hug them or sway through the peak of a contraction.

Once my family left, I experienced a huge contraction, followed by bloody show.  We decided to try to sleep and my contractions stopped when I was on my left side. When I switched to my right side, BOOM I had another contraction.  Sometime later my husband called the midwife, who said she knew things were getting serious because my husband called, not me.  While waiting for her arrival I labored on the toilet, the exercise ball, leaning against the bathroom sink.  I also used moaning and whistling to work through each contraction.

The Midwife Arrives
Our midwife arrived around 11 o'clock that night, and I don't remember as many details from this phase of labor.  I felt a little out of control, both my husband and midwife reminded me to breathe slowly and moan "lowly."  My cervix still wasn't completely ready, eventually I felt hopeful that I had reached transition because I vomited.  Eventually, it was time to push.  I was amazed at how much faster this labor was progressing than my last.

The best position for me was kneeling on the bed, leaning against the exercise ball.  I remember thinking it was very strange to be pushing only when I felt it was time.  In my previous delivery, I experienced the desire to push, but I was coached as to when to push.  I kept asking if my water had yet broken, but it has not.  At one point they told me to feel the bag bulging, but I was just irritated that I wasn't feeling the baby's head!

 

My husband reminded me to take one contraction at at time, and that we would meet our baby soon. He also kept me hydrated.  The midwife and her student midwife encouraged me through each contraction, this really helped my morale.  As the pushing phase ended, I turned to my side.  After 2-3 contractions I started screaming, "the head is out, the head is out!"  I was thrilled, that last birth of wriggling and burning was soon over and I had a crying baby placed next to me! HEAVEN! God be praised!  My husband helped turn the baby and announced that we had another boy.  I asked my husband if he decided on a name, out of the ones we had already agreed on, of course.  He said, Phillip, and I marvelled at how much he looked like his big brother.  This little guy was so skinny, but strong, with dark hair.  He was 22 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces. He was born at 1:30 am on March 26th, only 9 1/2 hours after my first contraction.

I could not have been happier with my home-birth experience.  I felt safe and free to do whatever my body called for.  My husband felt more at ease this time and enjoyed being my labor coach.  For me, the most notable parts of my labor were that the water did not break until after I delivered his head, and that I never experience back labor, even though he was "sunny side up." I feel blessed to have experience such a beautiful adventure in my own home, with my husband at my side.