More Babies Prefer Home Birth

My due date was July 12th or 14th, and both Michael and I thought the baby would be born on July 8th. I was preparing for the birth with HypnoBabies, but not very religiously and was just taking what I liked and leaving what I didn’t. At most of my late 3rd trimester appointments, the baby was persistently posterior (or ‘sunny side up’). I did lots of exercises, visualizations, etc to encourage turning to a more favorable position, but nothing really changed.


My 38 week appointment was on July 1st and baby had moved to my right side a bit. While that was better, I was hoping to move the baby over some more to the anterior position. I saw a chiropractor for an adjustment after my appointment, and again the following day. The baby was still pretty content over on the left, but the adjustments made my hips and pelvis feel so much better and less sore.


At the visit with my midwife on July 1st, she mentioned that she always ends up attending a birth on the 4th of July. I wasn’t convinced it could be me this year but on Friday night I started having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions coming in a bit of a pattern. I had a few other nights like that during the last few weeks, so I didn’t think much of it, but made sure everything was ready for the birth just in case. I went to bed around 10pm.


I awoke the next morning at the usual time (around 7am) and wondered if the contractions in my dreams had been real. A few minutes later another came, but it still felt just like a Braxton Hicks. They came about every 15-20 minutes. We had already decided to celebrate the 4th at home this year, so we didn’t really have any plans for the day.


At this point, I thought there was a good likelihood that I’d be having the baby some time the weekend. I thought probably late that night or sometime on Sunday since the contractions were so far apart and barely noticeable. We called our mothers to give them the early heads up (both were at 4th parties about 1 ½ hours away).


I had Michael attach the TENS to my back to try it out – I was curious what it would feel like and wanted to know if I liked the feeling before I really needed to use it. The ‘burst’ mode (what you use between contractions) felt like little tingly pokes on my back, and the ‘boost’ mode (for during contractions) felt like one of those massage chairs had been attached to my lower back. It was good, but I wasn’t sure how much it would help when the contractions got serious.


Around 10am we all went grocery shopping. I had 2 or 3 of the contractions while shopping, but they were still nothing to get excited about. At noon my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and their baby came by for a visit. They were headed up to a family party in New Hampshire. I didn’t have any contractions at all during the visit (and started to think we wouldn’t be meeting the baby this weekend after all), but one came just as they were leaving. That was about 2pm. They started up at 15 minutes apart again, and a little more intense than earlier, but still nothing like I remembered contractions feeling.


We were hungry so Michael went outside to start the grill going and cook us some burgers. After a bit, Nathan wanted to play outside, so we went out too. The landlady was tending to one of the horses, so I chatted with her a bit and then we went inside to eat. The contractions picked up in intensity during lunch, but they just felt like a lot of pressure and another sensation I can’t describe. I wondered what was going on and where I was in labor since it felt nothing like my previous labor.


At 3:45pm they were coming about every 10-11 minutes. We called our moms and told them they should probably head to our place since it seemed I’d probably have the baby that night. I also called the midwife to see what she thought and she said to call again when they were 7 minutes apart.


I still felt great and was doing things to prepare for the birth (cleaning, re-arranging furniture, double checking supplies) and just paused during contractions and used the TENS and my HypnoBabies ‘peace’ cue for relaxation.


We went on like that until 5pm, when the contractions suddenly jumped to 3-4 minutes apart (I’d had one at 7 minutes apart, and was waiting for a couple more to be sure it was time to call the midwife again). I called her and told her about the sudden change. I also remember saying I had no idea what was going on since even though they were so close they didn’t hurt and I felt completely normal between them. She said she’d come over right away anyway. I asked Michael to start blowing up and filling the pool.


Just after that I went to pee and noticed bloody show. I had a contraction on the toilet and at the peak of it, felt my body give a little involuntary push. That’s when reality hit me and I realized this baby was coming very soon. I checked myself and felt a tiny bit of cervix and a very bulging bag of waters.


I hurried to get the bed set up just in case I wanted/needed to birth there instead of the pool. I also asked Michael to call the moms again and tell them to start speeding. They were both still a bit away and it was a good possibility the wouldn’t make it in time. That had me a bit nervous, since we were counting on them to care for Nathan and make sure he was ok during the birth. Nathan, by the way, was pretty oblivious to everything and was just playing independently while Michael and I hurried around getting things ready.


The midwives arrived about 5:35pm and began setting up their supplies. I turned on the video camera and started it recording since I knew our moms were really looking forward to witnessing the birth, and now it was pretty apparent they’d miss it. I felt my body pushing by itself with each contraction. The pool was still filling, but I really wanted to get in. The water was too hot, so they had to pump in some cool water before I could get in.


I still had my clothes on so I took those off while waiting for the pool. Nathan had decided to add some bath toys to the pool, so I fished those out (during a contraction). I was still using the TENS and HypnoBabies ‘peace’ cue (but hadn’t actually done any hypnosis). When I got the go-ahead to get in the pool I ripped off the TENS pads as fast as I could and got into the water before another contraction came. I used to think it was funny that printed on the pool was a ‘No Diving’ sign, but in that moment I understood and would have dove in head first if it would have gotten me in quicker.


The water was great and my contractions instantly dropped down in intensity…but then my body started pushing even more strongly and I realized I was going to have a baby any minute. Michael was still walking around doing things and he knelt by me with Nathan ad they (Nathan too) gave me hypnosis cues to help me relax. The contractions got even more intense and I could feel the baby’s head moving into the birth canal. It was at that moment that it started to hurt and not just feel like pressure.


I still wasn’t pushing voluntarily and just let my body do the work. I blew and panted and vocalized (and yelled) through the contractions. It felt like it was taking FOREVER for the baby to come out, but from the time I started feeling pain to the birth was about 8 minutes. I didn’t have any pains during labor, but the pain now was worse than I had imagined it would be. I felt the ‘ring of fire’ and really, really, really wanted to give a big push to get it over with, but someone managed to just keep breathing through it, then the head came out, and I felt so much better.


Nathan had been wandering around, somewhat paying attention and somewhat playing around during all this (he tried to put more toys in the pool, played with the flashlight, and imitated the midwives by donning on of their gloves). When the baby’s head came out, he went around to the back of the pool and Michael showed him the baby. I was oblivious, but Michael said he looked a bit and then kept on playing.


Then I had to get the rest of the baby out, which actually hurt a bit more than the head. I felt a sharp pain with the shoulders and thought someone was pulling on him, but no one was touching him. I gave a push and the baby was out. Michael guided the baby under me and towards my front and I reached down and pulled him up onto my chest. It was an amazing moment and I couldn’t believe everything had just happened, especially so fast. After a few seconds I remembered to check and see if we had a boy or girl – BOY!


We got out of the water right after that since it was a little too cold. I had just a minor tear (probably from that darn push I gave with the shoulders – the only voluntary push, silly me) and got 3 stitches. He looked so tiny to me, Michael and I both thought he probably barely weighed 7lbs. Once he was weighed we were completely shocked to hear he was 8lbs!