More Babies Prefer Home Birth

Born July 6th 2011 7:56AM At home.

7lbs 8oz and 20inches


Birth Story
7-5-11
BEFORE
I had a midwife appointment, we had been having trouble finding my cervix at previous appointments, but this time we actually found it! My cervix was hiding all the way to the left and was 2 centimeters dilated! I was so happy! My midwife swept my membranes at my request, and manually stretched it for a bit. I was getting kind of crampy in my hips, so I massaged them while this happened. Later on I took some homeopathic labor encouraging wonderfulness (cimicifuga and caullaphyllum) that my midwife brought. I expressed to her my fears of going over 42 weeks and how stressed out it was making me. I really wanted a home birth and was getting worried that the clock was ticking. At this point I was exactly 41 weeks pregnant, but to me it meant only 7 days left to go into labor…tick tock…tick tock… My midwife made me feel TONS better just by talking with me about how she highly doubted I would go past that, confirming that I was dilated, and talking to me about what a hospit! al birth would look like if I went past 42 weeks. I was so soothed by that.
Earth Mom showed up at the end of the appointment, got to hear the heartbeat, and grabbed my belly and said: “I am here now Sage, you can come out now!”We went to the mall to do some walking and buying dresses. At this point I only wore dresses and boxer briefs because I was worried that waistbands of pants would stop Sage from moving down.
That night I started feeling kind of crampy right inside my hips, but I figured it was just because my cervix was played with so much. I drank a cuppa Raspberry Leaf Tea, took two Evening Primrose Oil capsules (vegetarian), expressed some colostrum, and dozed to some Nova documentary about extreme cave diving. 
7-6-11
DURING
3AM 
I woke up and my crampy feeling in my hips was still there. There was a definite start and end to them, and lying down was no help at all. I woke my mom up. I told her I wasn’t sure, but that I was having to breathe through them a little bit. She came downstairs and brewed a pot of coffee and I walked around a bit. I timed them with my cell phone and we watched the clock. They were only about 20-30 seconds long, but they were happening every 2 minutes. I called my midwife. She kept me on the phone through two contractions so she could time them and listen to how I was handling them. She said that this was definitely labor, it wasn’t going to go away, but she was worried that I would get too worn out. She suggested I brew some “sleepy time” tea and try to get some rest. I brewed the tea, my mom and I turned on the tele to some show about a guy who was really into wolves or something. The tea didn’t help, I couldn’t sleep, and I started to really have to pause and ! breathe through what we now knew were contractions. 
Then I vomited. The contractions got stronger. I vomited some more.
We called the midwife back (my mom had to call her as I was throwing up and saying “gross”). She called back in a little bit and talked to me through two more contractions. After hearing my heavy panting she said she was packing her bags and would be over in about an hour. This was around 4:30? 5:30?
After throwing up I felt a bit sweaty and gross, so I decided I should shower. While getting undressed to shower I had my bloody show, to which I responded “gross” and threw up a couple more times. My mom sat on the toilet while I showered. The hot water felt good during contractions, but I was feeling everything right inside my hips. The shower head didn’t reach that far unfortunately. But I managed to shampoo/condition my hair and wash my body between contractions. During contractions I would sway back and forth with my hips, but toward the end of the shower I was mashing my face up against the shower wall and kind of humming. The contractions didn’t hurt. They were definitely a curious sensation, and I was so excited about them that I was really calm the entire time. At the point that I started moaning I asked my mom to call my Pillows (grandma). She hardly had time to say “labor. Bring doughnuts,” because my contractions were getting heavier and closer togeth! er. I knew from Ina May that moaning meant heavier labor. I made sure to keep my lips loose and my voice low. After getting out of the shower things really sped up. We went downstairs and I asked my mom to hold my hips through each contraction.
At around 6? My Pillows showed up. Somehow my yoga ball ended up back in my room and I got on my hands and knees, threw my upper body on top of the ball, and rocked front to back. That felt really good. I asked my Pillows to put my hair up because it was in my face. We made small talk between contractions. I felt really good.
About 6:30? my midwife showed up and saw me deeply moaning and swaying. She got a little worried and said that a bath might help me out. (I later found out that she was panicked and frantically set up her supplies while I was in the tub) I squatted in the tub, but it didn’t feel right. I tried to lay back in the tub but that felt horrible. I shot up while I was lying down and scrambled to get to where I was sitting on my feet. (we think this is when my water might have broken, we have no idea). Again, it didn’t hurt it just felt not right. Being upright helped. I said I was done and we went downstairs. My midwife checked me and I was 6cm dilated and fully effaced. This was around 7?
I labored standing upright with my hands on the back of a couch while my mom grabbed my hips and my Pillows blew in my face to remind me to breath. This was SUPER helpful; I was remembering to keep my voice low, but not really to breathe deeply. My Pillows said at this point I was “purring.”I was still pretty calm and enjoying myself. My biggest complaint was that I couldn’t find a comfortable resting position for in between contractions. We put my yoga ball on my bed so I could stand up and sway front to back easier. This felt fantastic! 
Then I had to poop. I sat down on the toilet, went a little, but sitting down felt wrong. Wipe, flush, back to work.
Around 7:30-7:45-ish I felt a bit pushy. I looked over at my midwife and said “I’m feeling a bit pushy..”I had another contraction and said “I’m going to go ahead and push.”She calmly asked me if I could pant through my push feelings so she could check me again. Fully dilated and ready to go.
I reached down and could feel the head. I also pooped a little, to which I responded “gross.”
(Apparently my midwife had been frantically texting/calling her assistant at this time)
So with just me, my mom, my Pillows (3 generations) and my midwife, I started pushing. I continued standing upright, I was feeling a little tight at the top of my perineum, so my midwife put a warm washcloth there, and rubbed me with olive oil. My legs started to get a bit shaky between contractions. I climbed onto the bed and layed down on my left side, holding my right knee all the way up by my ear. I felt myself opening up and was ecstatic! In between two pushed I asked my Pillows if she would grab my hand mirror out of the drawers in my bathroom. I wanted to see. I needed to see this.
I looked in the mirror and saw the head and smiled. My midwife was holding the top of my perineum and quickly sloshing me in olive oil. I pushed again and looked down and the head doubled in size! I pushed again and WOOSH Sage was born! All of him, all at once! Head and shoulder knees and toes! I pulled him to my chest and cooed “Oh hello!”This happened at 7:56AM. 5 hours of labor, that was it. Ten minutes of pushing, that was it. My mom had to act as the birthing assistant because the one I chose was not there yet.
AFTER:
Immediately after Sage came out, so did a waterfall of blood. I started shaking and was freezing cold. My mom kept throwing blankets in the dryer and tossing them on top of me. I could not stop shaking, but I also did not let go of Sage, who had pooped right after he was born. We waited until the cord stopped pumping blood, and my midwife started handing me the scissors. I had really wanted to cut the cord, but I was too shaky. I asked Pillows to do it, who was thrilled. I discovered Sage has a penis. The warm placenta came out easily, but with more blood. According to my midwife, about 750cc’s of blood was lost. She gave me a shot of Pitocin to help stop the bleeding. Sage latched on and started eating! I didn’t even have to direct him to the boob; he squirmed there on his own and dove right in! I was so relieved!
After a little bit my midwife explained that I had a tear on the left side. She said it wasn’t too bad, but I could use a stitch. I asked if it was necessary and she said not really, I would just take longer to heal. I said I didn’t want the stitch. Then it was time for me to pee. Pillows held Sage while I slowly inched to the side of the bed and tried to become upright. I fainted. I was still really shaky, my pulse was high, and my blood pressure was low. I got set up with an IV of fluids and some oxygen. After a while with the fluids and air, we tried again. Instead of trying to walk, I slid onto the floor. An enormous clot oozed out of me, to which I responded “gross.”My midwife said it was about 220cc’s. I was quickly approaching the borderline of needing to be transferred to a hospital because of blood loss and Sage had a really low temperature and slow breathing. I asked if we could just wait a bit and see if things got better or worse, and my midwife gave he! r OK. I asked for Sage back. We hung out naked for quite a while and he ate again, which lifted my spirits a lot. I drank some coconut water for energy and electrolytes. We kept checking vitals and both of ours were increasing.
At 9AM the birthing assistant showed up. She looked at me and said “wow! You look really calm for being in labor!”I smiled and pulled the blankets back to show her Sage. She was shocked, but helped with taking vitals and cleaning up.
I started feeling much better, so my mom got to hold Sage while I tried to pee again. I got numbed up so it wouldn’t sting and successfully peed! My midwife stayed until about 4 PM to make sure our vitals were all in the clear. I felt great, Sage was happy and healthy, and I felt proud!

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