More Babies Prefer Home Birth

To know how tremendous this experience was I have to share my varied birthing history. My first was a c-section after a very long labor, it traumatized me, at one point I had to beg for a nurse to remove her hands from my vagina. It took me a while to heal, but I found a way through. My second was a planned homebirth, expecting to be more like a first timer, and thus a long labor the pain and intensity of the contractions scared me into a non-emergent transfer. He was born 17 minutes after our arrival at the hospital. I now lovingly refer to it as the comical train wreck. When we found we were expecting again in July 2009 I had no doubt we’d be having a homebirth.

The day of my first due date I was urged by my midwife to enjoy my husband and do some walking. It was March and to my luck the weather was gorgeous. I however was miserable, I had even shared my thoughts of “pregnancy you’ve won, you own my soul!” A final surrender of sorts. My husband took my 2 older sons out of the house the day after my first due date and allowed me to rest, be miserable, wallow, cry, whatever felt good and I took full advantage. I enjoyed ice cream, and pineapple, a chick flick, a hot shower and a nap. When he returned it was time to make dinner, we planned a family indoor picnic complete with a movie. Afterwards we were going to take advantage of the lovely weather while my mom was kept an eye on the big boys.



We left a little after 6pm, my husband lost the bet of when I’d go into labor which we joked about during our long walk. I did some curb walking during our outing knowing it’s supposed to improve fetal positioning, I had a feeling my little one’s head wasn’t well flexed like it should be. With one foot in the gutter, and the other foot on the curb I walked for half a block then alternated and put the opposite foot in the gutter and on the curb. It really got the baby to descend and I had to squat, wiggle and waddle to accommodate the now lower baby in my pelvis. Then I had a contraction, not abnormal at this point in pregnancy, but this was a little different because I had to hold on to my husband and sway my hips. We had some distance to go to get home so we continued to enjoy our conversation and the warm air. A few blocks later another contraction that I had to stop and hold onto my husband again through. I was not getting my hopes up for anything other than some improved fetal positioning and some freebie centimeters before the real show. We were about 4 blocks from home when my mom called us, my 2 year old wanted to know where we were. As soon as I saw my 2 year old, he jumped into my arms, I let go of the thought of labor and the contractions seemed to stop. My sweet “baby” boy was a welcomed distraction.

The thing about 2 year olds is once they know where you are they will happily run off to do something else, and so he did. I decided to sit down at the computer and check on my other expecting March mamas. After a while noticed I was having these beautiful sensations, they felt so good I was afraid to move and make them stop. I could feel my uterus pull up on the lower uterine segment, when it would come to a peak my upper uterine segment would press down, peak, then both sensations faded together. It was such a glorious sensual sensation. Rhythmic, ecstatic. I thought, maybe these are contractions so I searched for a contraction timer. And timed my sensations They we coming every 2-5 minutes lasting 10seconds to 1 minute. I watched this for almost an hour before the energy of the sensations required my attention. I expanded the screen to show my husband but he didn’t quite get it. “Contractions” I said, he now knew we needed to get to work. I decided we should blow up the tub and prep the bed, just in case it was labor. I told my husband if I was still contracting after we finished getting our room prepped I would call the midwife and let her know something was happening, or possibly nothing. At 8:30, after an hour and half of contractions, we were done with the room and I made the call. We both agreed a shower would be good for getting rest but I couldn’t stop moving and felt like I had to do a million things, so I did them. We finally laid down around 10pm to unwind. We watched some TV and cuddled our cosleeping 2 year old, at 10:30 we turned the lights out. From 10 to 10:30 I had no sensations so I really relaxed and was ready to drift off to sleep and greet the next morning still pregnant.

Within minutes of drifting off I sat up and said “nope I can’t lay down” and tried to get in the shower, as my midwife had suggested earlier but I also told my husband to call the midwife. A wave of nausea hit, follow by trembling that I couldn’t control. I got in the shower but it felt all wrong, I needed to be submerged. As I went to step out I released some pink fluid, my water broke(or so I thought). My husband handed me the phone, the midwife was letting me know she was in her car and on her way. I couldn’t focus so I gave the phone back to my husband. I needed the tub filled so I called my mom down to do that for me. In a blur I got my robe on, my birthing necklace on (beads sent from my fellow March mamas), got candles put up, had my husband light them, got my birth ball, and got to work. Every few minutes, or seconds it felt like, I had to get on my hands and knees and rock against the ball. The sensations were so much bigger than me I had to let them out. Tears of joy would pour from me, I couldn’t stop smiling with every wave and I couldn’t stop myself from saying “Yes baby!” “I love you baby!” “Oooopen.” The bigger the sensations got the louder my mantra got, the bigger my smile got. I felt so right, so good. The room was suddenly empty but I couldn’t resist the pool any longer and I got in. I felt so sensual and feminine.

Finally my husband came back, I asked him get the camera so he could take pictures, he made me smile for a picture. Around this time I realized that our clock was 15 minutes fast and asked my husband to change it to the right time since we’d need it for the time. It was 11pm. My hair was still mostly wet from the shower and sticking in my face. I requested a hair tie but as soon as I got my hair put up I tried to sit down and another contractions, a different kind of contraction forced me out of the reclining position I was in back onto hands and knees leaning on the birth tub’s edge and oh my goodness I had to poop! I immediately told my husband “I need to poop, call the midwife.” He asked if I needed permission to poop, I smiled to myself at his silly question but just said “yes” because I knew it wasn’t a bowel movement, it was the urge to push. All the trembling and nausea had been transition.

He got the midwife on the phone. One of the fears we had discussed was pushing and waiting until I had to push. After the first sensation with the urge, the next sensation I said “no,no,no” to and immediately I was in pain. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to not push, this was the first and last time the whole labor when anything hurt. With the next sensation I didn’t fight and the pain was gone. My husband still on the phone was being reminded to remind me to breathe just keep breathing, slowly and deeply. This is exactly what I needed. I couldn’t help myself I had to bear down. It was a bit of a test push, because if it hurt I wasn’t going to push! I’d rather stay pregnant forever. To my surprise and delight, and with a little clitoral stimulation, it didn’t hurt. My husband tried to give me the phone but I was busy, I was birthing. I reached down to feel and the bag of water was coming down. I could feel baby’s hairy head inside the bag of water. I bared down again, my hands eager and ready to touch my baby. I kept feeling, I could feel where the outer bag had broken but the inner bag was intact. I bared down again, time for the big stretch, I expected the ring of fire but once again the sensation surprised me with good feelings instead. His head was born still in the bag of water. Without thought I stuck my fingers in the bag right below his chin and gently tore it away from baby’s head. I could feel a head full of thick hair. The last contraction to bring baby earth side came, still without pain, and I asked someone to catch the baby, but no one knew how fast things had happened or that I had been pushing at all. I grunted and bared down for the 4th time and he was out, I lifted my leg over him and sat to grab my baby. He was gorgeous and COVERED in vernix, it was creamy and soft, and he was so warm and wet. I was in love, I could not believe that I had just birthed my baby with only his family present. He arrived 8 minutes after my husband changed the time on the clock, with only 4 pushes. He opened his big eyes to look at me then started to breathe.



He turned a beautiful shade of pink. I wrapped him in a towel, our midwife which was still on the phone with my husband, suggested I get onto a chux pad for the placenta. I thought this idea was brilliant, the tub wasn’t full enough for my liking and was fast becoming chilled. A little wobbly I got out and walked the 2 feet or so to my bed where my husband had laid a chux pad on the bed. I sat down and mentally told myself “it’s time to let go[of the placenta]” I felt a contraction again and felt the placenta slide down, so I gave a little push and the placenta came out half way. I knew the placenta had detached so I felt comfortable assisting it out the rest of the way. So I picked it up and plopped it in a bowl, it was huge and gorgeous as I imagined it to be. Shortly after I birthed the placenta the assisting midwife arrived. She hugged us and told us how fantastic we all were, everything was just so perfect and calm she jumped into the clean up. Our midwife arrived not too long after. I was quickly examined for tears per my request, and nothing not even a skid mark, a perfectly intact perineum. I felt so relieved. Everyone was busy while baby and I cuddled, which I appreciated. I was given drinks and food to refuel though I wasn’t hungry. After a while we were ready to cut the cord, for the first time my husband got to cut the cord. This felt like the right time to allow daddy his first moments with his new son. My midwife and I did the post partum bathroom trip which was smooth sailing. I came back to the room and got my pajamas on, climbed into bed and was ready to do the newborn exam. I got to be the one to “examine” his palette, we measured his head which was smaller than I expected, were awed by all his hair, giggled at his length which was the same as his older brothers, then finally got to weigh him and diaper him. My sweet midwives made me a placenta smoothie and sang us a beautiful birthing day song and said goodbye 3 hours after the birth. It was my perfect birth!

{If you’d like to share your own home birth story, please use the form at right to submit it.}

The UC of Isaiah Gideon

I just don’t know if there are words to do justice to the way my baby boy came into this world. To put it simply and maybe best, it was a little piece of heaven. I’ve never been closer to God or my family as I was in the moments he was born and after. As a mama who has had 2 cesareans and one hospital vba2c, this birth is incredibly special to me.

I wrote his birth story, 2 weeks to the day after he was born, and here it is:

I have a hard time believing how amazing his birth was. I feel like I dreamed it all. While I was pregnant I only hoped, dreamed, that it would be what it was. I would live and relive those moments over and over again if I could and will draw on that experience any time in my life that I need strength or courage. Because of his birth I know myself better. His birth was about responsibility from the start. During pregnancy I was responsible for taking the best care of myself that I ever have in my life. During the 2 years prior to his birth I took responsibility for preparing and educating myself about birth and every possible path that birth could take. I surrounded myself with people who were also educated about birth. But ultimately in my mind, my soul, I had a perfect picture of what this birth would be and it was.

What it wasn’t was dramatic. Or scary. Or painful. It wasn’t anything that people typically envision in a birth. And it was nothing like you see on t.v. By all means, Isaiah’s entrance into this world would probably be classified by some, as boring.

A boring birth.

But really, I would not call it boring. Sure, it wouldn’t make for good t.v. but I wouldn’t call it boring. I would call it peaceful. Joyous. Beautiful. Calm. Relaxing. Even triumphant.

On July 22nd at 3:00 pm my family who had just visited prior to leaving for their trip to Hawaii for my brother’s wedding was getting ready to say goodbye. My husband worked the night shift that night and he woke up as they were leaving to see them off. At 3:30 he was getting ready to go to work and I sat down on the couch to relax after a long day. My 3 girls, 5, 3, and 1 were playing. They had woken early that morning and my 1 year old was getting very tired after a long day with no nap. We had spent the day shopping and having ‘girl’ time together as I knew that things would get busy when the baby arrived.

When I sat down on the couch I felt the baby drop. It happened very quickly and noticeably. Shortly after that I had this feeling that labor would be starting soon. By 4:00 Nick was ready to go to work. I wasn’t having regular contractions, just the same Braxton hicks/ prodromal labor that I had experienced for weeks prior. Instinctually I knew that it was going to happen that night. I just knew. I let him know this but told him to go to work anyway ’just in case it wasn’t’. We all said goodbye and he was off to work. It took him about an hour to get to work and would take him another hour to get home. By 5:00 I was still not having regular contractions. They were still the same and still barely noticeable. I cleaned my house, helped my girls get ready for bed, washed all the laundry and took care of anything that I knew I wouldn‘t want to worry about once the baby did arrive. I was doing these things instinctually and that instinct was telling me that baby would b! e on the way very soon. I took a bath because I was tired and just wanted to relax. I sang along to my Ipod and could hear my older girls singing along from in their room while they were playing with their toys. I called Nick at work. He called back just after 5:00 and I told him he should come home or he might miss the birth. He was home by 6:00 and I was playing barbies with our girls. Our 1 year old had fallen asleep and it was just my oldest 2 still awake. When Nick got home he thought maybe my call was a false alarm. I was calm, relaxed, and not in pain. I did ask him to rub my back because it was tired after a long day. I was still keeping busy and my girls helped me switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer. It was almost 7:00 and I decided to lay down and rest a little. Still no regular or painful contractions. I went to the bathroom and half expected some signs of labor but nothing.

I went to go back to our room and lay down when my dh said, something along the lines of ‘so, we’ll have the baby tomorrow maybe?’ He was thinking he could go to sleep. I said, ‘no, baby will be here soon’. It was after 7:00 (7:15? I’m not sure…time is fuzzy at this point) I couldn’t sit still. I needed to be moving, pacing, walking, and I walked down our hall, into our living room, and then back into the bathroom. That was transition. It lasted about 5 minutes from the time I told Nick baby would be here soon and it never hurt. It was also the only time I had a regular contraction pattern or contractions that felt slightly more noticeable than Braxton hicks. My body then started to bear down. I wanted to be in the tub at first and the feeling of the water from the shower was very relaxing and soothing. Nick checked in on me and I think he finally believed that baby was going to be born soon. I reached down and felt the bag of water bulging. I told him that i! t was very close. Then I wanted to be out of the tub. I got out and Nick gave me towels to dry off. I made my way to our room and onto our bed.

Once I got on the bed I reached down again and felt a hairy head and shortly after that I knew I needed to slowly breathe him out. Nick and my girls were there with me, they were just watching and waiting quietly and patiently. When baby’s head came out I heard my older daughter say “I see the baby’s head!” I had my hand on baby’s head as it crowned and in the same contraction as the head was born the shoulders turned and baby’s body slid gently out into my hands onto the bed. He cried right away and was immediately pink. He looked around and then gave another good cry. I was so busy looking at him that I didn’t even think to look and see if he was a boy or a girl. We didn’t find out because we opted not to have an ultrasound. Nick asked and when I looked I half expected him to be a girl. I said “it’s a boy!!”

Within 15 minutes of his birth he was breastfeeding and the placenta came out. He ate for a half hour nearly every hour for the first 12 hours of his life, my milk came in the 2nd day, and has been a great eater! He weighed in at 9lb 2oz on the fish scale Nick bought for his birth…our “catch of the day” as he called him :)

Isaiah Gideon was born exactly how I hoped he would be. He had a peaceful entrance into this world. I was able to listen to my body and my instincts and do everything I needed to so he could have a safe and peaceful birth. I knew myself enough to know exactly what I needed for his birth and I know birth enough to know exactly what I needed to bring him safely into this world. I had hoped I would “know” I was “in labor” sooner this time (last time I didn’t know until an hour before she was born!) and I did. Even though my labors aren’t ’traditional’, instinctually I *just knew*. I had hoped I would enjoy it and soak it all up and I did. I had hoped my husband and my girls would be able to witness it and they did. I had hoped for the birth that was perfect for me and our baby and it was. I am so thrilled that my girls were able to see a baby, their brother, brought into this world in such a way, that they too may someday birth without pain or fear and it might ! be a joyous and beautiful event for them too. I feel so incredibly blessed!

{If you’d like to share your own home birth story, please use the form at right to submit it.}