More Babies Prefer Home Birth

I posted back in oct 2009 about my previous 2 homebirths right after I found this website. Now I want to add my third homebirth story.

http://morebabiespreferhomebirth.com/post/221323105/home-birth-story-two-home-births

My Third Homebirth

This story begins with a surprise, a disappointment and devastation, then a renewed joy. We had felt that our family of 4 was complete and were not trying for another child when we were pleasantly surprised. 
Surprise
The day that I had tested positive on that little home pregnancy test, I thought that I’d break the news to the family at dinner that night. I invited my dad over and made a nice dinner and even had placed an open Corona in front my husband at the table (something that I have never done by the way, so he was a bit suspicious and reluctant to touch it). Well, dinner barely started and I couldn’t contain myself with the news. Everyone was excited and a lively discussion ensued at the dinner table and finally my husband drank the beer.
Disappointment and Devastation
Since I wasn’t planning another pregnancy I didn’t have a clue what date was my last period so we went for an ultrasound. It showed that we were very early and the tech couldn’t accurately date it yet. It was a bit disappointing but still ok. Then about 4 weeks later, I started spotting blood. I called my midwife and we discussed a plan. A few days later, I had a miscarriage. The ER experience was horrible. I was devastated. I knew that I didn’t want to go through that again but I was not sure what I wanted. 
Renewed Joy
After a couple of months, out of the blue, I told my husband that I wanted another child. At first, he thought that I was joking, but when he saw in my eyes how serious I was, he was overjoyed. A couple of months later, we got that big fat positive home pregnancy test.
Pregnancy
It was a pretty normal pregnancy so I won’t dwell on it too much. I met with my midwife that had for our second child and she was just as awesome as before. We did however have a slight moment of uncertainty in the beginning. Our midwife was not able to hear the fetal heartbeat on the first visit. She knew how insecure I was since having gone through the miscarriage and kindly told me that I could just drop by anytime after the 14th week, no appointment necessary, and she would take another listen. Well, I got a bit busy and didn’t come back until week 15. She checked again and still could only pick up my pulse on the Doppler. So she quickly ordered the ultrasound at the local hospital and arranged an appointment as soon as they would get me in, which was 2 days later. Those were agonizing 2 days. The ultrasound went well and we saw the heartbeat and baby moving around. It was such a relief that I could not hold back the tears. My nearly 6 year old son wanted to know w! hy I was crying and I told him it was for happiness and that sometimes moms do that and it’s ok. The rest of the pregnancy, I didn’t want to know the gender so it was exciting as time got closer to the end.
Due Date
My other 2 were born rather close to my due dates so I naturally expected that this one would also. It was rather amusing listening to all of the complete strangers and friends and family that I would run into that had all kinds of predictions on gender and when I’d give birth. All of them were wrong. I did however expect to have back labor this time, since I had it with both of my other 2 and during the miscarriage. That prediction was correct. 
The Next Day
The day after my due date, at about 3am, I started to have contractions, in my lower back. They were quite painful right from the start so I naturally assumed that baby would be here soon, perhaps later that day. I made some calls to the midwife, my sister and my mother and then tried to go back to sleep to get some rest knowing that this was going to be a long day.
I was relieved to know that despite the back pain, I was able to get some sleep. I laid on a heating pad and let my husband sleep after I let him know what was going on. I knew that I would need his help later. All through the day, the contractions were quite sporadic. I tried timing them several times and each time I was disappointed when they were not consistent or getting stronger or longer. They did reach a point when I needed my husband to massage my lower back to get through each one. So all day long, he helped me get through them and we tried to have a semi-normal day. 
As evening approached, I had the feeling that things were going to pick up so I called my friend that was going to watch the kids. I timed the contractions for an hour and still no pattern. We watched a movie for a distraction. When the contractions still had not changed, the midwife called for an update, she recommended rest and suspected that things would pick up later that night. So, I sent the kids to bed and our friend home for some rest and she promised to return when we needed her.
I decided to lay down in bed in kind of a lunge-like position, half on my left-side, half on my belly with my right knee up as close to my chest as my belly allowed possible. I labored through a few contractions when suddenly, I had an uncontrollable persistent pain and had my husband come in and help me up out of bed. I went to the bathroom and then to the living room to sit on the exercise ball. Since my husband was at the computer I sat near him so that he could massage my lower back through the contractions. It didn’t take long and they were coming one right after another. He barely had time to make the 3 phone calls in between my contractions to get our friend, my sister (the doula) and my midwife to come.
Our friend was closest, so she got here first. I never bothered to time these contractions because they were so strong and fast and long that all I could do was rock on the ball and lean onto a chair in front of me with my husband behind me massaging. Then, I felt a small gush of water and the membrane moving down the canal. I stood up bent over and screamed, “The baby is coming now!” I asked my husband to help me get my pants off, but they were stuck. After he tried a bit to get them off, to no avail, I told him to just cut them off. He did and then went back to massaging me. I went to my knees and leaned on the computer chair. Our friend called the midwife to update her on this new development and she said that she was only 5 minutes away. I knew that I had to start pushing and prayed that the midwife would get here in time.
The midwife, her assistant and my sister all arrived at the same time and they quickly worked together to get the birthing supplies together and ready. My sister then took over the massage with counter-pressure right where and when I needed it most. That almost took the pain away, well, at least the back pain anyway. The baby’s head was quite large so it took a few contractions to get it out and when it hit the half-way point, the contractions paused long enough to allow the perineum to stretch naturally. Once the head was all the way out, just one more big push and the whole body came out. Not a single tear. Only 27 minutes of pushing out of 1 hour and 17 minutes or active labor. Our big baby was lying behind me while the midwife suctioned out his lungs so I couldn’t see what we had until I asked. My husband said, “It’s a boy.” I could tell that he was big but it wasn’t until we were settled in bed and the midwife weighed him that we got the shock. He was 10 pou! nds and 4 ounces, 22 inches long and head circumference of 35cm. Somehow I knew that he was going to be that big. At some point near the end, I don’t recall exactly, I gave our friend the OK to wake up our son to be a part of things and we let our daughter sleep until baby and I were in bed. 
The kids were quite excited and had lots of fun taking pictures of the baby and everyone there. They almost didn’t want to go back to bed.
Out of all 3 labors, this one was by far the hardest and the easiest. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but I feel wonderful and grateful and blessed to have had the support and love and the strength to carry out this one life-altering event in the safety and security of my home. This story is just the third installment of my homebirth journey that began several years ago. I cherish every moment of it and the family that we have become.

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

Finally ! At 42 completed weeks of pregnancy, and after a week of prodromal labour, I was OVERJOYED to have contractions for which I actually needed to lean on the table and breathe through (they were immediately regular, too - every two to three minutes right from the get-go). They began at about 10:45 pm, Saturday night.  I sent out the “IT’S ON !” e-mail to close friends and family in between two hard contractions, shortly after mum took this picture of me (because I said to her “Quick ! please take one last pic of my pregnant self !”). I also phoned Sinclair (my primary midwife) at this time, and believe it or not, told her she might even be able to go back to sleep for a bit… !?!? Yes, days of pre-labour will do this to you, ie., cause you to be in complete denial when it actually does happen, and even when everyone else around you knows it’s the real deal.

Please visit Chloë’s Birth Story to read the rest.

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

 by Kara Lea Maynard

4am. I had gone to bed around 2am because baby girl(we knew she was a girl from the moment we found out we were pregnant) was already a night owl so I was up late..I had fallen asleep-finally-but I woke up suddenly with a cramp. I thought to myself, “I have to go to the bathroom, NOW!” I got up on my hands and knees because it hurt so bad and when I stood up, WOOSH! It literally made that sound and I said, “Um Chad, I think you need to wake up, I think my water just broke..” He leaned over and said, “I HEARD that!” So I waddled with my legs closed to the bathroom while I leaked…got into the bathtub and the rest of the water came out. 

I asked Chad if he thought we should call A, our midwife. He said definitely! So I took a quick shower and went downstairs to find her number. I felt SO bad calling her that early, but she assured me she was fine, used to it happening. She said babies seemed to have a way of knowing it was night and they liked to come then! She told me to monitor the contractions and that she had a few things to do before they got here, but to call her if the contractions started coming very close before she got there. At that point they had not even started, so she told me to try to go back to sleep and rest because I would need it. Of course, I was much too excited to sleep, so I got on the computer to update my Myspace account and to let everyone on the mothering forum know that my water broke! I wanted to call everyone, but it was only 4:30 am by then, so I figured that no one would appreciate that! I posted on the forum and a few people replied that not everyone was asleep, in fact! , someone on www.mothering.com wished me good baby vibes- A had delivered her baby too! (She offered to cook for us during our babymoon too, wasn’t that sweet?)

We got up and I showered(since I didn’t know when I would be able to again) and got dressed. Then we got in the car and went to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of last minute things. I told the cashier I was having a baby and he asked me when. I told him I was in labor NOW and he just looked surprised and didn’t know what to say. Something to talk about at break time, eh? HAH!

Then we went home and I sat down on the couch to relax. After I updated the internet friends, I ate a little bit because I wanted to be sure I would have energy for the work ahead. Chad and I finally tried to go back to bed and then my contractions started..of course! They were definitely not as bad as everyone had said they would be. So Chad started to fill up the birth tub and we called A again and she told us that she would be by soon. She was stopping at the Birth Cottage to pick up some things and then they would be over. She said to call her if they got closer together. So I went upstairs and got in the regular bathtub while I waited for the birthing tub to fill. A few minutes later, J showed up. She was SO excited to be there, she kept going, “My baby is coming!” Chad brought me up some pineapples and some lunchmeat and some juice while I was in the bath tub. I labored in the tub for a while and J rubbed my back. Then the birthing tub was finally filled, ! so I jumped in there. It was so incredible being in the water, I was floating and I felt almost no pain at all. 

After a little while A and A came to the house. They checked my blood pressure and temperature, but didn’t check dilation because I had tested positive for Group B Strep and they wanted to reduce risk of infection(since I was only using a hibiclens rinse and no antibiotics) and then they checked the baby’s heartbeat, which was strong and quick! We chatted for a while and then more family came in. It was my mother and father, my father in law, mother in law and my sister in law who showed up next. J and J were upstairs with me while I was laboring and as the contractions got more intense, they were cheering me on, saying things like it wouldn’t be long now and I could do it, it was the hardest work I would ever do, my baby was coming…To be honest, I love them to death, but it was wearing on my nerves at that point, I was tired and the contractions were getting stronger and did I mention I was tired? I told Chad to take them downstairs. So Chad asked them to make me something to eat. They ran down and made me a sandwich, which I had one bite of and thought to myself that I had better stop or it was coming back up! So I stopped eating and Chad just gave me sips of Recharge, a natural energy drink.

I was sooo tired at that point, I needed to rest. It was around 6pm and I had been laboring for 14 hours already. I started falling asleep in between contractions, which were about 4 minutes apart and man, did I need that break! Chad sat with me the whole time behind me and put cool washcloths on my head because it was so warm in the tub I was sweating. A and A sat and let me rest, they were wonderful the whole time, I couldn’t have asked for a better birth team than I had. I owe my sanity to all of them. 

At about 7pm, I was starting to get antsy and wanted to have my baby out, so I asked A if I could start pushing and A said, “If you feel the need to push, then go ahead.” And so I did. I admit now that I just was rushing things and wanted to get it over with, so I pushed before I was ready. I regret that now, because after I pushed for about 45 minutes, I had made no progress and they made me stop so they could check me. I had reversed my labor by pushing too soon and closed my cervix back up to 4cm!!! I was so upset! So then I had to force myself to stop pushing, and that HURT LIKE HELL! I had to get up and stand in the shower by myself. I was crying and I just wanted to die, THIS was the pain everyone must have been talking about. This was worse than anything I had encountered before, not pushing when I wanted too was SO hard! So after an hour of crying in the shower with the water beating on me to try to relieve the pain, I begged A to check me and see if I was ready. She did and I was! She suggested I not get back in the birthing tub because she thought the warm water would stall things, so I didn’t. They got the bed set up with chuxs and then I hopped on(or more like waddled with difficulty!) The contractions were very strong at this time and I was READY to push!

I started the real pushing by kneeling on the bed and pushing against Chad(and in the process I smooshed him~sorry!! He got a nasty bruise and it hurt like heck he said!) Then I started pushing. It seemed to go slow, almost like I was in slow motion, it was weird, but better than not pushing. I was really holding back with being vocal though because I didn’t want my mom or his mom to be concerned that I was in pain(even though I was!). A kept telling me, you need to get vocal so they know this baby is coming, give them a few good screams to let them know we are almost done..lol..and boy did I! It felt great to let it go and I started yelling like mad, but much too high, almost like screaming. They kept saying that I needed to be loud, not high pitched, more like grunting really loudly because I was screeching and in the process, not breathing! A kept telling me to breathe and I was hyperventilating, so they got out the oxygen. It was to help me slow down and concentrate. She put it on slowly and I calmed down while I worked to suck the air down, then she turned it up and I started gulping, so she turned it back down again and that was the trick to keep me breathing slowly and regularly. It also gave me an energy boost!

I finally got on my back and A checked me again and said there was a tiny lip of cervix left, so she was going to hold it back while I pushed to get the head by and then we would be golden. I kept asking, “Am I close to the “ring of fire?” This was something I had heard about on many forums and from many people that it was horrible, horrible pain and burning right before the baby was born and then the baby was out, so I think I had psyched myself out for it! She kept telling me that it wasn’t that bad, that I wouldn’t even think about it, wouldn’t even feel it, once it happens it is over so quick you won’t remember and she was so right! When I got to getting her out, I didn’t feel anything bad. It was such a rush to have her out!

It was almost 9:18 and I had been pushing for about 45 minutes. I was very anxious about the time and here’s why. About 2 weeks before, I had a dream about Nanny, my deceased grandmother. She is who I was naming my daughter after and I knew she was sending my baby to me. I dreamed I was in a car with her and we were at a shopping plaza. All of the stores were closed and I looked at the clock and it read 9:18pm. I commented about how it was weird all the stores were already closed because it wasn’t 9:30pm(which is the normal time most stores close) and Nanny told me that was because the clock was wrong and it was actually 10:18pm. So I knew that Lea would be born at one of those times. I was hoping for the earlier time..lol..but I guess I always knew it would be the later time. So as 9:18 came and went, I knew it was crunch time. I started really paying attention to my pushing, breathing and getting this baby out. 

Finally, A said she could see the baby’s head and she put a mirror up so Chad could see it. He said it was huge and he told me he thought “how can she get something that big out” and then I pushed again and it got bigger. He said he almost passed out! So I kept pushing and asking what time it was and when the ring of fire was coming. I was pretty single-minded about the ring of fire..lol…so her head was crowning and I was pushing and A told me this was it. A big contraction came and I bore down HARD because I was not letting her go back again, she was coming out this time! I never felt the ring of fire at all after all that worrying, all I felt was the completely awesome feeling of her sliding out of me, knowing I was meeting my baby finally! And guess what? It was 10:18pm! 

She was a beautiful, healthy, alert little girl. They handed her over to me immediately and we looked at her, they put a hat on her and she started nursing. Then they told me I had to deliver the placenta and I gave a little push and it came right out. It splashed out of the bowl onto A new pants(sorry A!) and then they took it downstairs to freeze it so we could plant it in the spring with a tree in memory of both of my Leas. 

Here I was holding my baby and loving it. So they asked me if I needed anything. I was STARVING and said I wanted two things: some Advil(which I couldn’t have during the pregnancy..) and something to eat! So they got me stitched up because Lea had her hand in her face when she came out and it tore me a little. That didn’t take long, even though I was nervous about the needle to numb me, but at that point, I couldn’t feel anything anymore and I was done, so I was good. I stared at my lovely little girl and then the family started coming upstairs to see her. Then they took her to weigh her and measure her, so I got up and went downstairs so I could eat. They made me a sandwich and I had birthday cake for Chad, since by then it was HIS birthday(but Lea came on her own birthday! Now we can celebrate for 2 whole days!). 

Everyone was amazed at how good I was doing with no drugs and how alert Lea was. My mom hugged me and told me that I was a stronger woman than her and she never would have been able to do it. My dad told me how proud of me he was. Chad’s mom and dad couldn’t stop saying how amazing it was and how perfect Lea was, especially without being drugged out. J was so ecstatic about her little girl and J was just in awe. No one thought I could do it, much less at home and without any drugs but I did! I was very proud of myself and of Lea, she worked very hard too and she was a little trooper! 

Everyone asks me how it was and I am honest, except for the hour I had to not push, it was a cakewalk. Yes, it hurt, but it was a good hurt and not a constant hurt and besides, it was worth every minute of it! My beautiful baby was worth a hundred hours of labor(but thank goodness it wasn’t! ). I would and will do it again, life willing. Natural birth is the most amazing, wonderful, fulfilling thing I have ever done in my life.

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

My first two children were born in hospitals, with conventional care, and since I had gestational diabetes with both, I had a lot of interventions. When my husband and I decided to have a third baby, I wanted to do things differently. I Wanted the information I needed to take great care of myself. I wanted to make decisions for myself based on my own good reasoning. So before we tried to get pregnant, we sought out a friend and lay midwife in our area, who puts women fully in charge of their prenatal care, labor, births, and aftercare.

I had a great pregnancy, and managed gestational diabetes at home, without shots and without putting my body through the GD test, which is more sugar than I would ever pour down my throat for any other purpose. Through monitoring with a glucose meter, good diet and exercise, I birthed a healthy, normal sized baby. Maia was born on April 5 of 2005, very early in the morning. I had been having pre-labor contractions every night after dinner for nearly two weeks, but each evening around bed time, the contractions would ease up and I was starting to get really irritable. I wasn’t overdue, but the off and on contractions were wearing on my spirit. I wanted so badly to be one of those patient, it will happen when it happens kind of expectant moms, but it just wasn’t so. Every night contractions would get close to five minutes apart and then slowly taper off. My hopes would get high and then crash.

I have a lot of fear surrounding exams, and I really didn’t want to have even my midwife, whom I trusted and loved, check my cervix. But, my hands are too small to do it myself and finally in desperation I called her to come check me out. I was making good progress. All those pre-labor contractions were doing a lot of work. That helped me relax for a while, but then a few days later, my blood pressure started to rise.

I asked my midwife about natural induction methods, not including breaking my water and she agreed to come sit with me while I tried some herbs, castor oil and bad Chinese food. I have mixed feelings about the effectiveness of herbs and potions for inducement, but it felt good to be proactive. Contractions came and went, but my blood pressure was steadily rising. After about eight hours of slow, mild contractions that just weren’t progressing, my blood pressure was high enough to concern me. However, my birth pool was warm and ready, and being in the water immediately brought me down to reasonable levels, so I spent a couple hours in the pool waiting for things to pick up.

Finally I asked my midwife to break my water, something I was fearful about, but I knew that if I had to head to the hospital because of my blood pressure, breaking my water would be the first thing they would do. It took me almost forty five minutes to work up the bravery to allow my water to be broken, but just a moment later labor was well under way. In fact, I was working so hard that I started to panic. I knew that I couldn’t maintain that level of effort for hours on end. But the midwife reassured me that I wouldn’t have to. She said that I was in transition already, which was hard for me to believe, since I had only been in “serious” labor for about a half hour.

My midwife had respected my need for space and stayed in another room while my husband held my hand through the contractions, but after another fifteen minutes of intense work, I called for her to come in and talk to me through it. Just a few minutes later I felt the urge to push at the end of a contraction. I felt confused because it seemed labor had just begun, but she reassured me that I needed to trust myself. So during the next contraction, I pushed when it felt right and my baby’s head was born, just short of an hour after breaking my water. On the next contraction, her body came and my husband gently pulled her to the surface of the water.

She seemed so small, and perfectly formed. I stayed in the water to birth the placenta, which was much more painful than I had experienced before and it didn’t help that the water was starting to cool off. Thankfully I had a healthy little baby to distract me.

We woke my older daughter and son to come meet their sister, and my son cut the umbilical cord. We got dried off just in time for friends to arrive with snacks and congratulations. Baby started nursing right away, and we decided to forgo most of the normal interventions after birth, like vitamin k, eye drops, and the pku.

At one point an hour or so after the baby was born, I felt that I was bleeding more than I should be and I started to get worried. My midwife checked the bleeding and agreed that it was a bit heavy. Her apprentice administered a dropperful of cinnamon tincture and the bleeding slowed withing a minute or so.

Then an amazing thing happened. I laid down with my baby and fell asleep. We slept for hours, warm and comfortable in our own bed, with no interruptions. To me, that was the most valuable gift of birthing at home!