More Babies Prefer Home Birth

The Birth of Myles Kade Johnson - My first birth!

February 9th, 2011 3:50am

7lbs 2oz and 21in





On Tuesday, February 8th, I woke up and was feeling a little “off” and kind of crampy, not a big deal or something out of the ordinary when your 41-43 weeks pregnant! Around 11am went to the bathroom and discovered I had lost part of my mucous plug. I texted my midwife to let her know but did not think much about it since you can lose it multiple times and it really had no indication of when labor will start. A little after lunch my crampy feeling started getting more intense and figured it was my body preparing to start up labor. I went outside at 4pm and fed the horses grains so I was up for about 45min walking around in and out of stalls and riding on the bumpy ground in the Gator going from barn to barn. I went inside and started doing some laundry and realized were pretty regular and started wondering if my “crampin” was easy contractions. They did not feel like the contractions I had been feeling for weeks with prodromal labor so I just brushed them off all day.



Around 6pm I decide to time them even though I did not think they were contractions, I did noy want them to be contractions and them get too close before I relized it. I sat on my birthing ball and rocked my hips during my “cramps” and it relieved some of the preasure I was feeling. Between 6pm and 6:30pm I had 7 “cramps” putting them at 5-6min apart and lasting about 40 seconds. I decided they were really contractions but that since they were so easy that nothing was happening anytime soon or that like they had in the past several weeks that they would stop.

Mark came in from work and we decided to go to the Chuckwagon to eat dinner. We shared Jalapeno & Rib Meat Potato “Nachos” for an apitizer and I had a Chicken, Onion & Pepers Quesadilla. I had contractions all through the meal and they stayed pretty consistant and seamed to get a bit stronger in intensity.



We got home a little after 9pm and jumped in the bed and tried to encourage my contractions (if ya know what I mean)… of course having to stop every few min for contractions!! After we were done I went to the bathroom and lost more of my mucos plug and had some bloody show. It was around 10 and I decided to start timing my contractions again, 4min apart!! I was trying not to get too excited because for weeks I had contractions (some as close as 4min apart) and these were not as bad as those so surley it couldnt be labor, right? I also figured if it was labor it was just starting and this being my first child it would be a while before my labor was in full swing and he was born. We went to bed to try and get some sleep and I was guessing that everything would cool down a little bit. I was having trouble falling alseep so a little after 11pm I decided to get into the bath tub and try to relax to help me go to sleep, I listened to a few of my hypnobabies tracks and started fe! eling tired so I went back to bed hoping to get some sleep because at this point I knew I was in the begining stages of labor and needed to rest up.



That did not happen! At midnight I started feeling my contractions MUCH stronger and quiet often so I woke Mark up and told him he needed to wake up because I was in labor for real and I was not going to be up all by myself! For some reason it was irritating me seeing him asleep peacefully while I was having contractions. It took a good 15min for him to get up and he was a bit annoyed! My contractions were 3min apart at this point so we pulled out the birth pool to get it blown up, I totaly forgot we did not have a wall plug for the air pump so Mark had to take the birth pool outside to his car and plug it into the lighter plug in the freezing cold to blow it up. While he was blowing up the pool most likely was the most stressfull part of my labor because all I wanted to do was get into the water. I was going back and forth from laying in the bed, being on my hands and knees leaning over my birthing ball, snugling my pillow on the floor, and walking from room to room. He st! arted filling up the pool around 1:30am and I texted one of my midwifes because I couldnt talk through my contractions and they were right at 2min apart from begining of one to the begining of the next. They both live about an hour away so I knew it would be a little while before they got there but I had no worried because I thought I was still at the beginning stages of labor because the pain was not that bad at all. I decided to wait until they got there and we saw how things were going to text any family members and let them know he was coming.



I got into the tub and it was instant relief on my back, the water felt so good! Our hot water from the house ran out and we started boiling more on the stove. I wanted to be completely submerged in the water so we kept adding more. During contractions I got on my knees and leaned over into the water, in between them I leaned my back against the birth pool and stuck my legs straight out. I was talking with Mark and laughing in between contractions.



My midwifes, Aimee & Desiree, got there at 3:10am and I was in the pool and decided to get out to let them check me, I was going to ask not to be told how far dilated I was. The minute I got out I felt like I had to go poop so I sat on the toilet and tried to use the bathroom but nothing was happening, got on my hands and knees and tried, squated and tried but no poop! My midwifes told me it was the baby I was feeling so I stopped trying to poop and layed on the couch for Dessire to check me. My contracting were so strong and often that before she could check anything I had to roll off the couch and get on my hands and knees because my contractions were coming so strong. I kept telling them, “I seriously have to shit so bad” and they said no that it was babys head making it feel like I needed to. I continued to go through contractions on the floor hugging my pillow and leaning forward onto Marks chest. I was pushing in different positions (trying to go poop) for about 10min.! 



They then told me if I wanted to have a water birth Id better get back into the tub so I started crawling back into the kitchen and on my way back to the tub my water broke and there was a huge decrease in pressure. I got back into the tub and got on my knees leaning against the edge of the pool holding onto Mark and biting his hand with every contraction. I kept telling (im not sure who) that I wanted pictures and videos, my exact words were “Im not having a water birth and not having video proof”. But things were moving too fast for anyone to worry about getting video or pictures! When I felt his head starting to crown I said something about was this seriously it, I couldn’t believe he was about to come out! I told Mark to hurry and grab my phone to text my Mom and Dad because they would be mad if I had him before calling, I promised my Mom I would not wait to call until after he was born, oops! He sent a text that said, “Kade is on his way, dont call please” because I kne! w she would be calling and we were a little far into labor to be talking on the phone. My body then took over and started pushing itself and after 5min of being in the birth pool his head emerged, I was so excited for the pause in between birthing the head and the body that I always heard people talk about but my midwifes said to keep pushing because he had opened his eyes and was looking like he was about to take a breath and they did not want him to breath the water in. I gave two pushes and his body was out. I started pushing at 3:35am and he was born at 3:50am.



I think my mind went blank for a second out of shock that he was here because I was in my own little world and it took me a second to capture my thoughts, they told me to reach down and bring him up out of the water. I pulled my little boy from the water and snuggled him to my chest and was speechless. It took him seconds to cry but his eyes were open and looking at me, it was a wonderful quiet moment where I connected with my son. I sat back but could not sit down because his cord was too short to keep him out of the water unless I was squating. Mark came behind me and had his arms around us and I was in pure heaven. My first words were “That’s it? Im ready to have another one”. I had to get out of the water after a few minutes since I could not keep him out of the water and did not want him to be cold. We layed on the couch and he latched on wonderfully and nursed for a good 30min before I got on the birthing stool to deliver my placenta. After it was delivered we wrapped ! it up in a chux pad and laid back down on the couch and he continued to nurse for at least another 45min while I got checked out. I had a tiny tear but nothing bad thank goodness! After about an hour Mark cut the cord and they did newborn vital checks and Mark held him for the first time while I used the bathroom and used a sitz bath in peri bottle to help with the slight stinging and swelling.



My labor and birth with Kade is by far the most amazing thing ive ever experienced. I can not believe how easy and natural it was. My body knew what it was doing and I believed in the ability I have as a woman to give birth. I feel very lucky to have felt what I thought was the “easy part” beginning of labor when I was in my last two hours and what ive always heard to be the most painful part. My birth was very minimal pain and Kade had such a beautiful passage into the world.

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

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.}

This Pregnancy: The First Twenty Weeks 
Between Maddie’s birth and this pregnancy, I learned a lot. I’m a childbirth teacher and have worked as a doula. I’ve read piles on childbirth and have gone through three different professional training workshops. I attended 2 homebirths as a doula, and 4 hospital births. By the time I got pregnant with this baby, there was no doubt I was having a homebirth. The idea of going back to the hospital to have a baby seemed too risky to me. 

I hired the midwife who was present at the two homebirths I attended. She was very hands-off at those births and I was extremely impressed by her. I knew there was no other attendant I could feel at ease with. I told her that I’d be calling her late in labor, and that I’d rather her not make it on time than get there too early and risk “performance anxiety” slowing my labor. As the pregnancy went on, I realized that deep down, I didn’t expect to call her at all.

In my first 20 weeks, I had two prenatal visits. I had no blood work, no gestational diabetes test, no genetic screening, no ultrasounds, not even listening to the baby with a Doppler (which exposes the baby to ultrasound). After 20 weeks I was able to find the heartbeat myself with a fetoscope. I would not be having a group B strep test, checking my fluid levels with ultrasound, fretting about the baby’s size. I was just enjoying my pregnancy and it was truly wonderful.

Unassisted Birth: My Psychological & Emotional Journey
When I was late in my pregnancy with Maddie, around 37 weeks I believe, the midwife said that they liked to induce at 41 weeks. This was totally unacceptable to me. I don’t believe in evicting babies before they’re ready based on a date that should really be +/- at least 2 weeks. The risks associated with induction were beyond what I was willing to accept without a true medical reason. Needless to say, I started to feel a lot of stress over this impending fight, were I to go past 41 weeks (I actually went to 41 weeks, 4 days). My precious husband said, “Don’t worry about it-if they try to force an induction we’ll just stay home and do it ourselves.

And there, the idea of unassisted homebirth was born. It’s interesting to me that so many women who want homebirths-assisted or unassisted-are thwarted by scared spouses, and the whole idea of unassisted birth came through my husband. Staying home without a midwife had never even occurred to me. But suddenly it became our back up plan, and I started to think about how great an experience it would be.

In the end, the midwives didn’t pressure me into an induction and I stuck with my hospital plan. When Maddie was just a baby, I got a copy of Unassisted Childbirth by Laura Shanley from the library. It was so fascinating. Her way of giving birth felt very right (I later read The Power of Pleasurable Childbirth by Laurie Morgan, which really appealed to my practical nature).

Around 18 weeks I realized I wasn’t going to call the midwife, and knew I needed to talk to her. I gave myself a couple of weeks to think it over, then called her around 20 weeks. She was very supportive of my decision, willing to be there for me if I needed her. 

I continued my pregnancy with no problems, and no stress. Once I decided officially on an unassisted birth, it’s like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I knew it was right for me. I told very few people in my real life, because I didn’t want to deal with negativity, and I also didn’t want to cause unnecessary stress for my family. Most people in our culture don’t really believe birth is safe, and I didn’t want people worrying about the baby and me. I wasn’t worried-why should they be?

The Birth of Grace Alexandra
I’d been having contractions for weeks, real ones as well as Braxton-Hicks. On the night of September 9, I tried to go to bed around 9. Contractions were 15-20 minutes apart, and I wanted to sleep between them. They were really strong, and I’d wake up right at the peak and unable to stay on top of them. Around 10:30 I tried propping myself up in bed because lying down was making them worse, but even with that the waking up at the peak was too much. Around 11:15 I went out in the living room with Chad. We put in a Friends DVD and hung out for about 45 minutes. As soon as I was in the living room, contractions jumped to 5-7 minutes apart.

Around midnight I really wanted to get in the birth pool, but was thinking it was really too early. I decided I didn’t care-the water was calling me. Chad tried to convince me just to take a bath in the tub first, to see if it really was labor this time. I said no. I knew this was it. He filled the tub and I got in. It was heavenly!

We put Friends on the computer and we actually watched it right up until transition. The water got my contractions closer together, not further apart. They were 3-4 minutes apart almost as soon as I got in, then 2-3 minutes. The DVD player shut down and I told Chad to leave it off. I remember sitting in the warm water, with the windows open. It felt so good, and I could hear the crickets chirping outside, and thinking, “This is the way to do this. I don’t want to be anywhere else.” 

Transition was intense and painful but less confusing and scary than it was with Maddie, by far. I never felt out of it or confused like I did with her birth. Soon it felt better to bear down than to relax, and Chad thought I still hadn’t gone through transition but I was already pushing! He was blown away to realize how quickly things were going-he’d hardly had to do any work yet.

My water hadn’t broken yet, after quite a few pushing contractions, but I could feel her head right there. I allowed the overwhelming urge to take over at first, then forced myself to breathe through and slow down, with Chad’s help. I felt her head trying to come out but the bag of waters was still there. I thought, I wonder if my short, bitten nail could break the thing. I touched it, barely, and it popped. Then I could feel hair and that was all the encouragement I needed. I wish I could describe what the rest of the birth was like but I don’t really have the words. To know that we were doing this, totally our way and that it was going so quickly and smoothly, was just really amazing. Chad and I just looked at each other in awe of what was happening. We felt completely connected to each other, to the baby, and to the entire process as it unfolded exactly the way it was meant to.

Chad couldn’t believe how far along I was already. He thought we’d have hours left. I pushed, gently, through crowning, which took several contractions. I did my own perineal support and could tell exactly where I needed to put pressure to keep from tearing. Crowning was intense but so cool! I could feel the baby trying to help me, pushing with her feet and trying to get out too. Her head and body came out in one contraction, and Chad said “Reach down!” I caught her myself, and pulled her up to me. The cord was around her neck but she was already crying and breathing just fine. I unwound it, and she nursed within about 3 minutes. It was so incredible! 

I thought the whole pregnancy that I was having a boy, so it was a little surprising to find out she was a girl! But I knew before she was even out-I changed from “he” to “she” unconsciously-I remember saying to Chad, “The cord is around her neck.” 

The water was a little cool so we got out pretty soon. I sat down on some towels on the floor, and plop! Out came the placenta. That was easy! I bled less than I did with Maddie and was much less sore. I didn’t tear, except for a little skidmark I couldn’t even see (but could feel when I used the bathroom for about the first day). She was born around 3:23 am, after just about 4 hours of active labor. We didn’t check the time right away but that’s pretty close. We called all the people who wanted late-night calls, and Chad’s mom came over for a little while to meet her. She went home and we went to bed for a couple of hours. It was so nice to be finished with birthing, take a shower in my own shower, then cuddle up in our own bed. Maddie slept through the whole thing, and in the morning she was SO excited to meet her little sister!

We had lots of visitors our first day with her, and that was nice too-no cooking and everybody brought me stuff! We weighed her Sunday afternoon, and she was 8 pounds, 1 ounce. We also finally came up with her name, Grace Alexandra. My recovery with Maddie amazed everyone I knew, but this recovery was insanely easy. I was out shopping with Chad and my 2 girls on Tuesday (she was born Sunday morning). I wasn’t sore after the first day postpartum, and my milk came in in under two days. That took 5-6 days with Maddie, and I’m 100% convinced it was the interruption in our home life that caused the delay.


Having just Chad and me present for the birth is the best thing we’ve ever done. I wasn’t at all afraid-I just knew everything was fine. We were the only people there when she was conceived, and it felt absolutely 100% right that we were the only people there when she was born. I was able to listen to my body completely, without anyone to depend on but myself and Chad. Chad was wonderful-he helped me remember not to push too hard, and he was my anchor during transition and pushing both physically and emotionally. Her birth was intense, sometimes painful, very hard work…but definitely one of the most incredible things I’ve ever experienced.

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