Home Birth 19 January 2017

I planned a home birth with an amazing midwife. I saw her from about 10 to when I delivered at 40 and 4. Since 36 weeks I had been having actual contractions. They weren't Braxton Hicks, they were literally contractions with pressure. Not all day, just randomly. I had that with my first too and he came at 37 and 6. My entire pregnancy I walked about two miles everyday. I hiked and continued walking even at 40 weeks. At 36 weeks I started drinking red raspberry leaf tea everyday and taking evening primrose oil. At 37 weeks I started inserting evening primrose oil 2-3 every night.

At 39 weeks my midwife gave me a cervical massage. She gently and painlessly stretched me to a 3. This was a Thursday. Monday came with nothing, so my husband and I hiked uphill for 20 minutes. Then on Tuesday I did 10sets of stairs and squats at the top and bottom. Tuesday I was feeling contractions all day, but nothing else, just visible tightening. Wednesday the tightening continued , but this time I had pressure. I didn't want to get my hopes up. When my husband came home I said about going and getting this pizza that I love and taking our oldest to the park for a bit. When I got in the car the pressure continued. This time it stayed, the whole time at the park. When we got home I finished some home work and decided to lay down around 8 since these kept going. I knew I was gonna be up at 11 in labor.

At 1042 I messaged my midwife telling her I definitely had my bloody show and that I was going to try and get rest before these got intense. At 1045 I got hit with full blown labor ND text her back saying nevermind. My husband times them and they were 2:45 apart lasting for a minute or more. By the time she arrived after 11something they were on top of each other. Lots of pressure, but not painful. She checked me I was at a 5/6 and baby was at 1 station. I stayed on my bed after she checked me and was on my hands and knees and ended up throwing up so I knew I must be in transition. She came up to tell me my other midwife was there and that she and my husband were setting up the pool. I was so relieved. She decided stay with me through the next few contractions because I couldn't get my breathing under control. At the next contraction my whole body pushed on its out (like if you have severe diarrhea, you can't stop it) that's when I really lost control. I didn't expect it and couldn't get my breathing down. I eventually did well enough to push out a 9lb 1.5oz baby completely natural and no tears lol. I did have to have oxygen.

My whole labor lasted from 1030-0130 start to finish. My pushing was for exactly an hour. Minimal issues after; I was bleeding a bit more than I should so they gave me herbs, a shot of pitocin, and when none of that works I swallowed a piece of my placenta. Sounds gross, but stopped my bleeding. My blood pressure was low and I had oxygen. All of which my midwife had and all of that happened with my first (who was a hospital birth with an epidural and an episiotomy). That's mostly why I couldn't get my breathing down, I was terrified that what happened with my first was going to happen again, except that I would feel it. It didn't though and I was safe and so was my baby.

My three year old slept through the whole thing. My husband was so supportive. He really stepped up to the plate. He even got to help deliver our son. My team was fantastic and I birthed a 9 lb baby completely fine. Trust me when I say I'm a huge whimp, if I can do it, so can you.

As far as pain goes, it was pretty painless until my body started pushing. Even then it wasn't too bad, the pressure just got really really intense. I kept saying my peehole hurt lol that was really the worst pain. Also, when the pushing contractions got to the peak, that was rough too.

Other than that, it really wasn't that bad.