A Wonderful Home Birth

A little over a year ago my fiancé (now husband 😊) and I decided to start trying. I was on my mom’s health insurance and knew that a lot of my prenatal care could be covered so financially it just made sense. We spent several months talking about it and finally agreed that it wouldn’t hurt to try. I have PCOS so neither one of us thought it would even happen, so keeping expectations low I suggested a three month trial. If we got pregnant great, if not we would wait until after we got married. Well the first step was removing my trusty IUD and awaiting the doctor’s approved time for all the IUD hormones to flush out of my system. In that three month window I had never had more regular periods in all my pubescent life, it was the strangest thing. However looking back now it really was just the cards falling into place. Three months after removal of my IUD and a trip to the doctor to approve us to start trying, we got the best surprise of our lives. I was due to get my period on the 18th and all day at work I would think it started so I’d run to the bathroom expecting a mess and nothing. In fact another “hind sight is 20/20” moment in the days and weeks leading up to my would be period I had all the more subtle symptoms of early pregnancy. Slight cramping, implantation bleeding, slight temperature spike, increased fatigue... I kept telling my husband it could be real but even he was skeptical. Well when I still hadn’t started when I got off work I picked up a test and ran home to take it. Even as I was pulling it out of my pee stream I started to see the line but didn’t want to believe it. I set it upside down on the counter, set a timer, and finished going to the bathroom trying to ignore the stick and not to peek. Finally my phone beeped and I flipped the stick over to a very dark positive line. Darker even than the test line! I started to shake with excitement. I waited to tell my husband until the next day because I wanted to take a morning test to be sure, but there was no doubting this result. I couldn’t sleep that night so about 5:30 the next morning I took the second test which of course was just as positive. My husband worked late the night before so I felt bad waking him but by 7:30 I couldn’t wait any more. Fast forward 39 weeks to the day, Thursday afternoon, my water broke while on the phone trying to order my breast pump. I made all the phone calls and my husband was on his way home. About an hour later we went on a walk to get some contractions going. They were slow to start but within three hours of my water breaking they had started. Took another walk and kept needing to stop for contractions. My parents arrived around 11pm and by midnight we called the midwife. The midwife and her assistant came and checked our vitals and helped me into the birth tub. I labored on and off in the tub and in bed because we discovered baby was crooked in my pelvis. Friday night I was still laboring, I was tired but honestly the contractions weren’t that bad, just like bad period cramps. My midwife reminded me of how long I had been laboring and advised I have an prophylactic antibiotic because my water had been broken for over 24hrs. After that I continued to labor. At one point, I’m not sure when, my temperature raised just slightly and I began to feel flushed. The idea of possible transport to the hospital was raised if my temp didn’t drop. I got out of the tub, laid in bed with the fan blowing on me. Thankfully I was just overheated and cooled right down. Heading into the midnight hours of Saturday morning I was 8 centimeters dilated and baby was right there. His head was triggering my “push” sensors, but my midwife said I had to wait to be more dilated. So with every contraction I had to move into a squat on the side of the pool and try not to push. This was the hardest and most painful part that seemingly lasted forever. I was cursing and yelling at this point because I just wanted to push. Finally around 10am I was 10cm and allowed to push. I pushed in the tub several times before I began to feel light headed and asked for some oxygen. I then moved to the toilet with my squatty potty to push some but got scared that my baby would be born in the toilet so we made our way upstairs. Stopping every few steps to push which made me even more nervous so I waddled upstairs as quick as possible and got settled in bed. The midwife told me she could see the top of my son’s head and to reach down and feel it. It was the weirdest and most remarkable feeling ever. We pushed a little more and then I felt the notorious “ring of fire” and stopped, took a breath and said, “oh wow the ring of fire is no joke!” I breathed through these contractions until I felt a ‘pop’ and everyone squealing that his head was out. I reached down and in awe stroked my son’s hair. A couple more pushes and he was free. He was slipped onto my chest at 11:36am and I lost it. I know my placenta was delivered shortly after, but as they say I don’t remember it. I only had eyes for my precious boy covered in his birthday frosting! Everyone I told of my plan for a home birth fought me on it. Saying it wasn’t safe, what if this, what if that? I trusted my midwife and my body to do what needed to be done to deliver my baby into the world. I loved being able to do what I wanted, eat what I wanted, be in whatever position felt comfortable. And best of all being able to sleep in my own bed with my husband and my baby right then. I know a home birth is not a safe option for all women, but I hope with my story and the others out there that it will become a more valued option for those who want it.