I love home birth. My third pregnancy was the one where I finally got my home birth. It was a wild pregnancy. I discovered that my cervix was shortening during my mid pregnancy ultrasound. That ended with a cervical cerclage and four months of modified bedrest.

It was a scary time and my midwife was such a great support. I worried that I’d go into preterm labor. She said if that happened she would serve as my doula. She also conducted all our appointments at my home so that I wouldn’t have to go out. At 37 weeks my stitch was removed and we began to wait. My daughter finally arrived three days past her due date.

I woke up with a weird feeling that I suspected may be my water breaking. I went to the bathroom to pee and sure enough when I stood up fluid continued to leak out. I was fortunate enough to have labor began right away. Because of the long bedrest I was concerned I wouldn’t have the stamina required to give birth.

I called my midwife. She said that she would start getting ready and to call her when it became difficult for me to talk through the contractions. I also called my parents who live 1.5hrs away. They were coming up to help.

Things progressed pretty quickly for me. It was maybe 1.5-2hrs before I couldn’t talk well through contractions. I called my midwife back and she said she would head right over to my house. The contractions were very intense. My husband provided counter pressure for me through one of them and that did give me relief. But he needed to take our daughter to school so I had to make it through 6-7 contractions on my own. He forgot to leave our front door unlocked and my midwife arrived while he was out. I couldn’t walk down the stairs to let her in so we just had to wait for him to return.

I was pretty worried because the pain was very intense and frequent. I remember thinking: I get why women would be willing to take anything to make this stop. Narcotics? Sure. I thought that I had 12 -24 hours of labor ahead of me.

He got home and let her in. She started to unpack her things. There is always a second midwife that comes to help when the delivery is imminent. She was not there yet. I was having a difficult time. The counter pressure was not helping anymore. About half way through each contraction I would lose my cool and just want to cry. After about 15-20 minutes of the two of being with me, I had to go to the bathroom. I was lecturing my husband because he didn’t check everything related to filling up the birth tub in advance (this is all from the toilet). Actually the toilet was one of the least uncomfortable positions for me. Mid lecture I felt a pressure in my pelvic area that was not poop. I told my midwife. She came in to check my cervix for the first time and told me that I was fully dilated.

That changed things for me. It had been so intense because I was in transition. So we went back to the bedroom. I tried pushing on my hands and knees but that was causing the baby some distress. So, I shifted to laying on my back (a position I never thought I’d take in labor). It was super productive. I pushed for about 25-30 minutes. Each contraction had a purpose at that point. They didn’t hurt I. The same way because there was obvious forward movement. There was a weird one where I felt my daughter shift into position to head through the birth canal.

She was born so quickly that only my husband and our one midwife were there. The second midwife arrived minutes later. I did need a couple shots and a suppository to slow down bleeding. And I had a 1st-2nd degree tear that they were able to stitch right there. My daughter was 9lbs even. She was handed to me immediately upon her arrival and the apgar test was done there We had delayed clamping of the cord and all the good stuff. I think the midwives were at our home for about two hours after the birth. I can’t exactly remember. My parents arrived at some point after the birth as well. One of the most delightful things about that day was taking a nap in the afternoon was n my own bed with my husband. Our baby slept in her bed in the room with us. We were able to rest in a way that didn’t happen at the hospital.

I am pregnant again (due in November) and plan to have another home birth with my awesome midwife.

Excited for my home birth

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