My baby decided to sleep in this morning, so I finally have some time to write down our birth story from February!

I am American but I live in the Netherlands, where home birth is pretty normal (about 25% of births still take place at home here) which I was really excited about when we moved here. I had a great pregnancy and wonderful care from my midwife team.

At 40+5 I rode my bike to my midwife appointment, and they asked if I wanted a sweep or to schedule an induction, or if I was happy to wait it out. Everything looked good and I felt great still, so I said I’d wait a few more days and then reevaluate.

That night at 18:45 I started noticing some mild contractions. My husband timed them until we were ready to go to bed, and they stayed steadily 15 minutes apart. Around 1:00 in the morning I woke up because the contractions were getting stronger, and they were now about 8 minutes apart. I went downstairs to walk around and bounce on my yoga ball. The contractions were still very manageable and I laid down for a while to try to get some rest, even if I couldn’t sleep through it.

Around 9:00 my husband woke up; he rubbed my back and took over timing my contractions, which were still 7-8 minutes apart. We called our doula to let her know things were happening, but I still felt we had a ways to go before we needed her to come. We were also told to call for the midwife when my contractions were 4 minutes apart for at least 1 hour.

By 14:00 was getting more uncomfortable, and my contractions were anywhere from 10 to 4 minutes apart, which was so frustrating! I got in the bath with some clary sage oil and my Hypnobirthing meditation tracks, and after an hour I felt the need to start moving around more. My contractions were getting more intense, but because they were still so inconsistent, I didn’t feel like I was progressing much. We called our doula again and she said she would come over. At this point I said to my husband, “If it’s going to take much longer or get much worse than this, I don’t think I can do it without an epidural.” I wish we had recognized this as the hallmark phrase of transition! (I can’t do this)

When our doula arrived at 16:30 I was leaning over the bed swaying and vocalizing. My contractions had intensified but were still anywhere from 8-4 minutes apart. She told my husband to call the midwife anyway. (She told me later that she could see the purple line which is an indicator of dilation and she suspected I was nearly fully dilated.) Our doula was amazing. She rubbed my back, held up the weight of my belly, and hugged me when I called out for my mom, who I had so wanted to be with me for that moment. (She wasn’t allowed to enter the EU because of the travel ban.)

At 17:30 the midwife arrived. She asked me to lay down for a cervical check, but I was so gripped by the intensity of my contractions that I didn’t think I could move, so she checked me while I knelt on the bed. To my utter delight and relief, she told me I was fully dilated and that the baby was already descending. My husband and our doula were downstairs filling the birthing pool and finishing the living room setup. I slowly walked downstairs and went back to kneeling on all fours, which was by far the most comfortable position for me. A few minutes later, a tidal wave erupted out of me as my waters broke. Then I climbed into the birthing pool, which was the most amazing relief! I got about 20 minutes of much needed rest where everything seemed much less intense, but I could feel everything that was happening in my body. And then very suddenly I felt the urge to push and it was like the volume was dialed up to 100. The ring of fire is REAL!! I quickly flipped over to drape myself over the edge of the pool and went into a lunge. As soon as the baby’s head was out I’ll admit I panicked a little because I just wanted it to be over! I waited for the next contraction and pushed, and I could feel her shoulders come through and then the rest of her little body emerged. At 18:45, exactly 24 hours after my first contractions, I carefully lifted my leg over the cord and flipped back to sitting, and then pulled my baby out of the water and up to my chest. She gave a beautiful cry and I burst into happy tears!

We had a few minutes together in the pool before they helped us out and brought us over to the sofa, where my husband cut the cord and took her for skin to skin while the midwife checked me over. I delivered the placenta without issue and my bleeding stopped quickly. I needed one stitch but it wasn’t painful. My daughter was handed back to me and started nursing immediately, and while we enjoyed our golden hour as a family of three, the midwife and doula took care of cleaning up, putting fresh sheets on our bed, and getting some food ready for us.

At some point during the delivery a nurse had arrived too. I’ll be honest, I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn’t even notice her until she asked if I was ready to go upstairs to take a shower 😂 While I was getting cleaned up, the midwife weighed the baby (7lbs 12oz) and my husband helped get her dressed. They brought her up to my bed and got us all settled, and then our birth team took their leave! It honestly could not have gone better and I’m already looking forward to having another home birth when we decide to have another baby.