39 week last minute HOME BIRTH switch! Birth story!

My whole pregnancy I wanted to try to have a natural birth in the hospital. I’m a ftm so I wanted to be in the hospital since I had no idea what to expect. At 38 weeks I had a small amount of leaking which I brought to my providers attention at my 38 week appointment. She confirmed it to be my water and I was instructed to go to the hospital to get started on cytotec to get things started. I tried to get labor started at home with no luck so 24 hours later I went to the hospital. I was admitted right away and started on cytotec. After 8 hours and 2 rounds of cytotec they decided to check my water again which turned out to not have broken. I was so upset that this mistake was made even though I had told them I had no leaking since that morning. Instead of checking me in triage I was ushered into a room to get contractions induced. My baby was not ready to be born and their mistake almost forced her out early.

So after that experience I lost all faith in the practice and I was dreading having to go back to that hospital. My doula had been telling her home birth midwife friend everything that happened to me and she asked if I’d be interested in a home birth. I was not about it at first but after speaking with her I learned that it was not all hippy dippy, the midwives were certified nurse midwives and they could handle so many emergencies at home. They come to your house with their medical bags and a pediatric nurse also joins them. At 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant I signed the home birth contract!! Which was so nerve wracking because I changed my whole birth plan so late in my pregnancy but it just felt like I was being led down this path and it is where I was meant to be.

On the night of my 40 week 0 days I woke up with what felt like strong gas pains. I was in total denial and kept trying to sleep the gas off. Over the next hour the pain kept getting worse so I skeptically decided to time the pains. To my surprise they were around 3-5 minutes apart. I woke my husband up and told him I might be in labor. I texted my doula and midwife. My doula told me to take a bath and then try to keep sleeping. I got in the bath to try and relax but the pain kept getting worse and worse so I go out of the tub after only like 5 minutes. I started to believe these must be real contractions so I continued to time them and they were about 2-3 minutes apart. I could hardly focus on timing them anymore and the pain was so intense I looked at my husband and told him I needed to go to the hospital because if this is early labor I can’t handle the rest. He tried to keep me calm and encouraged me to get in the birthing tub to help with the contractions. Once my doula arrived I was in so much pain and the contractions were so close together. When the midwife arrived I had already felt the urge to push. Everything was happening so fast I didn’t believe I was ready to push! My body literally took over though and was pushing on its own. Hours and hours were going by and still no baby. My midwife had me try different positions, getting on the toilet, on the bed, back in the tub and nothing was working. She told me she didn’t believe I was pushing effectively so to help me feel what an effective push felt like she had me lay on my back with my legs up in that classic pushing position lol. I also couldn’t pee so she emptied my bladder by catheter and then administered an IV because I was exhausted from pushing for so long. After a little while I started to feel the difference in pushes and finally was making progress.

11 hours total of pushing my daughter was born at 7lbs exactly. It was the most intense and empowering experience of my life. Once I had her in my arms the world just melted away and I forgot all about the pain I had experienced. My husband and I laid in our bed with her doing skin to skin. It was magical and I couldn’t have asked for a better birth team. The amount of love and support I had from them is the reason I was able to push through!

Home births definitely aren’t for everyone but if you’re contemplating one it’s definitely worth looking into 💕