After three hospital births that were far from pleasent experiences, my heart was set on having my fourth baby out of the hospital. This decision is not a light one. I had put in a lot of thought, research, prayers, and intuition into this HUGE decison and ultimately I followed what my hear told me. My fourth daughter was born in my home and I love looking back on her birth story. To this day I have no regrets. This may not be the best choice for everyone, but it was for us at the time. As a mother I encourage you to follow your instincts and your heart and always do what they tell you. Here is Vanessa's birth story:
It was Wednesday April 4th 201* and I had been
starting to get contractions every hour to two, nothing major. I didn’t want
to go into labor just yet because my midwife was out of town until Saturday. I
do believe your body knows because that afternoon after meeting her "back-up" midwife I felt better and more relaxed that if I went into labor I was in good
hands. Thursday I woke up to more contractions not stronger but more
frequent. They were about 45 minutes to one hour a part. That day I went for a half hour
walk, ate a big lunch and relaxed. I got the other three kids off the bus at 4 pm. I was in
no mood to make dinner so we ordered pizza. I ate dinner and went about my normal evening routine. At 7:30 pm I was becoming
annoyed not knowing if I was actually in labor or if everything would just
stop. I did have three other children, but a natural vs an induced labor are complete opposites. The contractions now were about 20
minutes or so a part but still didn’t really hurt while made me in denial that I was actually in labor. At 11pm I decided to get
some sleep which was hard to do with contractions that kept waking me up. At 1
am I pulled out the computer and searched the internet out of boredom. I
noticed as contractions came I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through it. I
could still talk through them though so I still wasn’t so sure today was the
day. At 2am I woke up V's dad & asked him to run a bath for me. I figured this
would relax me and help me to go back to sleep. He had no idea what was going
on so he attempted to go back to bed, but I asked him to sit with me in the
bathroom. I was pretty pissed he was trying to go back to sleep! The room was dark, I had one candle lit. After 10 minutes he asked if we should call the
midwife. I said I wasn’t sure yet so we decided we would time them first. After 10
min of contractions, two min a part I got out of the tub to go to the bathroom which made them a lot stronger. I then sat on the floor in front
of the tub Indian style and called my midwife. She was on her way and so was her
assistant.
"M" put our dog in his crate and made a few calls to my sister and
sister-in-law so that they could sit with the other three girls had they woken up.
He came back into the bathroom and I started getting the shakes really bad. My
whole body trembled. I knew I was in transition and I prayed as I gripped the
sides of the tub through each contrx someone would be there soon. "M" asked if
I was cold and got me a blanket. It helped, but I explained to him it wouldn’t
be long before the baby was here. Shannon arrived and sat with the girls who were still a sleep. "M" came in to check on me and I did not want him to touch me. It was 3:35 am and the
assistant Amanda arrived. "M" left the room to let her in. She put her stuff down and sat next to me. I
could no longer talk at this point. After the contraction she took my blood pressure which was good. I
asked her to check the baby's heart rate as she was already about to. She
explained if the baby was already very low we wouldn’t hear it. As she tried to search for it I had another
contraction and felt the baby move down. I told her I would need to push soon. The
midwife was still on her way so Amanda called her and told her and the midwife told her it
was ok if I needed to push and that she was only 2 minutes away.
With the next contraction my body took over and pushed. I was still
sitting on the floor and Amanda asked if I could get my bottom up right more so
she could see the baby. I raised my hips and "M" tried to hold my upper body
upright off the floor. The baby’s head started to crown and it hurt! Looking
with a flash light she told me the head was right there and I thought it was
out. I looked down and I was wrong! She was just crowning. The pain quickly
escalated with the next contraction and I started screaming at the top of my lungs in pain. I woke up my
other kids, but they stayed in the other room for now. I just wanted her head
out! I pushed again while screaming and
her head came out. The ‘’ring of fire’’ was finally gone! The cord was wrapped
twice around her neck. Amanda removed the cord and asked if I could push again.
I tried but I just couldn’t. When I felt
a little urge I bared down really hard and pushed. Out she came at 3:53am. She
was immediately placed on my chest and she cried. She was soo tiny! I couldn’t
believe how fast everything had just happened. As the cord pulsated and I lay
on the bathroom floor with our daughter we called the other girls in to see
that I was ok and to see their new baby sister.
They came in and took a peek. Then our midwife arrived! The placenta was then
delivered and the cord was cut by daddy. It stayed attached for about 10
minutes or so. I was then asked if I
wanted to stay where I was, if I wanted to be cleaned off, or taken to bed. I
asked to be wiped off a bit. I had blood on my arms and chest from her when she
came out. Finally, I walked to my bed as my midwife and her assistant explained if I
felt dizzy just to tell them right away. I got into bed and started to nurse
our baby girl. While she was nursing which was about 45 min. they cleaned the
bathroom up and started soaking the bloody towels. I had a birth kit with
plastics but we didn’t have time for any of that, as she was born on the bathroom throw rug, a bambi blanket, and a few towels. While I nursed her I ate some ambrosia salad and
drank water. My blood pressure taken and was told to try and pee. I
got up to go pee and had no problems going. I was sore but felt no cuts or
anything real bad. I did feel a bit dizzy from moving around. The team did not leave my side though and made
sure I was ok. Fanning me to make sure I didn’t pass out. I made my way back to
bed. They started the baby’s exam. Explaining what they were looking for and
why. She had Apgar scores of 10. She had a vitamin K shot and eye ointment then
we had gotten her dressed. They took my
placenta and inspected it. They also told me what they were looking for and wanted to
make sure nothing was left inside me. Our baby had two layers of water bags!
The placenta looked really good she said and she could tell I was a healthy
eater. We then took it and put it in a bag to put in the freezer so that it
could be encapsulated later. My mw felt my uterus and gave us instructions on
my bleeding and how to massage my uterus. She explained some other things to us
and said she would be back the next day to check on us. My midwife and her assistant
left at about 7am and told us to call if we needed anything. Everything went by quickly, but was very calm and not stressful at all. I can’t believe I made it to transition in
almost no pain at all. I would choose home birth over hospital birth any
day. I was explained everything every
step of the way and was not forced to shower or walk around right after. My
body was exhausted and my midwife knew it needed to rest. I felt like I controlled
my own birth which gave me a sense of calm. I was comfortable and did what
I needed to do and when. I put it all in God's hands and he was there with us that day.
Thank you for reading V's birth story!
XO Stephanie
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