My Homebirth

I honestly thought our little guy would never come. Sunday, August 31st, I had strong contractions on and off all day. We went and walked the mall as a family of three hoping to hurry things along. They got to the point where I wanted to go and drop Bug off at my parent's house before heading home. I definitely thought the little guy was going to come that night!

No.

By 3am contractions had slowed down enough for me to go to sleep. So our midwife went home in the morning with instructions to walk walk walk with the hopes of things picking up the next day. We called my parents to bring Bug on home and made arrangements to go and walk the corn maze down the street.

Still nothing.

We went back to waiting.

Thursday, we were on our way home from my parent's house and talking on the phone with the hubs. It was the only thing that would keep Bug from crying. I specifically remember him telling her to "be nice and gentle with Mommy tonight." Did she listen? Of course not. But I do credit her with getting labor started.

So before bed that night, Bug decided it would be a good idea to crawl and jump all over me. She loved every minute of it. At the time, I did not. I wanted sweet cuddles with my girl, but those were few and far between.

I put her to bed and tried to get some sleep myself. If I had known what was coming, I doubt I would have slept. Luckily, I was oblivious.

The hubs eventually got home around 3 am. I was just starting to wake up with contractions, but nothing too serious. I slept in between them until around 5. That's when I decided to get up and start bouncing on my yoga ball to see where things were going. It wasn't long before I decided to call in the troops. First, I had to tell the hubs what was going on. He admitted to not really understanding what was happening until he heard me say I was going to call our midwife and my mom, the midwife for obvious reasons and my mom to be there when Bug woke up.

Things started off fast. Contractions were already 3 minutes apart and there wasn't much of a break between them. It wasn't long before I found myself laying in the tub.

There is something about water and labor. It felt amazing. I ended up staying in there until it was time to push. At that time, I ended up getting up and crawling into bed.

The time in between getting in the tub and the bed was very intense though. Contractions hit hard in my left hip and my back. It was awful. They hurt more than anything I could ever describe and centered mainly in my hip. The only thing that felt good was my husband rubbing both locations with black pepper essential oil. Afterwards, we thought I'd be black and blue on my hip from how hard the hubs rubbed.

I remember a few times trying to get out of the tub to try a few more positions that would hopefully alleviate the horrible hip pain. Nothing worked. We tried all fours, sitting, and squatting. Nothing worked, so it was back in the tub for me.

It was amazing how free I was to move and do whatever it was I needed to do. I wasn't limited to one space or one position, I could do whatever felt good at the time.

Eventually it was time for me to push. I remember trying to get into the bed and repeating "I can't" over and over again. It was never about the fact that I couldn't do it, I knew I could...I just didn't think I could move myself from the tub to the bed. But with the help of the hubs and midwife, I made it.

At 11:32 my son was born at home. I felt everything. I remember everything. It was amazing.

More than anything I'm extremely proud that not once did I even think about going to the hospital. It wasn't an option. I enjoyed being home way too much. It was so nice to already be in my comfort place. I didn't have anyone poking and prodding me at all hours of the day. There were no bright and annoying lights. The hubs could lay comfortably next to me. When Bug came to meet him, she was comfortable. I loved being home and will definitely have another homebirth whenever we decide to have another baby.

The following pictures are very near and dear to my heart.

Our Journey to Homebirth

I've been writing and rewriting this post for a while now. I really just don't know how to get this post started. It's not that I'm ashamed and scared that we're doing a homebirth, I'm actually quite excited, and it's probably that excitement that keeps me from getting my thoughts together.

This decision does not come out of the blue for me. I wanted a homebirth with Bug, but the hubs was not comfortable at all with that. So to the hospital we went. I am happy with my hospital birth, but it didn't go at all like I "planned" and really just wasn't comfortable there. Also, I would claim that I had "first time mom glasses" on. Everything was rose colored and I didn't  really know better. So when we got pregnant this time we went straight to the same OB we used with Bug and got the ball rolling (so to speak).

But something was different this time. I didn't have my "first time mom glasses" on anymore. I noticed that the practice was treating me differently now that I had been there done that. Something just didn't feel right. I started to entertain the thought of finding a midwife and having a homebirth. At first the hubs was against it again. He wanted to go with a hospital birth again. It was easy. It was safe. But it was no longer what I wanted.

There's a lot more emotion that goes into pregnancy and birth than you would think. And I wanted more. I wanted more support. Someone I could be friends with and trust and love to deliver my baby. I wanted someone who would support me completely, not a bunch of nurses in a white sterile environment. I wanted someone who I could trust completely to do what was best for me and my baby. And I didn't feel like I was getting that from my OB.

After talking with my husband, and my best friend who just delivered her first baby at home, I started researching midwives in the area. My wish was that I would find a Christian midwife that believes what I believe to deliver my baby. But Christian midwives are hard to come by! So we interviewed a midwife from the area, but there was something off. We just didn't click and the hubs was hesitant. The best thing that came from the interview was that the hubs was fully on board with a homebirth. But he still wanted to see who we could find. Through searching some more and a call to another midwife, I find that she's booked for my due date so we couldn't go with her, we find Margaret. God was looking out for us when He led us to her. She is everything we wanted in a midwife. And the best thing, the hubs is comfortable and likes her too!

So yes, halfway through my pregnancy, we made the switch from OB to midwife; from hospital birth to water birth at home. And you know what? I couldn't be more excited about it! I feel a different anticipation and a different excitement surrounding this pregnancy and birth. It feels so much calmer and filled with less anxiety.

This is our journey to homebirth and I'm excited to share it with y'all. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I'd love to do a question and answer post, so if you have a question feel free to email me at beautifulfamilyaffairs{at}gmail{dot}com.