A Homebirth Story

I've talked about planning a homebirth in previous posts, so I thought it was only fair to share the story of how the homebirth went. The following is my homebirth story:

D was born at 7:20am on Saturday, July 18, 2009. He weighed 8lbs, 9oz and measured a healthy 21.25in in length. D managed to make his entrance into the world in approximately 39 minutes from the first contraction. The story probably begins the day before, on Friday. Scott, my husband, IM’ed me from work to ask, hypothetically, what we would do if the midwife and her assistants were unable to make to our house in time for our planned homebirth. Given that our first son was born in under 2.5 hours, it wasn’t an outlandish thought, but I still thought it was silly. In spite of that, I responded that we would let my body do what it needed to do, but I would need him to “support my perineum.” Scott asked what that involved, and in trying to describe it to him, I decided to find an article or two that explained emergency childbirth and send the links to him. In spite of his busy day at work, Scott did, in fact, take the time to read the first article I sent him. This was a good thing, as it turned out. He also said that should he have to deliver the baby, his fee would be a Mesa Boogie amplifier and Paul Reed Smith guitar.

I woke up around 6:41am to use the toilet and as I was getting out of bed, I felt a contraction. As with my first labor, I found that an assisted squat was the most comfortable position to ride out contractions, so I spent the first contraction sitting on the toilet. After it was over, I went back to bed and woke Scott up, telling him that I thought I was in labor. I laid on my side as Scott rubbed my back and timed the next two contractions: 4 minutes apart, 30 seconds to 1 minute in duration, and painful. Definitely time to get up. Scott got dressed and went downstairs to call the midwife. I decided to take advantage of the “early” labor and get into the shirt I planned to birth in. After riding out another contraction, I put in my contacts and brushed my teeth. In retrospect, I should have realized how much faster the labor was proceeding, as I had to stop several times while brushing my teeth in order to stretch and breathe through contractions. There seemed to be very little break between the contractions. I went back to the toilet in the master bath to ride out another set of contractions and Scott came back upstairs. I suggested that he lay down the shower curtains and vinyl tablecloths on the floor in the guest room, where we had planned on having the birth, as well as put the waterproof sheet on the bed in there. At that time, I noticed I was starting to bleed, a sure sign of transition. Scott suggested I go into the guest room, but I said I would rather go into the other upstairs bathroom (across the hall from the guest room) because I would be more comfortable using the toilet to squat on. At this point, there was no break between the contractions. I walked to the other bathroom, groaning and breathing deeply the whole way. When I was in labor with older son, I had screamed during contractions until the midwife, at the hospital, suggested groaning deeply; the change in vocalization actually helped a great degree, and I remembered this when I was in labor with D. I labored in the hall bathroom for probably around 5 minutes as Scott and my mother got the guest room ready. At that point, I felt the urge to use the toilet; only thing was, when I pushed, I distinctly felt the sensation of a head descending. At first, I thought I was mistaken. Then I felt the urge again and started pushing and realized, no, in fact, that was a head descending. I told Scott the baby was coming. He came into the bathroom and asked me what I meant. I stood up, half bent over on the toilet, using the seat to support myself, and reached down and felt between my legs – and felt the top of D's head, still in the placenta. “I can feel his head,” I said. Scott began to panic a little and told me to move to the bedroom, and I told him no, I was not moving. I felt the urge to push again and felt my water break. Scott insisted, again, that we move to the bedroom, and I told him, no. “Catch the body,” I told him as I pushed a fourth time and caught the head. Scott, somewhat awkwardly, managed to pick my leg up above the toilet seat and get his hands beneath me to catch the body. I vaguely recall him saying “Oh my god” several times. I backed up a little and we maneuvered D out of the toilet so that I could hold him to my body to warm him up; little D looked quite stunned, but began to cry almost immediately. My mom looked down at her watch and noted it was 7:20. Scott directed my mother to get some towels from the guest room, and D proceeded to pee on me. As the towels were brought to us, I started to feel the urge to push out the placenta. Not wanting to have to dig it out of the toilet, I told Scott to take D so I could catch the placenta. He took D and I delivered the placenta. It was bit surreal: I was sitting/squatting over the toilet, holding my placenta with both hands, as I watched my husband warm our newborn son up in a blue bath towel. After a few minutes, I realized I should try breastfeeding and order to keep myself from hemorrhaging, and asked my mom to get the plastic bin to put the placenta in. She did, and I sat down on the toilet and attempted to nurse D, but found it difficult given the position. Scott asked my mom to help me to the bed, while he used a bulb syringe to clean out D’s mouth and nose. I felt woozy as my mom helped me to the bed and felt grateful to lie down; the midwife estimated, afterwards, that I had lost double the normal amount of blood giving birth, so it was no surprise that I was feeling light-headed. As Scott was bringing D to me, I heard his big brother singing to himself in his bedroom – he had slept through the entire thing. I attempted to nurse D while lying on my side on the bed, but found it quite difficult considering he was still attached to the placenta, which was lying in the plastic bin on the bed. Scott called the midwife, who was on her way, to let her know that he just delivered a baby and we were anxiously waiting for them. About 20 minutes after D was born, Bethany, the midwife assistant/apprentice who lived closest to us, arrived. She clamped D's cord and had Scott cut it. Then Meliea, another assistant/apprentice arrived. They got D cleaned up, weighed him, and helped me to nurse him as we waited for Amy, the midwife to arrive. Once Amy arrived, they examined D. My mom went and got my older son ready, and he got to meet his new baby brother; he was less than impressed and wanted to go downstairs and watch cartoons. My mom and older son went downstairs, Scott following shortly after with D, as Amy, Bethany, and Meliea tended to me, cleaned up the bathroom, and documented all the details. Once I was all taken care of, Scott brought little D back and I spent some time falling in love with my new baby boy.

It was not the ideal delivery, but it did go rather smoothly. It was an amazing, surreal experience, and I so glad we knew what to do and planned for a homebirth – better than the likely alternative of giving birth in the car on the side of the road! Only problem is, now, in addition to the midwife’s fee, I also have Scott’s fee for catching D!