Most people looked at me with crazy eyes when they found out Greg and I were planning a home birth. Sometimes I looked at myself that way too, so I thought I'd share the experience for anyone who is curious.
We chose a Certified Nurse Midwife to deliver our baby and had regular pre-natal appointments throughout my pregnancy just like you would if you were going to an OB. The only difference was I never had to wait in a waiting room, and we could take as much time during an appt as needed. Greg and I became friends with our midwife and felt really comfortable with her. We also decided that we would hire a doula (which is like a birth coach) to be at our babies birth and help me with labor since I had no idea what to expect!
We had decided not to find out the gender of our baby, and so we did not have ultrasounds except for a 10 week to make sure the baby was still there (after miscarrying the first time I needed to see that heartbeat) and then again at 34 weeks to make sure the baby was healthy enough to safely deliver at home (and me too). We also opted out of the dop-tone to hear babies heartbeat and had to wait until 20 weeks to hear it with a fetascope, I was never able to hear the heartbeat, but Greg could usually hear it, and of course our midwife could hear it at every appt. God was teaching me to just trust Him =)
Anyway, my due date was April 21st, and as April came along people kept asking me how I was doing, if I was getting tired of being pregnant, etc. And in fact, I wasn't. I loved every minute of it! I definitely lucked out and didn't have very much heartburn, and I was sleeping pretty well. But I hadn't really had any Braxton Hicks contractions and I had been waiting anxiously to feel them.
On Sunday April 3rd, I took a nap in the afternoon and woke up to what felt like a menstrual cramp around 3pm. It didn't really hurt, but left me feeling uncomfortable and didn't last very long. The rest of the afternoon proceeded the same way. About every 30-45 minutes I would have a contraction that would keep me from doing whatever I was doing out of discomfort but didn't really hurt too badly. We had a team meeting at our church that night, so Greg and I headed to Clearview at 4:45 and ate Chinese Food for dinner, while I kept making jokes that if I did go into labor this was a dinner of champions. We left after the teaching and before worship because sitting just wasn't very comfortable. But we didn't head home, we went to Lowes to buy paint so we could paint a shelf for the babies room.
I also thought taking a walk would be a great idea to get my mind off of the contractions and wear out the dogs in case I did go into labor. We had a stop a few times and Greg kept saying "Erin-you're definitely in labor" to which I would reply "No way, maybe I'll have the baby later this week, these must just be Braxton Hicks contractions" (Boy was I wrong).
After our walk I laid on the couch to watch Valentines Day, in our Bradley class we learned that to determine if we were in active labor to try laying down, or eating/drinking something, and if the contractions stopped than it was nothing. Well they did, for the whole movie. Greg was painting a shelf in the garage and I was enjoying a movie I knew Greg would hate. As soon as it was over I got up and had another contraction, so I decided Greg and I should go to bed and get some rest in case something happened, and I let our midwife and doula know what was going on in case this turned into something more. I was only 37 1/2 weeks along, so I was sure this couldn't be it! A friend of mine had just gone a whole week past her due date!
Around midnight I woke up to a strong contraction, but I didn't wake up Greg, after having 4 in the next hour I decided I needed his help to get through them, they weren't terrible, but he would apply pressure to my lower back which took away the pain almost entirely. We called our doula to let her know what was going on but told her not to come over, and we'd call her later. We also called our midwife who told us to call her back when the contractions became more regular (around 5 minutes apart). So Greg and I just continued to rest and work through contractions. I took a bath for awhile to help relieve some pressure, and watched my baby move like crazy after every contraction, I would also stand up hanging on Greg to get through a contraction and he could feel the baby kicking up through my stomach and on his.
Well, the contractions never became regular. I would have a super long hard one and 2 minutes later a smaller easier one followed by another hard one 5 minutes later. They continued to be sporadic so we didn't call our midwife. Around 5am, I felt the need to throw up and my legs were really shaky, my first though was- "I'm in transition, this is crazy!". But I still refused to admit that I was in active labor-Greg was freaking out. I was going to the bathroom when I told Greg that I needed to push, he pulled me up and said "oh no you don't" and made me lay down on our bed. We called our doula and she was there in 10 minutes. We also called our midwife (who lives 45 minutes away) and told her she needed to get there quickly. I continued to labor in our bed while Jessica rubbed my back and Greg took care of all the details like having a friend come pick up our dogs, etc.
Our midwife arrived around 5:45 and I had been lying on my side through the contractions, I was pushing at the peaks, but not very hard, and my water broke around 6. Our doula continued to encourage me and tell me how great I was relaxing through the contractions and I was singing to our baby to keep my mind off of what was going on. Once Brandy (our midwife) had our room covered in chux pads and waterproof tableclothes, I decided to get up and push. I squatted for the first two and our baby was crowning but my legs felt like jello. I knew it wouldn't be too much longer, but I seriously thought my legs were going to break off. Jessica (our doula) suggested I get on all fours to relieve my legs, so I did, and I pushed our baby out with 2 more pushes. Greg caught the baby and handed it to our midwife who passed it up to me. I didn't even care if it was a boy or girl I was so excited that it was finally there! It's amazing-you feel the most pain/discomfort you've ever felt in your life, or could ever conceive and it a moment it's all over. It was awesome, and it was 7:04, only about 7 hours from my first strong contraction.
Greg hugged me and we moved the umbilical cord over so we could see if it was a boy or a girl and much to our surprise it was a little girl! I had been sure it was a little boy, but now I can't imagine anything different than our beautiful baby Grace. I had a tiny tear that our midwife sewed up (no muscle, just some skin) and proceeded to take the best shower of my life while Greg walked around with our beautiful daughter.
I got to hold her as long as I liked and no one took her away to clean her up or weigh her, it was all on my timing. We enjoyed our time together and Gracie nursed for the first time. I couldn't believe how in love I was! Brandy and Jessica got everything cleaned up and any towels/linens put in the washer. You wouldn't have even believed that I had delivered her on the floor of our bedroom except by the obviously newborn baby.
I never even thought about needing pain medication, maybe it was because it wasn't an option, or maybe it was because I felt so comfortable with Greg. We worked so well together as a team, and once Jessica and Brandy were there, I had already been through the hard stuff-our baby was going to arrive in no time! I feel so blessed that she was born healthy and we had no complications. And it was awesome to spend the day at home, visited by a couple friends, and not having to do anything but love our baby girl!
Sorry for the novel, and I will fill everyone in on Gracie's hospital stay later in the week next time I post.
