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Send us your story of pregnancy, birth, parenting, grandparenting...
My Journey into Midwifery
Ansley's birth
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Savannah's Birth Story:
My homebirth on January 26th, 2007
I decided I wanted a homebirth long before I was pregnant. Since I work in hospitals and had seen a birth in a hospital, I thought having a baby in one was awful. All the disease in there, and I'm just not too sure about male doctors. I'm sure some of them are great, but it's kind of like going to a mechanic that's never driven a car. They may know what they're doing, but they'll never understand. So I thought a having my baby with a midwife at home was the best option for me. Also, I didn't want drugs. Though I was apprehensive about the pain, I was more worried that the drugs would adversely affect my baby.
So I was set about my ideas about homebirth. But I researched anyway. I just naturally research everything, and this was no different. But despite my logic and statistics about homebirth being safe, my husband wasn't convinced. My 2 step-kids had both been born in a hospital. Both were induced and both needed the bili lights. At one point Ron, my husband, said if the baby died because I wanted a homebirth, it would be my fault. I decided he needed to speak with someone who knew about this stuff firsthand, so we visited one of the local homebirth midwives. Though she didn't end up being my midwife, she calmed Ron's fears, and, along with me challenging his faith in Spirit and the natural path, he came around to the idea of homebirth. But he was still nervous, right up to the day my water started leaking.
I'd been off of work for a few days. I'd planned to work right up to my labor, but when Dusty, my midwife, checked my blood pressure and found it to be high, she said no more work for me. I stayed at home, getting everything ready for the birth. With a homebirth, you have some responsibility to have supplies on hand and have a clean house. So I was home that Wednesday at 1pm, cleaning the kitchen and talking on the phone with Ron, when I felt a little gush of water. "Oh my God, I'll call you back Ron, I think my water just broke." I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom, where even more water gushed out. I called Ron back and told him I thought my water was leaking. He was so nervous, he came home on his lunch hour, asking if he should stay. Since I wasn't having contractions, and the water was just leaking a little bit, I told him to go back to work, but I called Dusty anyway. She said it could be days, and told me she'd come over that evening to make sure it was amniotic fluid leaking out. When she confirmed that is was later that day, I was so excited! I was finally going to have a baby!
I started having little contractions that night around 7pm. They were nothing though; I practically had to be sitting still to feel them. Still, I didn't sleep well that night. Maybe I was just excited, or maybe it was discomfort from early labor, but I was up and down ever couple of hours.
The next morning, Thursday, Dusty and I spoke on the phone. My contractions were not coming consistently, so she told me to call her when they got to be about 5 minutes apart. She also said she had a massage scheduled for herself from 1:30pm to 2:30pm, so only call during those hours if my water suddenly burst or if the contractions were 5 minutes apart. (Later on I learned that the reason for her massage was that she was not feeling well from some food she had the night before, and she was trying to heal herself before I needed her.) My mother called and asked if she could take Ron and I to lunch, figuring it would be the last time I'd be out of the house for a while. She picked us up and we went to Red Lobster, where my sister met us. My sister, Sarah, was going to be at the birth. We had decided it would be best if my mother wasn't there because she got so worried and didn't want to see me in pain.
During lunch, my contractions started picking up. There were coming about 5-6 minutes apart consistently. We finished eating and headed home. Ron was trying to get me to call Dusty, but I insisted we wait until 2:30pm (it was about 2:00pm at this time). Once we got home, I called Dusty. My contractions were not about 3-4 minutes apart, though we weren't really timing them anymore. Dusty arrived with her assistant Julia at about 3:30pm. By this time, I had to focus on my contractions. I breathed through them. Dusty checked my vitals and checked the baby's heartbeat periodically with her Doppler. Ron had me change into a skirt and t-shirt, and I labored in my room, mostly with Ron. Though he'd been so nervous about the birth, he was now my rock. I held onto him through the contractions, sometimes hanging from his neck. I changed positions a lot as my back because to hurt more and more. I was having back labor. I have scoliosis and Dusty thought Savannah was rotating all the way around, so pretty soon the pain was not stopping between contractions.
New Life Birth Center
PO Box 21461
Roanoke, VA 24018
For more information contact:
karen winstead
info@newlifebirthcenter.net
540.798.4064 cell
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Though I was being well taken care of in my bedroom (Ron was talking me through the contractions, my sister was bring me food and drink, Dusty was monitoring the baby periodically), I couldn't wait for the pool to be ready. I wasn't specifically planning for a water birth, but I wanted the pool (a blow-up kiddie pool) set up. So finally, about 7pm, the pool was ready. What a relief! My back pain almost instantly lightened up once I got in the pool. It still hurt, but it was much, much better. I labored in there for about 4 hours. Ron and Sarah helped me through a lot. Dusty and Julia hung back except when Dusty would check the baby's heartbeat (her Doppler was waterproof, so I didn't have to get out of the pool). I transitioned in the pool. It was intense, to say the least. Of course by this time, and even before that, breathing through the contractions was not working for me. I had to tone them out with this low vowel sound I was making.
Anytime I would get high-pitched because of the pain, Dusty would tell me to bring that note down. It really helped to do that. I think it was what got me through transition, because by then, the water was not helping much. I couldn't get comfortable as the contractions came one on top of the other. Dusty gave me homeopathics for the pain, but I don't know if they helped or not.
At some point, Dusty checked my cervix and told me I could start pushing. I think it was around 11pm. But every time I pushed, it felt like someone was twisting my back as hard as they could. So I held back. By then Dusty had called another midwife, Terri, to assist her. When Terri arrived, Dusty asked her if she knew any remedies for back pain. Terri said, "To give birth." I appreciated her honesty because I was really trying to escape from the pain at that point. Once I even though to myself, "Why am I doing this at home? I could be pain-free at a hospital." But I dismissed that thought. I didn't want to go to the hospital.
When my contractions began to slow down, Dusty said she thought it would be a good idea if I got out of the water. I did so and continued to labor, going back and forth between my bedroom and the bathroom. Poor Ron, I would hang from his neck when I had a contraction. I was trying to push, but still holding back. Ron finally said to me that he thought was holding back. He feared I was getting exhausted, which I was, and that if I didn't start to really push, I would end up at the hospital. I agreed with him and this was when I got serious about pushing.
About midnight, everyone was in my room. Dusty tried to lay me down on the bed and check my cervix, but I absolutely could not tolerate being on my back. So I just went on pushing. Ron was sitting on the end of the bed, with me in between his legs. I squatted there as he held me up from behind. And I started really pushing. On Dusty's suggestion I stopped making the toning noise and starting holding my breath when I pushed. I would let out a roar at the end of each push. And again, poor Ron. My fingers were interlaced with his, and with each push I would squeeze and twist his hands. A few times I heard his fingers pop, but I couldn't help it. There was so much pressure on my bottom. I was still holding back a little. I finally told Dusty that it felt like I needed to have a bowel movement. "That's where you need to push, Kristin. Push through that sensation." OH! Now I understood. And I pushed through that. I started to make some progress. Everyone was very encouraging. I was both grateful for that and a little resentful. When my sister, who's never had a child, would say, "You're doing great", I would think "Aww, she's so sweet" and "How the hell do you know how I'm doing?" :) At one point Dusty told me she could feel the baby's head a couple of inches inside my vagina. She let me feel it too, and it made me very hopeful. A little while later she said, "Your baby's hair is sticking out. I just want to put it in pigtails." That's when they got me a mirror. I'd been pretty fascinated with the sensations of labor, despite the pain. But this part was really awesome. I had them keep the mirror there so I could watch. I started to see her head! It was amazing, but frustrating too. I would push and it would come down a little, and as soon as I stopped pushing, up it would go. "It went back in!" I whined. There was even one point that I was convinced if I just held my vagina open with my hand, her head would just pop right out. I tried that to no avail. But still I was making progress.
Finally, after 2 and a half hours of pushing in that position (though I would stand up every now and then, and even laid on my side once), she started crowning. And crowning and crowning. She had a long head! I don't remember a lot about what was going on in the room at this time. I just remember thinking, "It really is like a ring of fire." Dusty had been guiding baby's head down, and then I think Terri got in there too. That hurt like hell, but then all of a sudden the pain stopped. Savannah Marie was born at 2:22am on Friday morning! (222 is a number of great significance for my husband, so it was ironic that she was born at that time.) I know every mother says this about her child, but she really was beautiful. They placed her big, purple, slimy body on my stomach. I was amazed that this little creature just came out of me. Dusty suctioned her nose with the suction bulb, and then did some deep suctioning of her throat. (I didn't know it at the time, but she had passed meconium right as she was born, so there was some fear that she'd swallowed some, but the suctioning came up clear.) It took a little stimulation to get her to cry, especially since we didn't cut the cord right away. (Ron cut it about 30 minutes later to allow the nutrients to pass to the baby.) I was exhausted. I remember asking if I could sit down (squatting isn't exactly easy on the legs). They let me. I said "Hi Savannah!" Then I realized I hadn't seen if she was actually a girl. "Is it a girl? Is it a girl?" "Yes baby, it's a girl," Ron said. She was huge. 8lbs, 12 oz. And jet black hair. I wondered where she got the black hair from. (Mine's brown and Ron is blond.) But it's lightened up since then. When she finally cried, it was this cute little whimper. And about 5 minutes after that, she was breastfeeding. They kept me sitting there waiting for the placenta to be born, but it wouldn't come. I even tried to deliver it myself; I just wanted to lie down. But finally they laid me down on the bed and it came a bit later. Dusty and Julia went about cleaning me and the baby up after I breastfed her, and examining us. We were both great, 'cept for me being exhausted and shaky. She scored an 8 and 9 on her Apgar. And I got tea and food and finally, finally, after 29 hours of labor, and 2 and a half hours of active pushing, I got to sleep. It was a long journey, but looking back, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Savannah was well worth it, and the homebirth experience was awesome. I'll always have my children at home, naturally, with a midwife.
By Kristen Gleason
Mother of Savannah
health_educator247@yahoo.com
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