Our First Home Birth Experience

Hello there!

So. Grab something to snack on while you read this. It's a long one :) 

I wanted to share how it was to have a home birth! This was our first go around with a midwife and home birth. My first two babies were delivered at the hospital with an OBGYN doctor. Which, all experiences were good, but if I had to choose again, I would choose to be at home :)

I had an OBGYN that I was seeing, but by 27 weeks I kept feeling like I needed to look into a home birth. Then my amazing neighbor also inspired me when she had her 5th child at home. I picked up her kids hours after the delivery and her home was peaceful and the midwives were doing her laundry and dishes! This could be nice I thought :) so I have a few interviews with different midwives and decided on Melody. :)

Firstly, I was 5 days overdue and SO ready for baby to be here. Don't believe me? Read this post! Www.jamiesloveathome.blogspot.com/i-guess-baby-is-a-late-sleeper

Secondly, I had had a false alarm labor almost 3 weeks prior. So we thought it could have been ANY DAY. Not so, not so. But I feel that false alarm was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. To give me a trail run since I was nervous about the home birth- but that's a post for another day :)

So I'll give a play-by-play as if you were there, excited with us!

5:30- I wake up with intense contractions that won't let me sleep

6:00- Tyler and I decide to call melody (midwife) and tell her what's up. She is anxious to come right then since my last labor was only 3 hours! I tell her to wait since I wanted to make sure it was for real this time.

7:00- OW! "ok, you can come now!"

7:30- Melody arrives! And instantly makes the contractions easier by pushing on my back. Who knew?? 

Tyler and I continue to work through contractions together- he is amazing and would calm me down whenever I got a little scared :) he is so good at making me laugh.

10:00- I am ready to push! And push, and push. But the baby isn't coming! He is stuck posterior (facing sideways instead of facing my back). 

10:45- I am tired! And hungry! We brainstorm ideas to get baby turned. There is manually turning baby by reaching inside, or staying on my hands and knees for a half hour to encourage baby or turn. No th aks to manually turning him! It sounded painful and intrusive. 

Ah-ha! Melody suddenly remembers a trick told her by an old Mexican midwife. She has delivered some 200 babies, but has never done the trick before. "Let's try that" I say.... "Right after a nap..."

11:15- nap taken, food eaten, it's go time. :) labor slowly intensifies again. Contractions had stopped while I took my nap- thank you!

12:30- it's time to try to turn him. I laid on my back while she put a scarf underneath me. Tyler held one side while Melody held the other. They both would jerk their side one after the other. This caused my tummy to jerk around good! The goal was to shake me like a jar full of pickles, turning the baby inside. I sure felt it! Melody checked baby using her stethoscope and sure enough, he turned the right way!

12:35- I stood up and WOAH! This baby is coming :)

12:57- baby Todd is here :) crying and a boy!! 

It was a wonderful experience to have him at home :) I was really nervous at first because what if something goes wrong??. But I felt within my heart that everything would be okay, and this is the best for me and this baby. And it was!!

One of the biggest things that Tyler and I wanted, was to not be 'checked' so many times. If you've had a baby, you know what I mean. If not- let me explain. The nurses, doctors, and everyone in between, want to 'check' to see how labor is progressing by how far you're dilated. That means intrusively going inside, like every half hour. With my first delivery I was checked at least 15-20 times. It is not pleasant!  And takes away the sacredness, we felt. 

Yet with Melody, she was much more relaxed and confident in my body's own ability. She didn't have to check me once the whole delivery! 

Because really, checking is just so that they can track that labor is progressing. But to me, you can tell that by a baby coming out! Haha

Another big difference I noticed is that at home everything was much more relaxed and calm. It was easy to just sit when I wanted to, move when I wanted to, and go grab a cup of water out of my own sink when I wanted to. I was home :)

I could take my time with labor. Like after my nap, my contractions and slowed down in frequency and intensity. I could easily see the hospital staff saying, "time for pitosin! Let's break your water! We need to speed things up again." Yet at home we just waited :).  And my body did it's job! My water broke on its own right before he was born. Which I think is the best because the water acts  as a cushion and the contractions don't hurt as much. So anything that helps pain, I think should stay as long as possible! :)

And here is the outcome of all that hard work!

What would a post about a birth be without a bunch of pictures of the baby?? :)

Feel free to ask me any questions and I can answer them.

In the end it is up to you, your spouse and Heavenly Father what course is best take.

Love, jamie :)