This is my story. I am happy to share it. My wish is that it will give you hope and confidence. My hope for every mama is that she can have a birth experience that she feels proud of and reflects back on happily. Here is mine.
My second birth on January 21st, 2020 was the birth of my dreams. I had successfully had a vaginal birth at home. No complications. No fear. Just a quiet, calm, and loving environment. Supported by two midwives, my husband and my mom. All while my now older daughter was sleeping peacefully in her room. God is good.
It was Monday evening January 20th when real labor began. I had made it through a rough end to the previous week being sick with a virus that had me throwing up and left me feeling weak and tired. During the previous few days of being sick, I started having contractions. When they started on Saturday, I was sure it was just because I had been vomiting and was likely to be slightly dehydrated. That first 24 hours they weren’t painful and they didn’t bother me or keep me awake. I was happy about that because I was trying to rest as much as possible after having been sick and still trying to recover. It also gave me reassurance that I was not in real labor. But, almost just as soon as I started to feel better from the virus, the contractions started to get stronger and closer together.
Most of Sunday, I was contracting 15 to 20 minutes apart and was unable to fall asleep that night because the cramping would wake me up. As Monday commenced, the contractions were still 15 minutes apart, but they were slowly becoming more uncomfortable. I was definitely in denial about that. I continually stated to myself and my husband that it couldn’t be labor and I’m sure things will fizzle out. I thought for sure my body would let me recover more from being sick and that I wouldn’t go into labor at 37 weeks. Sure enough my contractions stayed steady and by late evening, I was really pausing and giving them most of my attention. I still reassured my husband that I was fine when we crawled into bed at 9pm, but he knew better. I was still in denial haha. He got up to fill my birth tub and we timed the contractions and realized they were coming 5 minutes apart now. Around 10pm I finally gave in to what was happening and called my midwife to warn her this might be it. I also rang my mom and she decided to come over at this time. I did some walking around the house and swaying as it felt right, staying upright and active. By 11pm things had gotten more uncomfortable and remained consistent so I called my midwife back to let her know I was really uncomfortable and things were definitely picking up. We decided together, it was best that she make her way over.
Around midnight my midwife and also another midwife who was going to be assisting her during my birth had arrived. I was doing well listening to my body and moving around in ways that felt right for each contraction. I had been moving around in different upright positions in the birth tub, then moved onto the birth ball and also tried different side lying positions. My labor was progressing quickly and I was beginning to wonder how much longer it was going to last. I was repeating my birth mantra in my head over and over and just trying to breathe through each wave. Soon enough I was feeling like I wanted to push but, I also wasn’t feeling an overwhelming amount of vaginal pressure because my water bag was still intact. My midwife offered to check my dilation. I said yes because I wanted to know. She reported that I had just a small piece of cervix left and said I could go on gently pushing and breathing through the contractions.
What felt like a short time after being checked my water burst while I was having a contraction. I was so relieved because I knew I would probably be able to push baby girl right out after that. Well, I was right. With just a few more contractions and a few pushes, baby girl came into the world. I breathed slowly through the ring of fire and pushed ever so slightly as her shoulders and body were emerging. I was so proud of myself for remaining calm and pushing slowly and controlled as her head and body was birthed. She was born right into my husband’s hands! It was 2:12am. My midwife did have to unwrap her umbilical cord from around her chest and shoulders and then my husband was able to lift her and place her onto my chest. I thought to myself, “Wow I did it. We did it”. I had a safe birth right in my own home. I felt overwhelmed with love, joy, empowerment and thankfulness. God is good. Three hours of intense labor and now our baby girl is here!
I am so thankful for the undivided attention and constant presence of my husband and both midwives. For me, having that labor support was what kept me calm, focused & reassured that I could accomplish a homebirth and make it through my fast and furious labor. I felt like I was receiving special and undivided attention and care and that is because I was. No one left my side. I was their sole focus. In no other birth environment do you receive this type of care. My birth team was with me the entire time, they never left my side. This made me feel more confident in my ability to labor unmedicated and trust my body completely.
I am so happy with the decisions I made leading up to my birth. I truly believe my preparation set me up to have the birth experience that I did. I hope you too will make choices to prepare you to have the birth experience you hope to achieve.
Thank you for taking the time to read my second birth story!
