Let me tell you about her birth. From the very beginning I knew that I wanted a home birth. I had read so many books about home birth versus hospital births and all around the vibes I got was that having a baby at home was so much more pleasant and endurable. There are stories of women who were mostly dilated but once they got to the hospital, signed in, got to the room, met the unfamiliar faces of the nurses or Doctor, and got settled in, they had stopped dilating. The entire environment had changed. Those women left the warm, snug, safe and secure confines of their home and settled for bright lights, and a sterile insecure place. No wonder they stopped dilating.
One of the things that made me choose home birth is having a natural birth. No artificial pain relief, or unnecessary C-sections, just giving birth as nature intended. Also home birth gives you the option change the mood. You can have dim lights, music, food, the comfort of your home and most importantly, privacy. I’m also anti vaccine so I knew that by having a home birth I wouldn’t be pressured into getting shots.
I felt my first contraction, at least the first one that woke me, early in the morning. A few hours later my water broke. I called my midwife and a few hours later one of her helpers showed up. She checked me and said that I was 5 centimeters dilated. She had a sweet little ring that had 10 pieces of colored foam that showed what I should look like from 1 centimeter to 10. My husband made me an egg. I wasn’t at all hungry but I took a bite. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep it down.
My husband set up the inflatable pool in our kitchen. Not the most lovely place to give birth but logically it made the most sense. Our floor is vinyl, not carpet, and it was close to the sink. He had a hose rigged up from the kitchen sink so there was no need to haul buckets of water. When the pool was full I got in. It was so nice and warm. It enabled me to relax more. I can only describe contractions as waves that come and go. There is no controlling them, nothing you can do to stop them. It just happens. Relaxing is the key. The midwife showed up shortly. She checked the baby’s heartbeat and they sat in the living room. Giving my husband and I privacy. He was such a dear. He knelt on that hard floor for nearly three hours, encouraging me, rubbing my back, reminding me to relax. I am so very thankful and blessed by his presence that day.
Finally they told me that I could push. Pushing was better. Yes it still hurt but unlike contractions which were uncontrollable, pushing is more of a focused effort that you can control. Contractions are still there but the effort of pushing somewhat covers them. At first I pushed lightly, but it seemed to me that the midwives were expecting a little more. So I gave it a little more umph. At last her head was out. They told me that another push or two and she would be out. After a few minutes they told me to get out of the pool. Baby’s shoulder was stuck. I don’t know what they did but soon baby was born. A healthy baby girl. She weighed 8 lb and 1 oz. What a blessing, truly she was sent by God.
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