It was cold in the apartment. Russia and the Ukraine were in the middle of a gas dispute. Our city’s central heating system was short of fuel, we were left in the cold. Outside, there was a fierce frost and a lot of snow. I was struggling to get the air conditioning in my apartment to blow hot air instead of cold, so that my baby would not be born into a cold space. I finally succeeded but it was still cold, so I turned the oven on and left its door open. Finally, things were starting to heat up.

Contractions were now painful, and I vocalized through some of them. My daughter woke up and asked what was going on. It was probably around three in the morning. “The baby is on his way, honey, he’ll be with us soon!” She brought me drinks, and seemed excited. I tried to get her to go back to sleep, but she wanted to be there with me.

My second birth was an extremely spiritual experience. Because I chose to birth unassisted, and had to rely on myself exclusively, I felt every sensation, and was aware of the process every step of the way. I did ask myself whether I was doing the right thing, and if I should go to hospital, but I knew, in my heart, that this was the best choice. Not just because of the medieval maternity system in our country of residence, and not just because the midwife who attended my first birth did many of the things that they did in hospital too, like shouting at laboring women and trying to cut an episiotomy without the consent of the mother. No, this birth was so much more than an alternative to something unwanted. It was a rebirth for me, as a person, too.

My son was born into my own two hands, face up. My daughter was excited to meet her little brother. “Hello, little one. Hello, my little one,” I exclaimed, as I stared into his tiny but bright blue eyes, eyes that stared right into my soul. He was tiny. So much smaller than his sister. So fragile, and so perfect. The placenta came out with ease, very soon after my son did. After I was sure that the umbilical cord had stopped pulsating.

We bathed together and then got dressed. My daughter picked the clothes my son would wear for the very first time, and we went to bed. My children went to sleep peacefully. I couldn’t possibly let this precious moment go to waste by sleeping, and observed my two beautiful children for hours, just being. I felt at peace, yet energetic. For months, I was on a birth high. I felt euphoric.

Olivia
A crunchy homebirth mom of two. I blog about trying to conceive – www.trying-to-conceive.com

We stayed with the hospital until our 20 week ultrasound when we found out we were having a baby boy.  At that point, because everything looked great and I was already sick of the 30+ minute drives to the hospital (that never had their appointments on time), I called the birthing center.

This birthing center is attached to a small hospital in the next town over to us.  As a comparison, it has about 500 births a year compared to my former hospital’s 4000.  The women’s practice in this hospital is small (one midwife; one OB/GYN).  I signed up to be under their midwife on staff.  As of the first appointment, I knew I had made the right decision.  Finally, I was talking to someone who was on the same level as me regarding childbirth and actually wanted to discuss my birth plans!

The weeks went by and, yet again, I had a very easy and uneventful pregnancy even though it was one of the hottest summers on record for our area.   As my daughter was born at 38w 5d, I thought that there was a good chance that our baby boy would also be born early.  I ended up working until I was 39w pregnant but then decided it was time for a break.  At this point, my midwife checked my dilation and I was 3cm (no contractions).   The weekend after my 39w appointment was Labor Day weekend.  On Saturday, we went to our boat and enjoyed the day.   On Sunday, we went to a local fair.   And on Monday, we went to a BBQ at a friend’s house.   Still no labor!

The days continued to go by and I still felt great.  I didn’t really “feel” like labor and delivery were near.  At my 40w visit, I was 4cm dilated (still no contractions).  My midwife asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped to “get things started” but I found no need.  Baby boy would come when he was ready.

At 40w 3d, it was Saturday, September 11th, and my 3.5 year old daughter’s first dance class.  We all got ready to go and left the house at about 9:15am.  On the drive to dance class, I started to feel contractions but as with my February 2007 daughter’s birth, I didn’t really believe they were really contractions.  I decided to keep them to myself for a bit.

By 9:45am, I figured it was probably time to plan for baby boy arriving that day.  I let my midwife know it was time and made arrangements at daughter’s dance studio as my husband would be late getting back to pick her up.  Good thing we decided to go with a local birthing center – less than 15 minutes from my daughter’s studio!

We got settled into the birthing center around 10:15am and my midwife checked me – 7cm dilated!  I have to say that the contractions I was experiencing were very low on the pain scale.  This time I did not have back labor at all.  I was GBS+ again so I did have an IV for saline and antibiotics like last time.

My husband went to get my daughter and she actually was in the L&D room with me for a little bit while I went through the contractions.  It didn’t faze her at all – she was excited for her baby brother to finally arrive!  My sister arrived at 11:15am to watch our daughter.  At that point, my midwife asked if I wanted her to break my water.  I decided to say “yes” as I was already at 7+cm and I knew the end was close.  This way, my sister could “hang out” with my daughter and hopefully not have long to wait.

The contractions did not get that much more intense after my water was broken.  It was definitely still manageable by focusing and breathing.  I had wanted to do a HypnoBirthing birth but the class I was going to take was cancelled so all I had done was read the book by Mongan.  The suggestions did help me stay focused through the contractions and I also still believe my years of yoga are great at assisting me through labor and delivery.

In a very short period of time after my water was broken, I was at 9cm but not really feeling the need to push at all.  As I had had a 2nd-3rd degree tear with my daughter, I had talked to my midwife previously about birthing in different positions.  She had suggested trying pushing on all fours and since I do a lot of yoga, this would not be a difficult position for me to hold for extended periods of time.

I decided to try it.  As with my daughter, pushing did not come easy to me.  I do not know why but I have a difficult time focusing with pushing.  Contractions I can do but not pushing.  So, pushing was taking longer than with my daughter.  Finally, it was getting to the point that we really needed to get baby out.  At no point, did my midwife make it feel like we were in an emergency-type situation.  She kept things calm and cool (only midwife, nurse, and my husband were in the room).  But, I knew enough about how long things were taking and what that could mean that that was enough motivation for me to refocus and deliver baby boy.

So, at 12:59pm – less than four hours after I felt the first contractions, our baby boy was born crying and healthy into the world.  My midwife commented that he was a “big baby” but I didn’t believe her.  My daughter had only been 7lbs 7oz and 19.5in.  As this birthing center is pursuing Baby Friendly status, they do immediate skin-to-skin contact (another reason why I transferred) so we did not know how much he weighed.  My sister and daughter also got to meet him shortly after he was born which was an added bonus of having such a quick labor!

He was immediately alert and ready to nurse like a champ.  A couple hours later, the nurse came in to weigh him and we found out that he was 9lbs 4oz and 20in!!  I never realized that I was carrying such a big boy!  Later that weekend, my midwife and I discussed how, in hindsight, it was so good that I decided to push on all fours as with that size of a baby, we could have had some issues with either him (delivery; shoulders) or me (tearing) if I had pushed like I had with my daughter.  In the end, I had a 1st degree tear which was nothing to even think about.

As with my daughter, I felt wonderful after my second natural childbirth and was so glad to get to experience it in a way that I did not have the opportunity to do the first time.  My stay in the birthing center was also so much more enjoyable than my former hospital and it was great to be in such a pro-breastfeeding environment.

So, definitely a different experience than last time but I am so glad I made the decision I made to change to the birthing center at 20w.  I know the outcome would have definitely been different if I had not made that change!

Lori
Mother to a February 2007 little girl and September 2010 baby boy, engineer, natural birth and breastfeeding advocate

http://twitter.com/lorilady

Moses was 8 days overdue and was scheduled for an induction on May 19. I was 2cm dilated and 90% effaced.  I tried to talk to our doctor about getting an extension on the induction date, but she wouldn’t budge. I was very concerned about going for an induction because I had heard that it was more difficult to have a natural delivery after having an induction.  After trying everything (or so it seemed) to get labour started (stair walking, bumpy car rides, two acupuncture appointments, herbal concoctions, talking to Moses, talking to my body, talking to Spirit, etc….), I decided that the next morning, I would try the castor oil induction (which I heard could be brutal due to the diarrhea that it may cause, but I was getting desperate).

That night, I cried and was quite emotional because I was wondering if I was in some way preventing labour from starting.  Was I scared?  Was I just not ready?  I had a good cry and created a birth collage with intentions for how I wanted the birth to go.  (i.e., that I would be supported, that my body knew how to give birth, that the birth would be what it will be).  I talked to my good friend, Shelley, and she said that she would do some long-distance Reiki on me that evening.

May 17, 2006 (Moses’ birth day)

I went to bed and was up several times during the night with stomach cramps. I woke up at 5:00 am with more intense stomach cramps and noticed that I had leaked some clear fluid (I didn’t quite know at the time that it was the first sign my water had broke). DH got up at 6:00 am and I told him about my stomach cramps and that I wouldn’t be taking castor oil if these cramps continued.  DH could tell that I was not feeling myself and he decided to stay home to be with me.  After leaking more of this liquid and after consulting with the internet re: water breaking, at about 6:30 am, we finally figured that my water had broken. (Duh…)  Then we decided to time the length between the stomach cramps and found out that they were coming irregularly between 5 to 8 minutes apart!  Woohoo!!  Labour had started!  I sent out an email to my “birth angels” (friends who I had asked to hold space and say prayers during my labour and to light a candle) and we called our moms. (My mom wasn’t surprised by my call because she had a dream the night before that Moses was born). We rested in bed for a little while – trying to get more sleep, but sleep didn’t come.

We’d planned to labour as long as possible at home, but being that my water broke,  DH thought it would be a good idea to call the hospital and get their opinion.  Sure enough, they suggested that we come in for an assessment.  I didn’t want to go to the hospital so soon, but the nurse said that we would be free to leave the hospital after the assessment if all looked well.

9 am: We got our bags packed and while DH was outside packing the car, I was already doubling over on the couch in pain and crying.  I was surprised that the contractions were already so intense so early in the labour.  This scared me.

We drove to the hospital and I had about 3 contractions during the ride to the hospital.  I already needed to be quiet and go inside during the contractions.

10 am:  We arrived at the hospital and I laboured in the waiting room for about an hour.  The contractions were about 5 minutes apart.  I needed DH’s support (holding onto his hands) during the contractions.

11 am:  I was assessed and was a “stretchy 4 cm” dilated.  The doctor asked me if I wanted pitocin to really get the labour kicked in to high gear.  I declined.  She said that they would give me until around 7 pm, but would induce me with pitocin if labour didn’t really get started by then.  As a result, I had a pretty strong intention for labour to go quickly on its own.

We were still debating on whether to go home to labour further or to stay in the hospital.  We decided to stay because I didn’t want to do anymore labouring in the car and wanted to ensure that we got a hospital room. (My hesitation about staying was that I was a bit scared that my labour would stall being at the hospital – happily, this didn’t happen).  Shelley arrived at the triage room and I had lunch.

11:30 am:  I was happy to get settled in the room so that we could make the space a “safe and sacred space”. When I asked that the birthing stool be made available, I was first told that no one ever used them and they probably didn’t have them anymore. Thankfully, the nurse was able to find one, which was fortunate because I later made use of it in the shower.

By this time, my contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes or so and felt quite intense to me.  I would lean over the couch and DH would hold one hand. In the other hand, I held my “birth egg” – an egg symbol that a friend has given me and that I was using to support me in labour.  I also wore a “birth” bracelet that Shelley had made for me. We also tried a hot water bottle on my belly or back, which seemed to provide some relief. While these contractions were happening, a nurse-in-training was asking me questions so that she could fill out the proper paperwork. She told me that although she hadn’t witnessed many births, she could tell that DH and I had been to prenatal classes by the way that we were handling the contractions. [We had taken Birthing from Within classes. I highly recommend both the book and the classes].

I drank A LOT of water during labour (approximately 4 L — I normally drink a lot of water, but not that much in such a short time. I’d read that it was important to stay hydrated during labour, but I guess I took it to the extreme). [The doctors later said that Moses' sodium level was low and they think all of the water that I drank during labour affected it].

1:00 pm:  I laboured in the shower for 4 hours (so I was told — I’d lost track of time by this point). [I would have tried a bath, had a bath been available in the room.] DH sat outside of the shower  and showered my back or belly depending on where I needed the warmth.  I started in the shower sitting down, which was not the most comfortable position, but was made more comfortable with the “gardening cushions” that one of the nurses brought.  The water was amazing.  It felt healing to me and I was able to go inside and be internal inside the walls of the shower.  We played a beautiful healing and meditative song, “Returning” by Jennifer Berezan over and over and over again…  ”Returning, Returning, Returning to the Mother of us All” for the entire labour except for a brief time that a “Birthing” CD was played, which had dolphin sounds.

To cope with the contractions, I was telling myself affirmations in my head (“I am being supported”.  “Spirit, please relieve some of this sensation”.)  After a while, I told DH to repeat what I was saying and for 3 hours, DH and I co-chanted the affirmations that I needed to hear.  After a while, DH continued with the affirmations on his own when I didn’t have the energy to say them anymore.

I held my birth egg the entire time and DH’s hand with the other.  Shelley was also in the room with us, doing energy work on me and making comforting “sighing” sounds.  Shelley was amazing – getting more water when I needed it and providing whatever support was necessary.

After some time, I no longer felt comfortable sitting on the floor of the shower and asked for the birthing stool, and continued to labour in the shower on the birthing stool.  I asked, “Would I know when it was time to push?”. The nurse said that I would know because I would feel like pushing.  While on the birthing stool, the nurse checked me and I was 7 cm dilated.

5:00 pm

The contractions were becoming more and more intense and at a certain point, I screamed out in pain and grabbed onto DH, coming off of the birthing stool and half out of the shower.  It felt as though labour was changing.  The nurse suggested getting me out of shower and I slowly made it out of the shower, holding onto DH in a type of “slow dance” to the bed.  Once on the bed, I instinctively went to a sidelying position.  I felt as though Moses was coming quickly and I wanted to slow down the process.

I soon felt like pushing.  This was the most excruciating part of the labour because the nurses didn’t allow me to push yet.  It felt awful not to be able to go with the feelings of my body.  I vocalized and screamed a lot during this stage.  They checked me again and I was “9.75 cm” dilated. [What does that even mean?].  During the examination, the nurse helped by manually pushing some of the uterus out of the way.

6:00 pm

I was finally 10 cm and it was time to push.  DH estimates that it took about 12 pushing contractions for Moses to be delivered.  My first few pushes were side-lying and weren’t very effective in the nurse’s opinion, so I was coached into a semi-sitting position.  I resisted going into semi-sitting because I knew that it’s not the best position to labour in, but I was quite tired at this point and was open to suggestion.  Because I was so tired, I couldn’t imagine labouring in any other position besides side-lying or semi-sitting. (Unfortunately, I felt that I didn’t have the energy to squat).  In retrospect, I think I should have stayed in a side-lying position because this was the position my body intuitively chose and suspect that some of the complications that followed (Moses’ heart beat decelerations and my episiotomy) wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed in that position.  And the labour would have been slower.  I felt a lot of pressure to push Moses out as fast as possible rather than go with my body’s timing.

I started vocalizing quite a bit during the pushing, and the nurse advised me to use my energy more for pushing and less for vocalizing.  This turned out to be good advice because my pushing was more effective when I didn’t vocalize as much.

[Warning: Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are easily grossed out -- this paragraph may contain too much information for you]. One account that I’d read about the pushing stage was that it was like “pooping out a squishy watermelon”, so I was expecting that sensation to come. What surprised me was the sensation of the “squishy watermelon” moving inside of me.  When he was crowning, it was particularly disconcerting to feel my son’s head part way out of me and then between contractions being told to “relax” (while the squishy watermelon was moving inside of me, and at the same time, his feet were kicking my ribs). I asked for warm compresses, which I felt helped soothe the ”ring of fire” between contractions.

In between one of the breaks between pushing, one of the nurses actually asked me to sign a waiver form! (@%%$###!!)

I was coached to push with the forceful pushing technique, which I suspect that combined with the semi-sitting position, is the reason that we had decelerations in Moses’ heartbeats.  They started to give me oxygen to get more oxygen to Moses. I got the feeling that I needed to push Moses out as fast as possible to ensure that he would be ok. This is when they said an episiotomy would be necessary.

7:01 pm

Moses was delivered after two more contractions after the episiotomy.  One of the most beautiful moments of the whole experience for me was that as Moses was being born, DH embraced me and cried on my shoulder with delight and relief at Alex’s birth.

Moses delivered with his hand by his face and with the cord wrapped loosely around his neck. He was grey and had a frightened look on his face. They put him on my belly for only a second or two because he was having difficulty breathing.   DH asked if he could cut the cord and he did. They then took Moses over to a side examination table and many specialists rushed in. After the placenta was delivered, I started hemorrhaging, so they hooked me up to an IV and put pressure on my uterus to stop the bleeding.  I lost 700 mL of blood in total (approx. 200 mL more than normal). Shortly after, they took Moses away to another room and Mel went with him. Shelley stayed with me. While all of this was going on, the staff was having casual conversations about their weekend plans. ($#%@@@!!!)

Despite the chaos, I remained pretty calm. I intuitively felt that Moses would be okay; I was reassured by the dream that my mom had about Moses’ birth. Shelley stayed with me, while Mel went back and forth between being with Moses and me. Shelley did some more energy work with me, which helped tremendously.

They put tubes into Moses lungs and stomach, and as a result, he needed to be transferred to the Foothills Hospital (FH) because Rockyview Hospital didn’t have a level three Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. So that I could be close to Moses, they also transferred me to the FH at 1:00 am. Our son, the little fighter, ripped the tubes out of his lungs and stomach on his way to FH. Thankfully, Moses’ condition greatly improved soon after he arrived at FH and by the next morning, he was breathing unassisted. By the afternoon, he was transferred to the Special Care Unit. They  think that he swallowed some amniotic fluid during the delivery. They kept him for 6 extra days (during which time he was hooked up to IVs and many monitoring devices, kept under lights for his jaundice, was given antibiotics and was diagnosed with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, an enzyme deficiency which makes him susceptible to hemalytic crisis, which occurred during his birth). We brought him home with us on May 23, 2006.

Janice

At 28 weeks I was required to take a Glucose Tolerance Test. They called me and told me that my blood sugars were so high, I was automatically being diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes with no further testing. This diagnosis changed the way my pregnancy was treated from that point on. I didn’t have to change my diet much in order to control the blood sugar, and I stuck to my regular exercise every day.

After 32 weeks I had to go to the doctor’s office twice a week for ultrasounds and non-stress tests. Everything was perfect every time, and the baby consistently measured on the small side of normal throughout the pregnancy. I asked multiple times what happens if I go past my due date and I kept being told “We don’t like GD mom’s to go past their due date. We’ll see  how we’re progressing at the time.”  This was stressing me out because I felt pressured to go into natural labor before my due date in order to avoid unnecessary interventions.

I began my leave from work at 38 weeks in the hopes that I would go into labor naturally. My husband and I spent our days doing lots of walking, having lots of sex, eating spicy (but healthy!) foods. I kept up with my exercise and bounced on my birth ball.  But it was apparent that she was not coming any time soon.

When I was almost 39 weeks I had the doctor’s visit that changed our entire plan. They assumed I would want my cervix checked, which I did not because there was no point since I was not in labor, and then the doctor asks me when I was planning my induction.  Um, sorry but we are not planning an induction!  Then I heard the familiar threats that GD babies need to be born by 40 weeks or they will be “too big” and there is an increased risk of stillbirth.  These scare tactics just made me angry because I knew my baby was healthy and I was not going to force her to be born early!  I felt extremely stressed whenever I thought about going for a doctor visit or about our hospital birth.  So when our Bradley instructor (who was also our Doula) suggested contacting a local midwife about a home birth I felt that this would be a huge relief!  And so I made an appointment to speak with Alison, a midwife I had met before at a Birth Circle meeting just ten minutes from my house.

Alison agreed to take us on for the amount we would have paid for the hospital copay, which was amazing of her because it is the only way we could afford it since my insurance does not cover midwives. She sympathized with my story and agreed that since my blood sugars were well controlled there was no reason to treat my pregnancy as anything other than the normal healthy pregnancy it was.  And so we began planning our home birth.

It is a good thing that we did this, because it was 11 days past our due date when the labor started. Monday night I was having a terrible time sleeping, as had happened a lot that past week, so I was up until about 7 in the morning. I slept off and on for a few hours and woke up around 11 having cramps.  I told my husband I thought something was finally happening!  We got up and ate breakfast and the cramping continued to get more intense.  We decided to try timing them and they were about 10 minutes apart.  Then I went to the bathroom and found blood.  Bloody show! I told James I thought this was going to be the day so we should call Alison and Klarissa (our doula) and let them know!

James and I used our Bradley relaxation techniques to handle the contractions, and read each other trivia questions from a board game in between to keep our mind off things. Alison came by to check on me, and by this point my contractions were about 10 minutes apart. We let her know that I hadn’t slept well the night before so she suggested drinking half a glass of wine to slow the contractions so I could take a nap since I would need my energy. She left and told us to keep in touch. I drank the half a glass of wine but contractions did not slow down, they sped up!  They were starting to be 3 – 4 minutes apart when we called Klarissa and said we thought she should probably come over now.

Klarissa came over and got the birthing pool filled up for me and I climbed in.  It felt soooo nice!  James was still doing a great job reminding me to relax and take deep breaths.  I found that I had to make a low moaning sound to get through the contractions as they were getting stronger.  He ended up climbing into the pool with me so that he could press on my coccyx with a piece of pool noodle, which relieves a bit of the pressure of contractions.  Alison and her two students arrived, and we labored like this in the pool for several hours. Everyone was impressed at how great we were doing at focusing on relaxing and breathing and dealing with each contraction as it came.

At around 11 it started to get pretty intense and Alison had me get out of the pool so she could check my dilation. I was at 8 ½ centimeters with just a bit of cervix left.  We tried laboring in a few different positions and then Alison checked my cervix again and there was still a bit left that wouldn’t budge. She said it felt like scar tissue which was causing the problem, we discussed it and I agreed to let her break my bag of waters so that the baby’s head could press on the cervix to help open it. It was about 11:45 pm by this time and I was sure I’d have my baby soon.

Hours later I was still laboring HARD. Alison gave me an herb which was supposed to stop the contractions so that I could rest a bit because I was too worn out to push effectively. Once again my body reacted the opposite it was supposed to and the contractions only increased in intensity and the urge to push was too much to resist. And so we continued.

James and I got in the shower and labored in there.  By this time I was begging for the hospital because “they have drugs that work!” and starting to understand why so many women choose to have an epidural!  It was getting extremely hard to handle!

Back to the bedroom floor at the foot of my bed and I pushed on the squatting stool, on hands and knees, on my side, on my back, on the other side, back on hands and knees…  I kept hearing people say “You’re doing great!  She’s coming!”  but then I would cry out “Then why isn’t she here yet!!!” because it seemed like it wouldn’t end!  I was crying that I couldn’t go on, but everyone kept encouraging me.  “You can!  You’re doing it!  She’s almost here!”.  I remember seeing Kat, one of the student midwives getting some clean towels out and putting them next to me and I asked what it was for and she said it was for the baby.  All I thought was, but this baby is never coming out!

Finally I think I just decided this was it, I was going to push a couple of more times with all of my might and get that baby out!  I got back into the squatting position and when the next contraction came I did not let up!  Her head finally came out and then -whoosh- the rest of her slipped right out!  She was born at 6:20 am Wednesday morning. Alison caught her and put her on my stomach and I sat back on the stool and just looked at her in amazement!  I couldn’t believe she was actually here!

I had some help onto the bed and James climbed in next to me and the baby was wiped and covered with towels and a little hat put on to help keep her warm and I couldn’t believe how perfect she was!  And thanks to the loooong second stage labor and squatting position, I had absolutely no tearing.

James cut the cord, and I delivered the placenta with one little push. That was easy! Then I was escorted into the shower while the birth team stripped the bed and put on a nice clean set of sheets. I think we tried to nurse, it’s all a little fuzzy now… Then Alison took Zelda to the foot of the bed to take measurements, check the baby’s eyes and reflexes and all that good stuff. She was 7 lbs 2 ounces and a whopping 22 inches long.  That is a long and skinny baby!  She was perfectly alert and healthy.

Although it was the most difficult thing I have ever done, and the most pain I have ever experienced, I am very glad that we chose to have a home birth. First of all, if she had been born three weeks earlier she would have had no fat on her!  I know that my baby really needed the time that she took. Secondly I am convinced that they would not have let me labor for that long in so many positions in second stage. I would have ended up in surgery, which was not necessary at all because obviously by body and my baby were able to do it!  Alison says that Zelda was a big help pushing herself out, and her heart rate stayed strong through the entire ordeal. Klarissa commented that she really lives up to her name, which means woman warrior!

Nicole

I had a midwife appointment Tuesday afternoon.  Even though I know it doesn’t mean much, I asked her to check me because I was curious.  I was 2.5cm dilated and 40% effaced.  Interestingly, Lena had been transverse and posterior, meaning she was facing the side and front instead of the back.  Facing backwards is optimal for labor and birth.  Well, Lynda could tell when she checked me that her head was actually anterior, which is what we want.  So, she basically had her head turned to the side, which was good.  Lynda offered to strip my membranes.  I entertained the thought, but really just wanted this labor to start on its own.  So, I declined and grudgingly set up a 41 week appointment for next week.

I went to sleep that night resigning myself to further days of pregnancy.

Brian and I had gone to bed early.  He was fighting a cold and I was just plain exhausted, so by the time I woke up just after 2:30 I had already gotten 5 hours of sleep, thankfully.  A contraction had woken me up.  I honestly don’t know if I had had any yet, or if they just started intense enough to wake me.  But, wake me they did.  I laid there wondering if this was really it.  I grabbed my iphone and checked my email, surfed the internet a little, all while timing the contractions.  I was surprised to realize they were 5 minutes apart and one minute long.  Still not painful, just uncomfortable.

Then one hit that I would call painful.  I decided to get up and walk around to try to move things along and start to get ready.  This was about 3:10.  I proceeded to get dressed, get things situated, etc.  All the while noticing that the contractions were very close together as I was walking around.  My contraction pattern with Trevor was a little random, so I didn’t think much of it.  But, they were getting intense enough, I decided to wake up Brian around 3:30.  I told him I was in labor.  I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of “are you sure?”.  I assured him I most definitely was and he got up.  Within about 5 minutes I told him he better call Lynda my midwife because it appeared things were progressing quickly.  We woke up my mom so she would be available just in case Trevor woke up.  I really hoped the whole thing would be done and over with before Trevor woke up in the morning.  That gave me 4-5 hours.  I was hopeful, but a little nervous, too.

I got on the birth ball and rocked back and forth, humming through the contractions.  They were very close together and pretty intense, but I tried not to think about since I figured I still had at least a few hours to go, if not several.  I wondered if things weren’t further along than I thought when I had to keep telling my mom and Brian to not talk during the contractions.  I had to focus because they were getting hard.  I started getting hot and shaky and started having a harder time dealing with the contractions.  So, I told Brian to fill up the tub so I could have some warm water to help with the pain and the buoyancy to take some pressure off my belly.  I got in the tub probably around 4 or shortly after that.

After a couple contractions in the tub, I was starting to worry that Lynda wasn’t there yet and was about to tell Brian to call her again, when she showed up.  This was probably 4:15.  She came in to see how things were going, and only had to listen to me groan through one contraction to realize that she had better get a move on setting things up.

At this point the contractions were basically on top of each other and getting extremely difficult to deal with.  I knew things were moving along at a surprisingly fast rate, but I still don’t think I knew just how close I was.  A few more really hard contractions in the tub, then one hit that had a distinct hard pressure.  Not a pushing pressure, but more of an downward and opening pressure.  I think this was when it hit me that it was almost time.  The next contraction was a distinct pushing contraction.  After it was over, I got out of the tub and onto the birthing stool Lynda had brought.  One push on the stool, just enough time to catch my breath and yell “IT HURTS!!!” before pushing again with all my might.  And she was out at 4:40am.  Last time Brian cried as Trevor was put on my chest, this time, he laughed and kept repeating “Look at her! Look at her!”  He was basically in shock that it was already over and had gone so fast.  I think I was, too.  In shock, but very grateful.

My water had never broken, so she was born in the caul, which means I pushed her out with her amniotic sac still intact.  Being born in the caul is good luck, supposedly.  It broke as her body came out and gave her a little shower, so she was totally clean when Lynda put her on my belly.  The umbilical cord was short, so I couldn’t hold her any higher up than that.  She didn’t cry at all.  We got a good look at her and then moved me onto the bed with her.  I wanted to nurse her, but she couldn’t reach my chest until we cut the cord.  Oh, Lynda had two assistants that arrived about 5 minutes after she was born.  Luckily, Lynda was totally comfortable and confident flying solo.  I love that woman!

So, Brian cut the cord, and she latched right on.  Yay!  The midwives cleaned everything up while Lena and I got acquainted.  The placenta came out with no problems, and they said I bled surprisingly little.  I did get a minor 1st degree tear that needed to be sutured, but that’s a lot better than what I came away with last time.  They gave her a newborn exam and she passed with flying colors.  They finished cleaning up and left.  They were gone by 6:00, which gave us just enough time to settle and reflect a bit before Trevor woke up.  The timing of everything couldn’t have been more perfect.

As we’ve reflected over the experience since then, we’ve realized some interesting things.  First, Brian missed half my labor.  Sounds funny when you say it that way, but it’s true.  I doubt he ever would have imagined when I woke him up that he would have a new daughter just over an hour later.  Second, we would never have made it to a hospital, considering I didn’t even wake Brian up until an hour before the birth.  And then, we would have had to wait for someone to come stay at the house with Trevor.  I can imagine I would have starting feeling like pushing as we were walking out the door.  Lynda pointed out we wouldn’t have made it to her birthing center either, for the same reasons.  This baby was destined to be born at home.  I’m just glad we had planned it that way instead of it taking us by surprise!

We are totally amazed by the experience.  How blessed we’ve been with how it worked out and how things have been going since then.  So amazed.  We can’t even talk about it without chuckling because it just blows us away.

Jody

We got to hospital at 6.15pm, drank some juice and sat around. The contractions started coming more frequently, every 2 mins and were fairly painful. Bub gave a few good kicks and we had to wait around to be examined before they would let me go home. At this stage the braxton hicks were getting a bit bitey but I didn’t have my hopes up after only being 1cm dilated on Friday. The midwife wanted to do an internal check before I was allowed to go and said I was 3cm. Just as she was telling me the bag of waters were bulging, they popped and I was 4cm, she told me I wouldn’t be going home.

We were then carted over to labour and delivery at around 9pm. I  had a doctor come and put a bung in my hand as I tested positive for strep B and needed 2 doses of antibiotics over 8 hours. They gave me the first dose at 10pm. The contractions started picking up, so I decided to hop in the shower. I stayed there for about half an hour, then walked around in the room and hung off Matt whenever I got a contraction. My two previous labours had me stuck in bed on a syntocin and this time I was determined to be active during my labour and avoid any intervention.

At midnight, the pain started to get to me and asked for some pethadine. My lovely midwife knew that I didn’t want it as I had written in my birth plan that I wanted a drug free birth, so she said she’d give me half a dose but she wanted to check me first. I agreed as with my second child I had pethadine too close to when he was born because they didn’t check me first and he was very lethargic. She did the internal and I was 6cm. She then suggested that because I was on the bed(I was tired and dozing between contractions) that maybe I should try getting up. I decided to try the shower again and the midwife asked if I’d like a bath and perhaps have a water birth. I jumped at the idea and hopped into the shower while I waited for them to fill the bath.

5 minutes in the shower and 3 strong contractions, I felt the urge to push. Poor Matt started to panic and went looking for the midwife(lucky she hadn’t gone too far). I told her I had to push(here I am standing in the middle of the room dripping wet in the nude lol). She didn’t really believe me til the next contraction hit and I was leaning over the bed and moaning(I had barely made any noise during my labour). I was pushing. Matt and the midwife were standing behind me, but I had no idea what they were talking about. When the contraction passed I said, I really do need to push. I quickly climbed onto the bed and his head was already crowning.

4 big pushes and 10 minutes later, Owen was born. He was put onto my chest and I held him for about 1/2 an hour. I wasn’t allowed to feed him straight away because I had only had 2 hours of antibiotics in me and they had to test him for infection. Once they had done that, he latched on straight away and fed for a good 30 mins.

He weighed 4125g (about 9lbs), 49cm long and head circ of 37cm (a HUGE head!) and I managed to get away with only a tiny graze too. I’m so happy I managed to avoid any intervention and that my body was allowed to do what it was meant to do on it’s own. I’m really bummed that I never got to have that water birth (not many hospitals allow that here), but nevermind, there’s always next time.

Tracey

I’ll begin with Wednesday. I had slept about 3 hours. Up every 5 minutes to pee. Then Lizzy (2.5 yrs) woke up. No sleep. I was going to blow off my DR appt, but that little voice said go and get your iron levels checked. So I dragged myself, my 2.5 yo and my 5 yr old to my appointment.

Now, fast forward to some scenarios…

If I had not gone to my appointment, I would have been home all day. At 6 p.m. I would have taken my kids to activity night at the church by myself, just having a few contractions. By 7 p.m. I would have needed to push…and stuck at the church, someone would have called 911.

If I had not gone to church and stayed home, after realizing I needed to push and the baby NOT coming out like the others, I would have likely freaked out and transferred to the hospital.

I had not made any mental preparations that this baby would do anything EXCEPT fly out like all the others.

Anyway, I had my iron levels checked and they were lower than at the end of my last pregnancy when I hemorrhaged, I started running through scenarios in my mind … the last being if I was supposed to go to the hospital that I would be in labor at the appointment…And that’s exactly what happened.

I posted on facebook about a change in plans knowing that I did not have enough time to get my iron levels up to a point where I felt comfortable. I also felt peaceful that for whatever reason, this was supposed to be happening. I went to the store to finish up some shopping and called DH to meet me at the hospital because I had the two little girls with me and called a friend to come pick them up.

At the hospital, I was 4 cm. I got a nurse who looked at my birth plan and stated she didn’t want to lose her license and gave me to a different nurse That nurse left me alone and I napped for about 2 hours. I had three contractions in that time and told the nurse I was fine with a vag exam. I had dilated to 6 cm.

I sat at 6 cm until around 5 p.m. when I started having contractions 3 minutes apart. My dr offered to break my water; I said I didn’t care at this point…since I was actually having contractions now. My dr left to go find the on-call dr and bring him up to speed. I think he was telling him to let me do what I wanted. *evil grin*

Around 6, the on-call dr finally showed up and tried to break my water. Didn’t work. nothing happened. he left tho and said that it was a race between me and the first time mom down the hall as he thought I’d probably deliver in the next hour or so.

The contractions did start to hurt a bit. If I had been home, I still wouldn’t have been convinced it was labor, which is why I would have taken the kids to the church.

I sat around for a bit and wanted to get up and move. Nurse cranky pants came in to listen to the baby and I told her I was in transition and needed to get up and move. She said if I did that the cord would prolapse. Whatever. I got up anyway and got in the shower. I stayed there for a bit, until I felt like I needed to push with the contractions.

Told DH to let the nurses know, though I told him I was terribly tempted not to tell them at all.

I got on the bed on all fours and pushed. I felt her move down then back up again. This went on for quite some time with me trying different positions, none of which were working.

I was extremely vocal during pushing, something very uncharacteristic of me. DH called it the amazon warrior battle cry!

Finally, the idea hit me to put the back of the bed straight up and i would lean over the back of the bed and squat when I pushed. It was a bit better, but her head would just NOT come down.

I kept praying and praying to know what to do. I had been pushing for a lot longer than I have ever pushed before.

The dr said he had never delivered a baby backwards before so it would be a learning experience for him. Maybe this is why I needed to be there…to teach the staff something new?

So baby is still not coming down and now I had to pee. I asked for a bedpan. And, still hanging over the back of the bed, squatted over the bedpan to pee. That did the trick to move her down! So I pushed and pushed over a bed pan in a deep squat. I don’t think I could have done this position at home, even on the toilet. I was in a deep sumo wrestler position, roaring as I pushed.

I felt her head get past my pelvic bone finally and still, it took forever to get her out. We were starting to wonder about her size because of how long it was taking. And then she finally emerged forehead first…a position which can result in c-section. Because of the position I was pushing in, there was no way for the dr to tell until it was “too late” of her malpresentation. It was also impossible for the dr to grab her and “help her” by rotating. The dr had no choice but to let me do my birthing business without his help.

She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches.

I feel like no matter what choice I made, i was probably going to end up at the hospital. the Lord had need of me to be there. And, I’m ok with that.

We also opted, because of the bruising on Millie’s head, to get the vit K about 12 hours after she was born. She started healing much more quickly after the injection.

Meanwhile, I met some amazing nurses and gave them some stories to tell. I hope that maybe if another mother coming in is having trouble pushing and wants a natural birth, that the bed up position might be offered. I don’t know if they will ever use the bedpan squat, but it will be there in the back of their minds.

Anyway, I seriously injured myself in the pushing phase. separated my pelvis. Ouch.

A week later, I developed Bell’s Palsy. It took me three weeks to recover.

This definitely wasn’t what I wanted for my last birth experience, but I learned so much more about faith and following and trusting in God, which is ultimately what it’s all about.

Micki
http://addhousewife.blogspot.com/

At about 1 am Monday I was awoken with stronger contractions.  I got up went to the bathroom, walked around and tried going back to bed.  I think I was in denial that this could be the day!   An hour later I was up again, this time with hunger.  I grabbed a bagel and started pacing around while eating it.  I decided that I would not wake Joe up until I absolutely needed him, and at 3am I NEEDED him.

Joe set up the yoga ball and pillows in the bedroom so that I could be on my knees and leaning over the ball.  This was a laboring position we had planned on, so that I could rock back and forth and he could rub my back.  This worked well and got me through an hour and a half of contractions. During this time Joe had called the midwives and they were on their way.

By the time the midwives arrived it was 5:45 am and I had been sitting on the toilet laboring through contractions for quite a while (I found the toilet to be comfortable and I had the sink next to me to lean on).  The midwives wanted to check me to see how far along I was, so I had to move to my bed.  When one of the midwives checked me, she was shocked to see that I was 9 cm!  The other midwife found it hard to believe since I was so calm and quiet and had not said two words since they arrived, so she checked me as well.  She was also shocked when she found I was 9cm.

As soon as they were finished checking me I headed back to the toilet.   My husband pulled up a chair next to me and was rubbing my arm and soothing me through contractions.  I did not speak the entire time, except that I would say “water” once in a while and someone would give me a sip.  I was just focused on breathing.

By 8am, after about 2 more hours of being on the toilet, the midwives asked me to move to my bedroom.  They had set up pillows covered with shower curtains on the floor in front of my bed.  I kneeled on the pillows and leaned over the bed.  This position was great and I immediately started bearing down.  After a while, they told me to reach down and touch the baby.  His head was right there, and that really motivated me.  The midwives were great, they were calmly telling me “the head is there, use it to stretch you open and relax”.  So instead of me pushing his head sat there for a few minutes while I waited for the next contraction.

Baby Joseph came into this world at 9:19 and I couldn’t even believe I had been at it for over 8 hours.  It really felt more like 3, the time flew by!  Afterwards I was immediately on my bed with my baby on my chest.  I delivered the placenta and my husband cut the cord.  We were so in love and so pumped with adrenaline.  I got up and went into the shower for a quick rinse.  By the time I was out, my bedroom was all cleaned up and I got into my bed with clean sheets. The midwives helped the baby latch on.  They made sure I had something to eat and before you knew it they were gone.

My entire birth experience was better than I could have ever imagined.  It was a dream and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Kathleen

Finally, when I was almost 38 weeks my midwife referred me to an OB for a version. I had an ultrasound done first where it was discovered that my amniotic fluid levels were quite low. Too low to attempt a version, and low enough to cause concern that something else could be wrong. The OB said that most of his colleagues would recommend I get a c-section that night since my baby was full term and breech.

He realized that was obviously something we wanted to avoid, so he recommended a non-stress test to see how the baby was doing first. Fortunately, my midwife could do this at her office, so we didn’t have to stay in the hospital. Baby was doing great so the orders were to “hydrate like hell” and hope to get my fluids up enough to attempt the version in a couple days. I drank liters and liters of water but when I went back for another ultrasound my fluid levels were barely higher. A version was no longer an option. Time to prepare for plan B.

We did another non-stress test (baby still doing great) and talked things over with our midwife. Here in Utah it is illegal for liscensed midwives to attend breech births at home. This meant our wonderful midwife, Rebecca, could not attend our birth alone. So she contacted a very experienced and well respected lay midwife in our area and asked her if she’d be willing to come to our birth. Chris agreed to come.

We decided it was probably best for Miriam to come pretty soon since my fluid levels were so low. We decided to give her a few more days but made plans to encourage things along the following Wednesday. We continued to do non stress tests every other day, which Miriam always passed with flying colors.

Wednesday (June 23, 2010) came and that morning Rebecca stripped my membranes and gave me cohosh in the hopes of getting labor started. I’m not usually a fan of even these types of intervention but with my low fluid levels and a breech baby we thought it was best to encourage things along. We did another nonstress test that morning too and she was happy as always.When Rebecca stripped my membranes I was 4 cm dilated and 50% effaced with a bulging bag of waters quite low. Not a bad start.

We left Rebecca’s office just before 10 and headed to Costco to get a few last minute things. I started having a few mild cramps. By the time we left Costco they had picked up a bit. We stopped at one more store to get diapers and pads and then headed home. It was just after 11 am when we got home. I was having mild and crampy waves pretty close together but still didn’t know if they would go anywhere. I had several things I wanted to get done around the house and thought I would have plenty of time. I got on the computer to do a quick post on my blog. By the time I was done with that I was having to really concentrate on the waves to relax. They were getting more intense and were VERY close together. Rebecca called around noon and said that was the cohosh at work.

I laid on my bed and listened to Hypnobabies Easy First Stage. The waves were so close together I hardly got a chance to regroup between them. Time gets a little fuzzy from here on out, but I spent a few waves on the toilet and then on the floor of the bathroom on my hands and knees. Then I went back to my bed. Rebecca called again and said she would come right over as soon as her last appointment left. I was back in the bathroom when she got to our house about 1:45. She checked me and I was 7 cm and 80% effaced. And bless her she said I could get in the birth pool!

I was so happy to be in the water. It really helped me relax more. The waves had spaced out a tiny bit so I was getting a bit more of a break between them, but they were also getting super intense. I knelt and leaned against the side of the pool and started vocalizing through them. In the mean time, Jared was working out arrangements for our son Asher who had just woken up from his nap, and we were still waiting on Chris, the other midwife to get there.

Right around when she arrived I started feeling pushy and felt a pop–my water broke. This is also about the time Jared left to take Asher around the corner to a friend’s house. I started pushing involuntarily and pretty soon her bottom was out and then her legs. And Jared wasn’t back yet! Rebecca ran out the door to see if she could catch him but didn’t see him. He got back when Miriam was half way out.

Chris told me to reach down and touch her so I was rubbing her back before her head was out. She got still for a moment while she got her arms out and then I pushed again and her head came right out super easy.  I just lifted her between my legs and turned around. No one else even touched her. I think the whole pushing phase was less than 5 minutes. (Unfortunately, it was so fast that we didn’t get a chance to get out the video camera. I really wanted to get the birth on video since a breech homebirth is so unusual. That is my only regret for the day.)

She was born at 2:41 pm. So I had roughly 3- 3 1/2 hours of active labor. I think because of the cohosh and membrane stripping, everything was more intense. My waves were always super close together. It was definitely a fast ride. But I remained very calm and peaceful during the whole thing. Thank you, Hypnobabies! I really trusted my body and my baby and it could not have gone more smoothly.

When I lifted Miriam out of the water her eyes were wide open and she was quiet. My first thought was that her eyes were huge and she looked so different than Asher did right after he was born. (He was all swollen and bruised.) I rubbed her back and we put a towel on her and she started pinking up and making some noise. We hung out in the water until the cord stopped pulsing and then Rebecca clamped it and Jared cut it. Jared took Miriam and held her skin to skin while I got out of the water and went over to the couch. I wasn’t even bleeding that much thank goodness.

A few minutes later I pushed out the placenta. We just hung out on the couch and Miriam eventually started nursing while Rebecca and Chris cleaned up and then checked me out. I didn’t tear! I just have a little “skid mark” that will heal up fine. I’m not even sore. I only used one ice pack that day and have felt fine since. Much different than how I felt after Asher when it seemed like my bottom wasn’t even attached to by body anymore! Three hours of pushing can do that I guess!

My grandma thoughtfully had some pizza sent to our house so thats what we ate for a late lunch. Then I had to go pee so Rebecca helped me up and I got all cleaned and padded up. I seriously felt SO good. I didn’t feel like I had just had a baby. I put on some clothes and then we weighed and measured Miriam. 6 pounds 10 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long, 13 inch head. Absolutely perfect.

This birth was pretty much exactly as I had been visualizing it my entire pregnancy. The only difference is that it was faster and she was breech. I really wanted to go into labor in the morning after a good night’s sleep and then have her in the afternoon sometime. I imagined being in the water, kneeling and catching her myself. That is exactly what I did. Although labor was very fast and intense, I was always calm and never afraid. I always felt really peaceful about everything. Pushing was SO easy and painless and she came right out fast and perfectly.

I feel like the stars really aligned to give us the perfect peaceful home birth we had prepared for. I will be forever grateful to Rebecca for her confidence in us and the birth process. And also to Chris for agreeing to come so that we could have the birth at home. She was so calming and assuring as I pushed out Miriam. I’m still amazed at how easy and beautiful this birth was when probably 99.9% of people in our situation would have had a c-section. I feel so blessed that I had this experience.

And let me also add that being at home right after is SO great! I’ve loved it. I hope I never have to birth in a hospital again!

Katrina
I am a mama of two, step-mom of three, and photographer living in Utah with my professor husband.
www.redbeanphotography.com
www.atmothersbreast.com
http://redheadmusings.blogspot.com

It was about a 24 hour labor that started with really mild contractions at around 8pm on Monday night. I thought for sure it was Braxton Hicks at first, and after the first 4 or so, we started timing them and they were 20 minutes apart. As the evening progressed, they gradually increased in frequency and intensity. I used contractionmaster.com to keep track of when they were coming (great site!). By midnight I was timing them at 12 minutes apart as we busily sorted her clothes and blankets to get them washed “just in case” this was for real. That was a task I had originally planned on doing when I started my leave from work, which was still a week away!

That night we barely slept at all as we were up about every 10 minutes with a contraction while my husband applied counter pressure on my back which really helped with the increasing pain. At that point they felt like the bad menstrual cramps I used to get occasionally. By 6am I felt sure we’d be having a baby that day so I emailed work to let them know of my change in plans and texted my parents who are on vacation in Idaho with my younger siblings to let them know I felt sure this was the real deal. My Dad quickly booked a flight for my Mom to fly out of Spokane that morning so she wouldn’t miss the birth!

I called my midwife at 6:30am to give her a heads up on what was going on and get her thoughts on my current situation. She said to eat a big breakfast, take a warm bath and get some sleep since we hadn’t slept for more than 10 minutes at a time the whole night. A warm bath helped separate the contractions back to about 12 minutes apart. I called my midwife again at noon and had her listen to my reaction to one of my contractions. She said to call again when I was at 4-1-1. So I called again at 3pm and she said to meet her at the birth center at 4:30pm.

By then the contractions were really strong and I was very vocal through them. My husband was also going on almost 20 hours of counter pressure duty and was really feeling it in his arms and shoulders. He was great during all this and really understanding as my demeanor became less hospitable with each passing hour.

The short car ride to the birth center was super uncomfortable because I had to sit through 2 contractions in an uncomfortable seated position with no counter pressure on my back. When we got there, I got checked out and learned I was fully effaced and dilated to a high 6, almost 7! It was such a relief to hear that I was well on my way to having this baby!

My Mom and older sister arrived as I got in the tub and labored there for the remaining 3 hours. After each contraction I practically fell asleep, and was in a very different state of mind. I could hear the conversations around me but physically I was completely disconnected and completely relaxed. I don’t think I opened my eyes more than two or three times during the whole time I was in the water.

Finally my water broke after 2.5 hours. It was such a relief for a brief moment, but right after that very brief moment, I got the craziest urge to push but my midwife told me to hold off until she checked where I was at. I had just a small piece of cervix left which she held back while I pushed through a pushing contraction. It was INTENSE and a very different feeling than the contractions I had been feeling during transition. As I pushed, I could actually feel her moving down closer to the exit.

The whole pushing phase lasted half an hour. I pushed hard (probably too hard) 8 times during a total of 4 pushing contractions. I felt the dreaded ring of fire, then her head was out, followed by one more push that released her shoulders and I felt the rest of her body wiggle out to the sounds of joy and excitement in the room. She was on my chest moments later looking up at us with big beautiful eyes. It was such a surreal, beautiful moment.

After some rubbing on her back she let out a nice cry and lay there on me for a few minutes. My husband got to cut the cord after it stopped pulsing (10 minutes) and I passed her off to him as the midwife noted some bleeding and we focused on delivering the placenta. It came out after another 5 minutes but there was still a constant stream of blood that turned out to be from the many small tears I had made by pushing really hard. I got stitched up then got some much-needed assistance with breastfeeding from my midwife.

Baby H latched on after a few minutes and held on for over 15 minutes. She was then weighed (5lbs 10oz) and measured (18in) and we got to dress her up in her first outfit (a team effort), which turned out to be really big on her cause she’s a tiny one.

We spent a total of 7 hours at the birth center – 3 before she was born and 4 after. We had lots of questions for my midwife as she went though the recommendations for the first 3 days (checking temps, recording feeds, diapers, etc.). We were home with her by 11:30pm absolutely elated to have her here with us and grateful to God for such a wonderful experience!

- Joanne, first time Mom