A little later than planned on posting this, but life happened and I just finished editing this. So in honor of my son’s first birthday, which was June 25, here is his birth story (and some photos)!
It was a Saturday morning whenever my husband and I decided to wake up early and go for a walk around the neighborhood. During that walk I felt baby dropping in my pelvis more than I had in the past couple weeks whenever I was having on and off contractions. I kind of thought something was getting started, more than just warm up contractions. We walked for about 30 minutes and when we got home my husband got called into work for a few hours.
I was starting feeling some mild contractions, so I started rocking and bouncing around my birth ball, while nursing my toddler. When my husband got back, my contractions were steadily coming about every 10 minutes, still really mild and very easily manageable. That went on from about 9:00 in the morning until about 10:00 that evening.
I checked in with my mom, my doulas and my midwives that evening and let them know what was going on. I planned on taking a bath, eating a good meal and going to bed to get some rest, in case was this was the real deal. (I felt like it was going to be, but it was still surreal since I had never felt labor progress naturally! So it was pretty exciting!)
I nursed my daughter to sleep, and my husband went to sleep around 9:30. As soon as I laid down, I dozed off for a just few minutes and my contractions started to pick up. Every 5 minutes now. That when on until about 10:15 or 10:30 and I woke my husband up and told him things are getting closer together and a little more intense and I couldn’t fall back asleep. We left our daughter asleep in our bed and went into the living room. Within about an hour there were pretty good waves coming every 5 minutes and only getting more intense each time. Still really manageable because I focused on my breath each time and made it through each one.
After an hour, I went ahead and let my mom and sister know so they could start our way, since they live about 45 minutes away from us. My doulas came over also. They all got here right after each other, maybe around 12:30 or so. Then I actually let my midwives know was going on, and they showed up about 1:30 in the morning. She offered to examine me and I was curious and wanted to get a gauge of where I was, so she did. I was already at 5 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I was so excited to hear this news because I was still feeling great and managing all the waves coming through me. (Big thanks to my doulas with their amazing double hip squeeze and encouraging words, and my husband and sister for their attentiveness.)
My midwives blew up the birth pool around 2:30, and that process actually woke my daughter up. But that was another reason why my mom and sister were there, to help watch her along with my husband. When the birth pool was filled up with warm water, I went ahead and climbed in. The warm water felt so wonderful. I focused on my breath, leaned over the side of the pool and swayed through all the waves. My midwife noticed I was pushing toward the end of a few contractions, so she asked to take a peek. She couldn’t totally get a good angle, so she handed me a mirror and I was able to see baby’s head crowning! (The most amazing thing ever! I was the first one to ever see my baby!) My husband asked if this was the transition phase of birth (knowing that’s usually the toughest) and my midwife let him know we were way beyond that and I felt ready to push. (I think this shocked my husband, because he was expecting a long labor like our previous hospital birth ended up being.)
After a few pushes, my midwife checked baby’s positioning, and the left hand was right up next to the cheek. (This left a little lip on my cervix where it wasn’t getting pressure to thin it out. So baby’s positioning required me to get out of my squatting position, which I was feeling comfortable in and had envisioned giving birth in that position, but I needed to lean on my back so baby could drop under my pubic bone.) My husband stood behind me with his arms under mine and we put a small blanket over his shoulders and I held on to that for even more support during pushing. My midwife suggested for me to not push through the next few contractions, which was the hardest thing ever, because it was so good to push with that pain and breathe through it. Not doing that was pretty intense. At this point I think I was just saying nonsense. I believe I needed to release those thoughts and words though, not even believing what I was saying as it was coming out. I knew I could do it. I distinctly remember saying the infamous words of laboring women, I can’t do this. My team reminded me that I was getting the unmedicated natural homebirth that I wanted. I responded with, Well it’s terrible!
Baby’s heart rate dropped a little bit while I was not pushing through a contraction, so they gave me some oxygen and had me just really really focus on deep healing breaths, for myself and for baby. (Breathe for your baby. Those words came through very clearly to me.) My midwife actually helped baby’s head get under my pubic bone during the next contraction. Once that happened, I knew I was able to push again. I remember asking if I was even making any progress after pushing a few more times, and my midwife reassured me I was. She thought in the next one to two, maybe three or four, contractions and baby would be here. I remember thinking, Oh no, baby is coming out next contraction if we’re this close! So next contraction I started to push and, boom, I felt that head pop through. I took another big deep healing focusing breath and pushed baby’s shoulders out. Then I blinked and my baby was in front of my face. My midwife put baby on my chest, and he wasn’t totally breathing yet. This didn’t make me nervous, because I know sometimes it takes a little bit for babies to start breathing. But my midwife actually still had her hand on baby’s chest, so she raised him up and stimulated his back to try to get him to start breathing. She gave him a couple rescue breaths, which looked like sweet little kisses, then he started crying! Someone asked, Well, what is it, a boy or girl? The way baby was facing I couldn’t see yet. My mom said, I can see do you want me to tell you. But as she was saying that my midwife turned baby around and I said, WE HAVE A BOY! We have a son. This is Jed. This is Jedediah Wade. My husband grabbed my face and with big tears in his eyes said, Oh my God, we have a son. We were surprised and excited!
During my labor I felt like each person that entered my home brought another level of peace and comfort into the room. Everyone was just there holding space for me and my baby and trusting the process. It was love. It was a room full of love. My living room transformed into this magical sacred space, with dim lighting, soft music and candles lit. Each time I came back into the present a little bit and open my eyes, I would scan the room and would see a new face and connect with them. This made me feel even more confident and comfortable…and realize that this was actually happening! It was so surreal the entire time. I felt totally in my element though, and I knew I was in the best of hands. This was the most amazing experience of my life. Everything flowed so smoothly and just worked out so perfectly.
I was able to birth my placenta in the pool while holding my son. Then when I was ready, I stood up, walked into the next room and crawled into my own bed. (Such a blessing!) I spent the next little bit in bed nursing my son and then my daughter. We got to have our a partial Lotus birth, so my son was connected to his placenta for an hour. Then my husband cut the umbilical cord, weighed him, and my midwife did her examination of my newborn and my placenta. (She told me everything she was doing and looking for, which was super awesome to me!) As we were finishing up, my other midwives were breaking down the birth pool, cleaning up supplies, and drawing an herbal bath for Jed and me. And my doulas were cooking me some eggs. So I was able to take an herbal bath with my tiny new baby and enjoy being fed breakfast in bed after.
My daughter became a big sister and got to meet her baby brother. They nursed beside each other, and then she held him. We became a family of four in the most magical peaceful way, in the comfort of our own home surrounded by love, support, encouragment and the highest of vibrations. It was just perfect.
Camp Finley 
Great sharing! Sweet lovely story.
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