Minnesota home birth, Marianna

Marianna's Birth Story

My due date (August 19th) came and sent.  LeAnn was more patient than I. At my last prenatal appointment with her (August 30, 2011), we talked about options for encouraging labor. We decided that if by the following appointment (Sept. 1st) I hadn't had our little baby girl we would talk about some options. Otherwise, baby was happy, I was happy, and LeAnn was happy, so we waited. Keep in mind, I dilate early and slowly. With my first baby, I was 5cm dilated and not in active labor. At this point in the story, I was 4cm dilated with our baby girl, but also not in labor. On August 31st, my mother came and watched our 20 month old son for the day. My husband and I spent the day walking, eating, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. We both knew today was going to be the PERFECT day to have a baby, so she would just have to come. My mom joined us for dinner, and I told her we were having the baby that night. She laughed because I clearly was not in labor. She said she was going to get going home, but I begged her to stay until 8 because I just knew baby had to come (she was the arranged sitter for out son during the the birth and she lived an hour away). 
read more...                                                                                                                                                My husband and I then went for a walk. About a half a block into our walk, I got my first NOT braxton-hicks contraction. That was at 6:00 PM literally about 10 minutes after I begged my mom to stay. We kept walking, and contractions continued every 5-6 minutes apart. By the end of our walk, I was not talking or walking through the contractions. I got home, and said we better call the midwife (it was about 7:30). I sat down. From the time I got home to the time I got off the phone with LeAnn (about 15 minutes), I did not have a single contraction. I couldn't believe I had called LeAnn and told her to come at 9:00, and it was false labor (or so I thought--I had about 4 "false" starts but this was my first time even calling the midwife). My husband encouraged me to get up, and that it was really happening. He pumped up the birthing pool the rest of the way, and cleaned it out good. Contractions started up again. My hubby checked me and said I was now 5cm. However, this was not convincing enough to me that things were actually happening.  LeAnn arrived right at 9:00, but I was still not sure if this was really the real deal. She came in the door, and before I could even talk with her, my contractions intensified. This is when I finally got excited. My mom was downstairs with my son, the midwife was in place, husband was ready, the birth pool was ready, and I was 12 almost 13 days "past due". I WAS READY!
I sat on my birthing ball completely alone in the living room in the pitch dark. My husband worked on the pool, and LeAnn futzed with all her things in the other room.  It was so nice. I definitely prefer laboring alone in a quiet, dark space. Brenda was still not there, and not on her way at this point. LeAnn said she'd call her when it was closer to birthing time. At 10:00, contractions were really cruising at about 2 minutes apart, and I was needing to vocalize through them. I called LeAnn in, and told her to call Brenda. She asked permission to check me first, and I agreed. I was 6cm.  I later got up and started pacing the hallways. I went to the bathroom. LeAnn mentioned she hadn't seen me eat or drink anything. I went and took a bite of a protein bar. Within ten seconds, I was running to the toilet, and threw up. I told her I was getting in the tub. She asked if she could check me first. I agreed, but I knew that I was now in transition. She quick checked, and I was an 8. I got in the tub which felt amazing. I spent the rest of the labor rocking on my hands and knees in the water. My husband and LeAnn joked that with the tidal waves I was making no one would be able to catch the baby. I was totally in the zone, and remarkably comfortable. There was a ton of energy, but I felt I could manage it in the water. There's something about sensing the contractions as waves and making waves at the same time that is very calming.  I got the urge to push around 11:45. I started to push, and it felt calming to do so. My water was still intact at this point. After 10 minutes of pushing, my water broke, baby crowned, and baby was out. Literally it went from barely being able to see anything to the water breaking and she had crowned and then I had birthed just her head. I could hear commotion behind me, ad asked, "Is she out!?!" They all laughed and said yes. I flipped over and there she was in my husband's hands. She was looking so calm and peaceful. I took her to my chest, and LeAnn placed a towel over her. I rubbed her gently with the towel and she started to cry. She was perfect. LeAnn got me a few more towels, and then left the room for us to bond. About 15 minutes later Brenda and my birth photographer came in. Brenda then joined LeAnn in the other room and the birth photographer stuck around and took pictures of our new little addition. I then called them in to hep me out of the tub, and then I birthed the placenta (about an hour after baby). They helped me to my bed ad warmed me up. The did baby's little check-up right next to me on the be. She was 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches long. I couldn't have been happier with my sweet little bundle of joy and the great birth experience we had to usher her into this world!