Wisconsin home birth: Willis

My midwife recommended that I write out my birth story and my thoughts on my birth. I already have run over it so many times in my head that I am more than happy to oblige.

Monday morning around 3:30am I had started feeling what felt like a menstrual cramp in my  lower back turn into a charlie horse in my stomach and run all the way to the top of my belly. It kept coming every 20 min or so. I started whimpering because it was quite intense. Tom sleepily put his hand on my shoulder trying to comfort me as I started to cry that I wouldn’t be able to do this if this was early labor and it only got more painful from here on out. (As it turns out, these were my hardest contractions to manage. It was only at the very end did I think the contractions were comparable, but it might have been because I didn’t have time to breathe through these early ones and woke up in the peak of the contraction). I decided I was starving so I got up and showered and made myself a protein shake. Then I went back to bed. I had another contraction that Tom tried to comfort me through that ended up with me in the bathroom puking. I text my boss that I wasn’t sure if I would be at work today but not to count on it, then text my midwife that my contractions were 9 min apart and lasting a minute, and then went back to bed.

Wisconsin home birth: Ruby

August 2, 2011 by Gillian Haas · 6 Comments

Monday July 25th 1:30pm: I was cutting up some chicken to make my friend Steph’s famous chicken enchiladas for dinner that night. When I stood up to put the chicken on the stove, I immediately felt a gush of liquids leave my body. At first, I thought I might have peed my pants, but then after going upstairs to change, I noticed that it didn’t have any smell & it was completely clear, which is what amniotic fluid is like.

I first called John to let him know that I thought my water broke & then I called our midwife LeAnn to let her know. She asked me a few questions & then told me to call her back around 3:30 to let her know if more liquid leaked out or if anything changed. I called John back & by that time, he had researched all kinds of websites for me to look at to see if it really was amniotic fluid. I laid down for a bit to rest & then I drove to John’s work to pick him up & called LeAnn as well. She said that she wanted to see me in her office as soon as we could get there, to test if it was amniotic fluid, so we left right away. We got to Winona around 4:30 & had a short chat with LeAnn & then did two different tests, which both confirmed that it was in fact amniotic fluid. My water had broken! We didn’t know any kind of timeline as to when things would start happening, but at that point, I hadn’t had any contractions & was still feeling like my usual self. LeAnn suggested we take the night easy, eat dinner, do our normal routine & try to get lots of rest.

Wisconsin home birth, Silvan's Birth

Silvan’s Birth Story…

For several years before my husband and I even decided on children, I knew that in the event we decided to go ahead with reproducing, I wanted a homebirth. I watched the documentary The Business of Being Born on Netflix, and boy, did it open my eyes. I have personally never been a fan of hospitals to begin with, but after watching that, I just knew that homebirth was going to be the way for me. As long as there were no complications, of course. Luckily for me, my husband, Jake, was fully supportive of this idea.

Fast forward a few years, through the many discussions to finally deciding to try for a baby and taking the leap. A few months after that, we were blessed with a positive pregnancy test.

That’s when the hunt for a midwife began, who was near us, with whom we felt comfortable sharing this life changing experience. I did a few thorough Google searches and my first result was LeAnn in Winona. Only a ½ hour away from our home! There were some others that we interviewed, but LeAnn was the first, and she was most definitely our first choice. She made us feel comfortable in both her knowledge and understanding of where we were coming from, and what we were looking for. It was like talking to an old friend, or family member. She just put us at ease.

I had a remarkably easy pregnancy. I didn’t have any of the typical pregnancy ailments: heartburn, swelling, excessive pregnancy sickness. I definitely counted myself fortunate. Since this was going to be my first child, the closer we got to my “due date” the more we discussed the likelihood that my son would go well past the “due date.” So I was not expecting his sudden arrival 3 days early…

September 18th, 2015 was going to be my last day of work before leave, so I got up as usual and took my 2 ½ mile walk. I wasn’t 5 blocks into my walk when I started having pains. I didn’t think they were contractions because they were centered down in my lower pelvic area, not my entire abdomen, which is what I would have expected. So I powered through them, walking them off as I went about my route. The closer I got to home however, the stronger they became. Still though, I didn’t think much of them. Neither did Jake, when I got home and told him was what happening. But just to be sure, because they were definitely different than what I had been experiencing before and coming at somewhat regular intervals, I called LeAnn before hopping into the shower. She agreed that it didn’t exactly sound like labor and that we would just have to see where things went from there. We said good-bye and I went about getting ready.

The pains continued, getting so much stronger that several times I had to stop and concentrate on breathing through. When I got out of the shower, I vomited. A typical transitional sign. I headed to our bedroom to get dressed but was overcome with another strong pain so I had lay down on the floor and that’s when I noticed for sure that my entire abdomen was tightening with each pain. Again, I vomited.

After a little bit of me trying to get through these “pains,” Jake came upstairs to check on me. I didn’t realize it, but I had been up there for a bit. He asked if I was ok and I remember saying, “I’m trying to be.” I asked for my phone and texted LeAnn to let her know that now I could tell there was tightening and that I had vomited. With that, Jake helped me back to the bathroom so I could use the toilet. I checked and sure enough, there was pink. I looked at Jake and told him that I definitely thought I was in labor now. I texted LeAnn again.

Jake asked if he had time to go grab a coffee, since he had just woken up. I told him that I thought so and he ran off to grab a cup. He wasn’t gone long. Later he told me that he jogged down the block and back to be sure that he was going to be there for me. When he came back upstairs, he calmly suggested that we get down to the bed so if things progressed we would be where we needed to be. I agreed and we started our decent. About ¾ of the way down, my water broke and I was hit with the strongest of (what I now knew were contractions) the pains that I had experienced thus far. I howled and Jake spoke soft, comforting words to me. It was all he could do at the time since we were on our narrow stairway. Once again, I texted LeAnn to now let her know that my water broke. She called back immediately and let us know that she was on the way.

Wisconsin home birth: January

January Enters The World

September 30, 2014 by Gillian Haas · 10 Comments

I had a feeling that this baby might be an early one since Ruby was born at 38 weeks, so I did all that I could to prepare for an early birth. I did all the usual nesting-type activities…made bazillions of freezer meals, washed & organized baby clothes & diapers, cleaned everything in (& out) of sight,. I prepared so much that I literally had nothing left to do after 36 weeks. It was my intention that I would have a few weeks to do nothing but relax & enjoy time with our family of three before we became four, but I wasn’t prepared for the waiting to drive me crazy!

Rochester, MN Home birth Story: Micah

Micah, our third child to bring into this world.  We started off with the typical hospital plan, but when things with that plan did not go as we would have liked we looked for another option. Home Birth. I had some experience with home birth. My oldest sister was currently finishing training as a midwife and birthed both her sons at home. My other sister had her third child at home as well. When I called my dad to tell him that I wasn't sure the original hospital plan would be working out, he immediately said we would be having our baby at home then. I am very lucky to have such support. My husband wasn't sure about the plan at first either, but once we explored all our options, it seemed to be the best one.

Southeast Minnesota Home birth story

Unusual looks and concerned comments was what I got when telling my friends and family that Matt, my husband, and I had decided to have our new coming baby in our home. "You are crazy!" I do think was the most popular response, but our minds were already set. 

I didn't blindly jump into this decision, and I have to say my husband needed some convincing. So after books, blogs, and birth stories like this one he trusted me enough to jump on board. I know now better than ever that even though I wish more people would consider having their baby in their home it is NOT for everyone. 

My journey started with finding a Midwife. Not the easiest task for someone who lives in southern Minnesota. Trust me, the pickin's are slim. Luckily I found the most amazing woman to accompany me on my "journey" as my Midwife. She lived an hour and a half away, which was not the most convenient for travel over the Minnesota winter months, but she took me on without a doubt. We developed a relationship over the course of my pregnancy incomparable to any other. Our visits consisted of discussing not just "pregnancy symptoms" and blood pressure checks, but true compassionate conversations about what was going on in my life. About myself, my family, feelings, physical, emotional, the gauntlet... She truly cared, and it wasn't uncommon that our visits would last and hour and a half. And I never had to wait for her, she was always ready for me when I arrived with her door open and a hug. We truly became friends. 

Rochester, MN Home birth story: Desmond

My Water started to 'break' or leak Wednesday evening while I was home baking 4 dozen bran muffins, a double recipe of homemade chicken wild rice soup, and homemade yogurt. For those who don’t cook/bake, that’s a lot for one night. I didn’t realize this could possibly be the start of labor until my husband came home for dinner break with a weird look on his face at our counter full of muffins and everything else going on in the kitchen-all I said was, “Yeah, I’m making 4 dozen bran muffins, yum!” 

Upon realizing that the urge to cook was major nesting, I called my midwife; I wasn’t sure what the leakage was and we decided to keep an eye on it. My stomach was also cramping, it felt like menstrual cramps, and those painless Braxton Hicks started to tighten and actually hurt-another trigger that the homestretch was near. 

Mentally,I had prepared to go over a week or so since this was our first baby and a few days before our ‘guess date’ so I was a bit apprehensive in thinking we were going into labor soon. Earlier that week I even changed our due date from April 1 to April 10 for my peace of mind-to relax, as things could take a while.