Our Family: My Home Birth Story

It was about a couple months before my due date that I had a strong feeling that I wanted to do a home birth this time around. At one of my regular prenatal appointments when I was around 36 weeks pregnant I told Heather my midwife that I had changed my mind and that I would like to do a home birth after all. I talked to Nathan about it and although he was slightly reluctant he was supportive to give it a try as long as I was comfortable with it. At one time I was really against this idea as I was once a labor and delivery nurse and had a rare experience that frightened me about the idea.

Once I made this decision to have my baby at home I became super excited and I never looked back...It just felt right, it felt natural. Some reasons for this decision included the fact that for my first two labor and deliveries I was very...very... fast...and the ride to the hospital was always very painful and a little crazy. I went drug free for the first two births so I knew I could do it...I was also anxious about who I could leave Todd and Ethan with on a whim as my sister and mom were planning to attend the birth like they did for Ethan and Todd...I also thought it would be special to have the boys close by so they could be apart of the experience to some degree...The thought of being in my own room, surrounded by my family after having the baby was very exciting...I was never a big fan of being alone in the hospital (even if it was for a short time) after having the baby. And I think my trust and comfort with the midwifes has developed into a very strong trusting relationship where I am confident in their expertise and abilities... I was blessed to have two wonderful previous deliveries under midwifry care.

The last month before delivery I was nesting quite a bit trying to get the house ready and prepare for my home delivery. With the help of my mom and sister I switch rooms around upstairs...I moved the nursery to the bigger room and painted it a calming ocean blue color...I got bunk beds for the boys and painted their room a darker blue color. The midwives had a list of stuff needed for the home birth that I packed up in a box and had it ready to go. I got new comfy sheets to dress the bed in for after the delivery and I unpacked and washed all the newborn clothing.

These pictures were taken the day before I had baby Colton

The boys loved to kiss and hug the baby in my tummy! "Brother love"

I had a midwife home visit about 6 days before my due date and at this visit I decided to have a stretch and sweep done to my cervix. I was told I was 4 cm after this. I did this in my previous two labors and it seemed to put me into labor within a day or two...I got it done a little earlier this time and didn't go into labor until 5 days later on March 14th. It started with me losing my mucous plug, followed with stronger braxton hicks contractions...Which continued to increase in intensity...I could tell soon after that I was in the early stages of labor. This experience was way different this time as I never really had an obvious early labor. On March 14th in the evening my contractions started to get a little stronger and more regular. I put the boys to bed, Nate got home from work around 1130ish pm and we went to bed...Although I would have been happy to get the show on the road I was not certain that it was going to happen that night. I told Nate we should go to bed and get some rest because "it"
would probably happen soon.

Last shot being pregnant...Taken by Nate when he got home from work

However after laying down I was having a tough time sleeping...I felt warm and woosy...My hormones were doing a number on me and I just felt weird...I could not recall this feeling in my past labors so I was a little confused as to what was going on. I was pretty sure this baby was on his way. Ethan seemed to be able to sense something because he kept waking up and asking for me to lay with him...As I was laying with him one of the times I started to count contractions and they were coming every 10-15 mins and were getting stronger to the point that it was getting uncomfortable to stay laying down...I wanted to get up and walk around. I ended up calling Shayna at 4 am to come over and lay with Ethan...It's so nice she lives only 4 houses down. Around 4:30am I woke up Nate for some company because I could not sleep and was now sure we would be having this baby soon. Nate and I hung out and counted contractions, I had a bath and then a shower. I called my mom to let her know it would be happening soon around 5 am...She arrived about an hour later. My contractions were coming every 3-6 mins when my mom got there and were strong but I could still talk and walk. I just kept saying to Nate that "It is so different this time around" ...I was not use to the waiting game...The past two labors I usually progressed from the "am I in labor stage" to full on "kill me now" stage in minutes. At about 7 am we called the midwives to let them know what I was doing and also called the Campbells to see if they could come over to help with the boys while I had the baby upstairs as Todd had woke up just after 7 am.

I took a couple snap shots of our room just after we got the bed prepared for the home birth

When Alison and Avery got here the boys woke up and we were all hanging out in my living room. I was walking up and down the stairs in between contractions trying to make them stronger. Todd wanted me to carry him around so I did that too. The contractions were painful but I was use to much worse so I was curious as to what my cervix was doing. The midwives got there at 8 am and Nate and I went upstairs with them. They checked me and said I was 6cm and that my cervix was thinned out. Right after they checked me it kicked me into full fledged labor...Literally...Nate and I were in our ensuite bathroom in our bedroom with Nora Jones playing in the background...Nate was really sweet helping through my contractions...A good coach and rubbed my lower back just perfectly. At times the pain was crazy but I was really happy to finally feel the real pain...I knew it would be over soon and I would be holding my little fella. The contractions were coming every 1-2 mins and shortly later I felt like I needed to push...Heather my midwife was very calming and told me to just go with it...She said at some point my body will push involuntary and that was ok...Just let her know. Once they were set up in the bedroom I got on the bed to have the baby...By this time Shayna and Mom were in the room. I pushed twice "really", "really" hard and my beautiful baby boy came into this world and was placed on me. I remember on the second push my contraction ended just as I was crowning...This is a good thing as it stretched me slowly as I had to wait for the next contraction to fully get the baby out however it was such an intense scary feeling...It gave the saying ring of fire a new crazy meaning to me.

After the baby came out at 9:34am I felt instant relief and happiness...Alison and Avery brought Ethan and Toddy in to see baby Colton...They were so cute and excited to meet their new brother. Ethan layed on the bed next to me and touched Coltons hands and kissed his cheeks...He was such a proud big brother and was taking it all in. It was a very special moment for us all. Nate called his dad to let him know Colton was here and they came over for a little visit.

I got to have all the skin to skin time I wanted and I nursed my baby right away. It was so nice...I had no tearing so no stitches. I was able to get up and have a bath with Colton which was so amazing...Colton was so comfortable in the bath...It felt good to get cleaned up so quickly and back into my bed which was all cleaned up by my midwives. Nate brought me a big glass of OJ with a toasted bagel and some yogurt which I ate while cuddling and feeding my new little man. In the afternoon my mom took Colton downstairs, Shayna took the boys out for a bit, Nate went to the gym and I took a nap...Dad came over while I was sleeping to meet his new grandson.

We had an amazing home birth experience...It was so beautiful...The sun was shining in my window that morning as my baby was born...A true miracle and I couldn't be more blessed.

The water is yellow because the midwifes brewed up a special bath herbal soak that is good for healing and soothing
Colton just loved his bath...To this day he instantly is calm with the sound of water or being in water