Mid-pregnancy, I acted on a nagging thought in the back of my head by calling someone for whom I now have the utmost respect and in whom the greatest, heartfelt confidence: Edie Wells, a home-birth midwife. You read that right, home birth. My first draw to her was Blessed Beginnings, the name of her business. Two other draws were that she is a practicing Christian, and homeschooled her three children. It's amazing how those two things can drastically affect the entire experience.
My previous three children were born at a hospital- rather baby-friendly as they come, but policy ridden, and obviously, not my home. (again, to be discussed at a later time).
My initial anxieties embedded by our current culture slowly melted away with each visit to her office. The statistics all point to the greater safety for mother and child when birthing occurs at home assisted by a midwife. (I will insert a link to the British Journal of Medicine study when I get a chance). Popes have extolled the virtues of midwives, and there's even a midwife who's a blessed, I believe, or on the way to sainthood (she assisted births at a concentration camp during WWII- and made sure each baby was baptized). I'll find her name sometime, and link her story here, or write it up in a future post.
Some initial anxieties embedded by our current culture? I'll discuss those in another post, too. I want to discuss this amazing birth first.
So, around 4am, I started to feel some weak contractions. They weren't strong enough for any concern, but were fairly regular, so I kept it noted in the back of my head. I did some computer work while I was finishing up the final prep washing of our cloth diaper and wipes stash (a first for us and another post!). Around 5am I made sure my husband was up (he was getting ready to take a shower) I simply said "Oh good, you're up." and smiled. He raised his eyebrows, I nodded. He showered, I went downstairs and called my mom, who lives 2 hours away and would watch the older kids. I also called the midwife. These calls were just "heads up" calls, as I still wasn't sure that the birth was imminent. I just thought that this was the day. I remember thinking it'd be nice if this could be done before lunch.
At about 5:30 I called my mom back and said she should pack her bag and head up. I had showered by then, and in the 30 minutes it took me to get ready, I had had 6 good contractions. I called the midwife and told her. She got ready to head out. Things progressed steadily from there.
Contractions were finally enough of a distraction that I couldn't do anything other than focus on them. By 7am, I had to lay on the bed to slow down contractions and their intensity. Neither my mother nor the midwife had arrived yet. Edie came at 7:15 and got her things together. My mom wasn't here by 7:30 and I called. She was an hour-and-a-half away! Thankfully, my s-i-l lives 10 minutes away and has children roughly the same ages as our three oldest. She came and picked them up for a playdate. Thanks a million, M!
By 8am, I did the most awesome thing! I climbed into the birth tub! You got it. A blow-up birthing tub. We have a sitting room off our master bedroom, and it was just the right size (I have accidentally called it the "birthing room"- I don't think my hubby was much of a fan. I'm not to eager to have it that singular distinction, either.).
The tub felt really good. Edie, though, wasn't too happy with the temperature. She stuck a thermometer in the water, and said it wouldn't be warm enough for the baby. I had a fleeting sadness that I wouldn't get to use the tub. You see, both my husband and I had showered. No big deal. Then, for some reason, it was imperative to me that my 7 y.o. son take a shower. He hadn't bathed in over a week. Here's the problem: he doesn't take 5 min showers, as much as we may try. My husband forgot about P in the shower while trying to get other things together for me, and next thing we knew, he had been in there for almost 30 min and used up all the hot water! By the time we were filling up the tub, the water heater had not finished it's job yet. So, true to the old tales Edie sent my husband downstairs --
to boil some water!!
Two big, hot pans of water later, and I started pushing like crazy. The timing was impeccable! 14 minutes later, our svelte, 10 and-a-half pound B was born. How cool!
B wasn't very interested in breathing on her own, so it made my husband and I a little nervous. But this, and the following events, really cemented my confidence in homebirths attended by midwives. A few things showed us not to be concerned about an apgar score of 2: B's trunk/torso was pink as can be, the placenta was still attached and pumping, and her heart rate was great. All these things meant she was well-oxygenated. Another thing was that she gasped a bit, which told Edie that B was at the milder stage of Apnea. We rubbed B's back a bit, I tried to coax her with my breast, and finally, Edie and her assistant laid B on the edge of the tub (right next to me- not on some cold plastic bassinet across the room) to hand-pump with a mask. It took 2 min to breath on her own, and she was assisted with the mask for another minute. Then, she just wanted to sleep. :)
Then, as I was walking (assisted) to the bed, I fainted! The blood loss was more than we expected. Oh well, they helped me up on the bed, and tucked me in well.
All in all, the "bumps" would've happened in the hospital or not. What I'm impressed with is how everything was handled. Little B was right next to me the whole time, and Edie did everything she could with the least intervention possible first.
I am still regularly amazed at this life in my arms, when I nurse her, change her, hold her. I will cherish every single moment.
Oh, yeah, home birth rocks!!
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