My home birth of my first child Hayden.

 

 I was 11 days past my "due date" and I woke up just before my husband at about 3:30AM and could not go back to sleep. I wasn't in any pain but I knew something different was happening with my body. I shared this with my husband who was getting ready to go to work and he said he was going to continue getting ready until I was sure (he didn't want to use one of his limited days off until the real thing). So I let him keep getting ready and I just busied my self brushing my teeth and hair, in the back of my mind I knew I would be having company very soon. I still didn't feel confident enough with the slight discomfort I was having to say I was in labor so my husband was telling me good bye and to call him when I was sure, since he is the first one at work he figured he could at least get things started, rather than just not show up. At the last minute he was hovering and I told him if he was going, he better do it so he could get back, as I was getting more sure by the second. He heard the change in the tone of my voice and said he wasn't going anywhere. It was around 4:45 then. By 5:00, things had changed so much and my contractions were coming so fast and strong we called my midwife Jackie.

  There was no timing my contractions as from the time they were painful and I knew I was in labor they were right on top of each other and I barely had a chance to breathe in between. I wasn't very dilated however when Jackie got there at 6:00. I wanted the tub filled as soon as she got there. It really did make a difference for me. I had back labor though and it was still very extreme. I wanted someone pressing on my back during every contraction. I moaned in a controlled way through them and that helped. I relaxed through them as well as the Bradley method teaches and that was a help too I think. Things went on like that for hours except for when Jackie was ready to give me my IV antibiotics for strep B. I had to get out of the water and thought I would die. I didn't realize just how much the water was helping with the pain and being able to get in whatever position was best for each contraction. Lying on the bed was torture and I really had compassion for women laboring in a hospital bed. My veins are so small and I am sure I was a bit swollen, and Jackie just couldn't get the IV in. So Jackie, Tim, and I said a prayer for the baby that God would protect him from the Strep-B and I got back in the water.

  Around 10:00 Jackie gave me a little move to do that might help with the back labor and after about half an hour of that, I insisted something was different and that she check my progress. Before she could do that we all heard a pop sound which was my bag of water. I was then 10 cm dilated and she said I could push whenever I felt the urge. I didn't think I ever would. I was a little scared at this point but then the urge to push overwhelmed me. Pushing was very successful. It was a bit of a surprise for me when the head was emerging that it burned. I just didn't think about that nor had anyone mentioned that it would. I thought for sure I would tear. The only real instruction that Jackie felt the need to give was once the head was out she said I should really push on the next contraction to get the rest of the body out. That is exactly what I did and my husband caught our son and handed him directly to me. Whew!  I was so glad to be done with that chore. Hayden was born at 11:22 AM. It was really quite fast and he was perfect and so alert. Once the cord stopped pulsing I cut it. Then I handed Hayden off to his Daddy while I birthed the placenta. Our baby wasn't in anyone elses hands until after that. I didn't tear at all! It was a wonderful experience and I wouldn't change a thing!