George's birth story- our unplanned home birth

This is George's birth story, recorded for our family journal and told in a spirit of uplifting others by sharing our experience. It is a very tender and special story, not only because of our experience with how sacred it was, but because of dear friends whose recent experiences with childbirth were so very different. I feel incredibly blessed that both George and I are healthy and whole. Please read it and comment on it with care.

 The week before my due date, I'd had a few episodes of regular pressure waves (what we call contractions in Hypnobabies, our chosen method of natural childbirth). They were intense enough for me to have to lie down and concentrate to get through them and regular enough to time. Each time they were about 90 seconds long and about 10 minutes apart and would last for several hours before fading away. I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. On Thursday of that week (Sept. 1st), I had a root canal scheduled that I had to cancel because I was too uncomfortable and having lots of pressure waves. John went late to work that day so I could rest. I went and saw The Help for the second time that night (I went once with my book group and once with my mom, sister, sister-in-law and aunt, and yes, it is great enough to go twice!) I was so uncomfortable that I had to get up and walk around for the second half of the movie. I even called my doula (birth coach), Heather, to let her know that tonight could be the night. (Heather was the same doula we had with Charlie and since then she has become a Licensed Direct Entry Midwife and owns her own birth center).

Nothing happened that night and the next day, Friday, was the best I had felt in weeks. Charlie and I went to the park with Catherine and Elizabeth and I even ran to catch Charlie without too much effort (although I'm sure it was far from graceful looking!) Saturday we went to see Mary Poppins (fabulous!) and again I was pretty uncomfortable with pressure waves. We made a plan with Heather to try some natural induction methods on Sunday night to see if we could get my labor to really started. A natural induction would kickstart labor if my body was ready and only if it was ready. All day Sunday I was having pressure waves and I rested most of the day and listened to my Hypnobabies scripts.

Heather came to our house at about 5:30 pm and we started the "induction" using homeopathics. She checked my progress and before we had even started I was 6 cm with a bulging bag of waters! My body really had been preparing for the past week!! Things started ramping up and I began to have regular pressure waves around 6:30 pm that were about 2-3 minutes apart and about 90 seconds long. John took Charlie outside to play and luckily our neighbors stopped by to visit so they entertained Charlie out in the backyard so John could start getting things ready. (Thanks, Hadley and Zeke!) We weren't really prepared for things to get going so quickly! I just concentrated on my hypnosis while relaxing on the bed and I was completely comfortable during each pressure wave. I was feeling really happy with my progress because by 6 cm dilated with Charlie I was so uncomfortable that I was asking for the epidural! John worked on filling up the inflatable kiddie pool in our living room so I could labor in the water, packed the car, and called his parents to come pick up Charlie. The plan was to stay at home as long as possible before going to the hospital.

When Sue and Rick came to pick up Charlie, I was in the water and Sue peeked in to say hello. I was calm and able to talk with her in between waves and just closed my eyes and used my off switch when I had a pressure wave. I was using my center switch a lot during this phase of labor and I was able to easily talk with Heather and John in between waves. At some point, I got out of the water to walk around to get my labor to progress more. John and I walked halfway up the street and then back to our house to walk laps in the backyard.

After walking, we came in and had Heather check me again. I was 8 cm dilated with an anterior cervical lip. Right after that, my water broke. I was still very comfortable and got back in the birth pool to labor for a little more, trying to get the cervical lip to go away. Fairly soon after my water broke I started to feel hungry and asked for something to eat. Just as John had left the room to get a snack, I was hit by an incredibly powerful and LONG pressure wave. I had several of these right on top of each other. I knew I was going through transition because the pressure waves were very intense and uncomfortable. John was supporting me and helping me "aaahhh" through each wave (in fact, he was "aaahing"right along with me) and Heather was doing hip presses.

Just then, we heard a knock on the door. It was my mom, coming by to check on me. We had been trying to get a hold of my mom to let her know that I was in labor and couldn't get a hold of her all evening. Such timing! I was in too much discomfort to talk to her much and I told her she could stay or leave but that I couldn't talk to her. She decided to leave. I felt bad that she had missed the calm, easy part of labor. :) (I think this was at approximately 9:00 p.m.)

Heather told John that it was time to go to the hospital. I couldn't even imagine getting in the car and having to drive to the hospital (about 15 minutes away). I vocalized my concerns (I'm sure it was not eloquent, or even in full sentences). I'm pretty sure all I said was, "I can't." Heather confirmed with me that I wanted to stay home and I told her that I did. I felt completely confidant about staying at home with Heather to help us.

As soon as Heather knew we were staying at home, she called her assistant midwife, Angie, and also our Hypnobabies instructor, Marinda. She was prepared with almost everything she needed for the birth except a doppler (to check the baby's heart tones) so she called these great ladies in as back up and to bring the doppler. They both made great time over to our house! Angie arrived at 10:20 p.m. (she said she drove from Saratoga Springs in the carpool lane and speeding the whole way and made it in about 20 minutes!)

Sometime before Marinda and Angie arrived, I got out of the pool and onto the birth stool. Heather checked me again and I was 9 cm and I still had the anterior cervical lip. I was pushing through each contraction because it felt much better to be pushing than not, although I wouldn't necessarily call it an "urge" to push.

Marinda's arrival was especially nice because she was able to help me with my hypnosis. Having her familiar voice coaching me was so helpful. I still felt a lot of discomfort but I was able to relax a little bit more into each pressure wave.

I felt so supported by this incredible birth team! John was sitting behind me supporting me by my arms and talking in my ear. Marinda was on my right, holding my right hand. She was coaching me with Hypnobabies mini-scripts and also massaging my clenched hands in between contractions to help me relax and wiping my forehead. Angie was on the floor in front of me to the left, holding my left hand and also taking notes in my chart and otherwise assisting Heather. And Heather was directly in front of me on the floor. I would sometimes brace my feet on her legs to get a better position. I also looked her right in the eyes when it got really tough and making that eye contact with her helped a lot. She was also guiding my pushes with her hand, so I could feel where to focus the push.

After what seemed like forever, I could finally feel that George's head was descending into the birth canal. What an incredible feeling. It didn't really hurt that much (the pressure waves were still much more intense) but I could feel an incredible fullness in my pelvis. I felt like if I tried to push him out, my legs were going to pop off of my body! I told Heather I was scared to push and she and Angie gave me some homeopathics that are supposed to help release fear.

His head started to crown at 11:04 (and ten seconds) and at 11:04 and 59 seconds he was out! Let me tell you, pushing that baby out took an amazing amount of effort but I did it! I got to hold him on my chest right away and it felt so surreal to have him here. I was exhausted and I felt kind of out of it- I definitely didn't feel that euphoric rush that I've heard people talk about with their natural births. I was just so relieved to be done! Heather was a little concerned with my bleeding after the placenta was delivered so they moved me to the floor and I just laid on the hardwood floor with George on my chest while they gave me medicine, herbs and massaged my uterus to get it to contract. I was never worried and my bleeding was under control quickly. After a few minutes, John held George while I walked (!) to my bedroom and got under my deliciously warm covers. I got to hold George and John got in bed next to me and we just cuddled together as a family for a while. Marinda, Heather, and Angie were all working on tidying up, filling out paperwork and taking my blood pressure and giving me water but none of that really interfered with our family bonding time. It was heavenly.

After about an hour, Heather stitched me up and George was weighed and came in at 9 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches!!

For a few days I felt like there's no way I could do it again, but after having some distance from it, it seems totally doable. I learned some valuable things from both my births, who knows what the next one will hold!

All smiles now that it's over!