I gave birth to my second son, Hunter, in July and am just now getting around to writing my positive home birth story.
Why Home Birth
My first born, Austin, was born in a birth center. You can read about that experience here!
For the most part, that birth went pretty smoothly. However, there were some aspects about the birth center experience that I didn’t enjoy.
Even though it wasn’t in a hospital, I still felt like the birth center route was too medical for my liking. I wanted a provider that would be even more hands off than the nurse midwives were. I also wanted to give birth in a setting I was familiar with.
I found Cait, my midwife, online and after talking to her on the phone I knew I wanted her as my provider.
Pregnancy
They say that each pregnancy is different but I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT different.
For Austin, I just had a little bit of food aversion to meat. I found it to be very metallic tasting, which was unpleasant.
With Hunter, I was very nauseous the first trimester and lost about twenty pounds. Any sight or talk of meat and I would be rushing to the bathroom. This was really tough for Nick, my husband, because we eat steak at least once a week.
Luckily, that went away by the second trimester, and I was back to normal.
During this time, I was going through dog training for my three puppies. For this pregnancy, I was much more active, walking about one to two hours a day.
My increase in activity may be why my blood pressure was in check the entire time. With Austin, I constantly had a possibility of induction hanging over me because of my high blood pressure.
In my third trimester, I started to feel very heavy. Hunter had an initial drop early on and even though he didn’t drop too far into my pelvis, it felt like his head was right in between my legs.
Going Past My Due Date
My due date for Hunter was 7/16/23 and I didn’t give birth until 7/21/23 when I was 41 weeks.
Being that I gave birth to Austin when I was 38 weeks and 3 days, I assumed that I would go early for Hunter too. So I was not at all prepared for my due date coming and going.
With each day that passed, I found myself getting more and more impatient. It wasn’t because I couldn’t wait for my baby, but because my mom had flown in to help.
I wanted my mom to be here to help me while I was recovering from birth, so I had her fly in July 12th thinking I would have surely given birth by that point.
She was only going to be here for two weeks, so the whole week that she was here and I didn’t give birth felt like a waste. I was beginning to get worried that baby wouldn’t even come before she had to leave.
Labor Begins
I woke up on July 21st at about 2:45 with a trickle of liquid coming down my leg. At first, I thought it was pee and that I wet myself.
After cleaning myself up, I decided to lay back down and try to get some sleep. But no more than ten minutes went by that I began to notice some tightening. I nudged Nick to just give him a heads up because at this point I knew I was in labor.
I texted my midwife as I walked around the kitchen for a while, stopping and swaying through the contractions. At some point I decided to run a bath.
Any time I am feeling nervous about something, I find baths to be very calming for me. With the lights dimmed and the water at the perfect temperature, I drifted deep into labor land.
With every contraction, I went inward and mooed. I learned with Austin that vocalizing really helps me handle the pressure.
I remember in between contractions talking to Hunter and telling him “I am so excited to meet you. We are working so well together.”
Transition
My contraction pattern was very consistent before I got into the bathtub, but after spending some time in there I was noticing that the contractions went from 3-4 minutes apart to 5-6 minutes apart. I didn’t want them to slow down, so I figured it may be a good time to get out of the tub.
As I was drying off, I felt a small gush and a trickle of liquid down my leg. I texted Cait and let her know that might have been my water breaking. She responded that she was on her way, and I thought to myself “that seems a little premature”.
In my mind, I still had a long way to go because I was still able to text and my contractions really weren’t that intense yet. I hadn’t even woken Nick or my mom up yet!
Since Cait was coming, I decided that I should probably go wake Nick up to get ready even though I didn’t need him. Right after I got him up, I had a very intense contraction that brought me on all fours on the couch in the living room.
The Midwife Arrives
Cait arrives at about 5:30 and her assistant arrives shortly after. At this point, the contractions are very intense and I am no longer able to time them on my own.
Nick had been trying to blow up the tub for about 15-20 minutes before, but he wasn’t successful. Austin was moving around, so my mom and the assistant took over while Nick went to tend to Austin.
Cait asks to check me and I say yes, so I moved from all fours to slightly on my back. We waited until I had a contraction and I remember right after that one I said “I need to be close, that one was so bad.” and Cait said “yes, not too much longer”
Once the tub was blown up, my mom and the assistant needed to connect the hose to the shower head and fill it up. In my mind, this felt like forever. I remember saying to myself “it’s too bright in here and I need to get into the tub now” but I think I managed to stay pretty polite and say “I’d like to get into the tub now”.
Baby Is Here
After the tub was finally filled, I got in and positioned myself so that my back was pressed up against the tub.
Austin had woken up from the commotion. After asking me if I was okay, my mom got him settled at the dining table with Teletubbies.
No more than two contractions later and Hunter’s head was out. One more contraction and his body followed.
From my first contraction at 2:45AM to his birth at 6:12AM, I literally couldn’t believe how fast and (almost) painless it was. The entire time, I felt in control and powerful.
I had seen so many moms on Instagram put their other children in the tub with them to meet the new baby and sing happy birthday. I wanted to do this too and have it recorded for my in laws. But, when I asked Austin if he wanted to come in and sing happy birthday to Hunter, he said “no, I watch Teletubbies”.
Placenta Birth
Cait kept checking for the placenta to detach on it’s own but after maybe fifteen minutes or so asked me if it would be okay to administer pitocin to deliver the placenta.
This was one of the things that I wished I didn’t say yes to at the birth center. I said yes this time around as well, but in my next birth I am really going to try to advocate for more time to let me birth my placenta.
After helping me out of the tub and into the bed, I laid Hunter on my chest and he latched on. Cait delivered my placenta and her and the assistant cleaned up while I got some uninterrupted bonding time.
Measurements and Goodbyes
After Hunter was measured (6lbs 14oz, 19.5in), I was checked for tearing and luckily didn’t tear at all!
Not too long after and it was time to say good bye to Cait and the assistant. My mom kept mentioning how she would definitely do a homebirth now if she were to do it again. She wants her own positive home birth story haha.
Recovery
In all honesty, my postpartum period this time around was so much easier. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve done it before. As a first time mom, I heard a lot about pain during birth but I really never heard about pain during the postpartum period. So, that first pee burning came as quite a shock.
This time, I had everything I needed to get through it, and an extra pair of hands to help around the house.
How Much Did My Home Birth Cost?
Altogether, I spent $6200 this pregnancy.
My midwife charged me $6000. This included all prenatal visits, testing, all the materials needed for the birth, and postpartum visits.
The additional $200 was for an ultrasound that I did during the second trimester. It wasn’t required, but Cait had suggested I get at least one.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading my positive home birth story!
Further Research
I owe my positive home birth story to Cait, my midwife. If you are interested, I’ve linked her website here!
