I’ve been out enjoying all the baby snuggles the past five weeks and can I just say, I LOVE the newborn stage! I’m trying to soak up every minute I can. It goes by way too fast!
If you’ve been here a while you know that I like to document my birth stories here. For two reasons, one being for myself— I always want to remember the details! The other reason is to encourage new mamas to at very least *attempt* a natural, unmediated birth. It’s also just fun to read or hear birth stories!
Whatever brought you to this post, I’m glad you’re here! Thanks for reading. I post a new blog every week about homemaking, real food recipes, and mom life. You can subscribe to the blog for post updates. We’re also on Instagram as @littlewifeinthewoods.
Now let’s get into that birth story!
Why we chose homebirth
I have always wanted to have a homebirth, as much as I have always wanted to be a mom! As a little girl it fascinated me. (I was basically an eight year old granny— I liked growing herbs, baking, and babies…not much has changed!)
In my late teens, due to some chronic health issues caused by a vaccine, then the pandemic in 2020, I have zero faith in the medical system. Don’t get me wrong, I think doctors are great, nurses are fantastic, and hospitals are sometimes necessary! However, I just do not see the need personally if your pregnancy is healthy and things are going well. Especially if you want an environment conducive to a natural laboring/birthing experience.
(TIMEOUT: I am in no way becoming a homebirth advocate! I truly believe the way you have your babies is between you, your husband, and God. And there is NO wrong way to have a baby— medicated, unmedicated. Hospital or home. A healthy baby is all that matters.)
My firstborn was birthed in the hospital and it was a great experience. I just do not enjoy the system. I truly feel unsafe in the hospital/medical environment. I do not know if I can even explain that to someone who doesn’t know what that feels like. The best way I know how is that I just do not trust any of the system or process.
Another huge reason was that financially it just made more sense for our family. I wanted a homebirth with our first but my husband was just very uncomfortable with the idea…until we got that hospital bill back after we had her!!
I had a completely natural labor and delivery in the hospital. Other than being constantly monitored (which I hated!!) I did 90% of all the work involved in getting this child here. So why they were charging more than six months of mortgage payments I’ll never understand! But they did!
Homebirth monitoring
Some would say it’s a completely careless decision. And you’re allowed to feel that way. I have complete confidence in my decision— now more than ever, so these opinions really don’t bother me.
However, I do want to clarify that trained and experienced midwives highly monitor your health and the health of your baby throughout pregnancy. Each visit all vitals are checked, baby’s heart rate, positioning of the baby, and swelling is addressed. Routine checks for protein in the urine, blood pressure, and any abnormalities or discomforts are addressed. I do not have time to explain how much more helpful my midwives were throughout my pregnancy than doctor’s previously! They just had so many more tricks up their sleeve to help make pregnancy as comfortable and natural as possible!
Laboring at Home
I still love those words. At Home.
There is nothing more comforting, peaceful, and natural than laboring at home. I did not get this opportunity with my first. My water broke and I was basically told to come running to the hospital where I labored for about 18 hours.
The home laboring experience was so special. It began around 4:30am Monday morning after another exhausting night of no sleep. If you have had a baby you know about the skepticism surrounding labor…is it really labor? Could be false labor? might be real? You never know until you know!
My contractions did not stop when I changed positions so I figured it was a good sign but decided to get in the bath to make sure they didn’t go away before I woke my husband up. They didn’t! I sat in there a while, then decided to eat something since it would probably be a long day.
I woke Jimmy up around 6 to let him know he wouldn’t be going to work. Then we got busy making sure everything was ready.
I had prepared as much as I could in the weeks leading up to birth. My first came at 38 weeks so I definitely wanted everything ready and organized just in case. The only things we had to do was make our bed and take a few things out of our bedroom to fit the birth tub.
We also let our midwife know when contractions were consistently seven minutes apart for about an hour. She would be aware and close but let us labor undisturbed until they were three minutes apart, lasting one minute or more, consistently for an hour.
With all the things done we just waited!
I was able to get a little rest in the hours of early labor. As things started to ramp up I began to change positions trying to stay comfortable while also making progress. This was so fun! In the hospital my movement was very limited so I did not get to experiment with different positions.
I went from bed, to pacing, to birth ball, to leaning over the bed and each place/position provided relief in different ways!
While I was laboring Jimmy was working! It was Monday and if you’ve been here a while you know my house is so bad on Mondays I do this thing called a Monday reset! This Monday was no exception. He jumped right in there cleaning, taking care of the toddler, and making frequent visits to check on me. He was amazing!!
Transition
Around 1:30 pm things started to really ramp up. I knew from last time that my body had hit transition. I could not get comfortable anywhere but bed and even the slightest movement would bring a contraction, even if I’d just finished one!
I decided it was time to start timing contractions. They were about three to three and a half minutes apart and lasted right at two minutes each. My midwife decided it was time to hit the road!
She got to us around 2:45pm. She checked on me and baby and everything was great! She did such a great job at keeping everything calm and quiet.
The next little while things just kept progressing and getting more intense. I tried to focus on relaxing through each contraction and letting my body do the work. While there definitely was pain, I was still able to keep control of my breathing and mostly relax (although I still couldn’t fully conquer it…guess I’ll have to try again next time!).
As the pressure intensified I had a massive contraction and my water finally broke! This felt so relieving and intense all at the same time.
By now Mrs. Midwife and my husband were very busy getting the birth tub inflated and filled. I had not definitely planned on birthing in water but wanted to try it, mostly out of curiosity. I had heard it really relieved a lot of pain and I was not disappointed!
The only issue was that by the time they set the tub up and started to fill it my body had already said, “Time to push!”. The birth tub has to be filled to a certain point and we were not quite there. My midwife asked if she should keep filling the tub or just leave it. I opted to keep trying for the tub because why not!
Delivery
The tub finally made it to minimum water capacity for a safe delivery so after the next contraction we very carefully transitioned me to the water. It was somewhere close to about 4:00pm this point. I could feel that she was SO CLOSE!
After a few minutes in the tub a contraction hit and I felt that urge to push. My midwife had encouraged me to just listen to my body. If I needed to push, push. If I just felt like I needed a break then do so and just let my body do the work. This was a much different experience from my delivery in the hospital but very much appreciated!
Here’s where it gets interesting…
So maybe around my third or fourth push we START to have a baby! Feet first.
Yep! I looked down and there were two little feet. If you don’t know, babies are supposed to come head first.
Now before you get all distressed about this, let’s remember. My midwife highly monitored baby’s position at the end of pregnancy. At 39 weeks we were very low, head down, and in optimal position to have a baby! It is very unlikely for a baby to completely change position that far in.
Unless you’re Joanna! I truly believe I felt her flip during the morning hours of early labor. She was moving quite a lot and I distinctly remember a big movement that almost hurt. I’m 99% sure this is when she flipped.
So with feet just dangling, we sat there waiting for another contraction for what seemed like forever! Everyone stayed very calm which kept me calm and focused. We just waited, giving my body time to do what it needed to do.
I’m not sure if my uterus just thought it was done but this next contraction took a while to get here! If you’ve ever had a baby you know that once you deliver the head/shoulders the rest of the baby just kind of plops out. This does not happen when your baby is footling breech. My mind went there first. I just remember thinking to myself, “I’m going to have to do this completely backwards.”
As painful as that thought was, I’m so glad I had it! It helped me to mentally visualize and prepare for the situation. I refused to think of the what ifs and just focus.
Another very light contraction came. I tried pushing through it and nothing happened. We decided a change of position would be best. So we very carefully took my from a reclined sitting position to upright, bent over the pool, holding onto Jimmy for stability. (Jimmy later told me that his legs fell asleep but he wasn’t about to move…he a champ!)
Next contraction and some big big pushes later sweet little Joanna finally decided to make her entrance! She was perfect. She weighed in at 7lb 11oz and 20.5 in long at 4:30pm.
The rest of the afternoon was spent nursing baby, showering, checking vitals every so often, introducing Jenna to her new baby sister…all while our amazing midwife’s cleaned everything up!
Closing Thoughts
I could not have asked for a better, calmer, or more satisfying birth experience! At the end of the day a healthy baby is all that matters, good experience or bad, but I’m so glad we got both.
Would you have a homebirth? Answer in the comments! I love chatting with you.