The homebirth as a whole went great. The labor was short and intense - which was unexpected since this was my first baby. I felt a pop at 9:45pm (11/15), started contracting at 10, and she was here by 2:30am (11/16).
Michael and I had just finished watching Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector when I got up to go to the bathroom, felt the pop and saw a little blood. I was going to get up again for something and felt a pain like a contraction and told Michael “Ouch, that kinda hurt.” They kept coming after that one.
We went upstairs and Michael starting trying to call (our midwife’s assistant) at 10:05. I sat on the toilet in case I started leaking water and asked Michael to bring the laptop so we could time the contractions on Contraction Master. After that, I only let him leave in between contractions and would holler at him to come back when I felt one starting. They started out 2.5 minutes apart lasting 60-90 seconds and stayed that way the entire labor. When MWA called back about 10:30, she could hear me moaning in the background. She asked “Is that MaryBeth?” She was on her way immediately.
Michael asked if I wanted a bath since that made contractions go away in the past, so I decided to try it. MWA called back and suggested taking a bath to “slow things down” and help me feel better to which Michael responded, “One step ahead of you. She’s already in there.”
MWA and backup MW got to the house just before 11 and I was back on the toilet because it was more comfortable to sit straight up than recline in the tub. They started setting up the bed and birthing tub and checked the baby’s heart rate between contractions - it was in the 140s. Michael tried to help them as much as he could, but stayed with me for the most part to help me through the contractions. He was wonderful about supporting me during contractions. We didn't really have a chance to get into a relaxation rhythm because the intensity started so soon, but he caught onto my pattern quickly and was able to breathe with me and help focus me. He did sustain a few injuries to his hand before he took his wedding band off, and I bit him once and pinched him a couple of times when I lost focus during a contraction. Oops! He was very forgiving about that though =)
I tried various positions –sitting, standing, leaning – before getting into the birthing tub. They moved me to the bed about 11:45 to do an internal - 5 cm, 50% effaced, and 0 station. Then off to the birthing tub in the baby’s room at 12:07am. The tub felt good and I was able to move into different positions – Michael had to keep switching sides to be close to me. The contractions became more intense and I got behind a few of them. Michael was pretty good about refocusing me though. They checked the baby’s heart rate at 12:15am and 12:52am - 130s. At 1:00am I felt the baby “pushing”. At 1:10am they checked me again - 7-8cm, 75% effaced, and head “almost crowning”.
MWA and MW were great. MW was actually a backup because ours was out of the country. They were very noninvasive, very quiet and reserved during the labor, and were great about following my lead. They only did a couple of internal checks and they encouraged me to feel the baby and feel the progression. That was great for me because it encouraged me not to push until I was complete. They listened to her heartbeat a couple of times during contractions and a couple times in between. They would tell me ahead of time "Ok during the next contraction…” or “after this contraction, we're going to...." They also encouraged me to get up about every hour or two to go to the bathroom to help relieve pressure, as well as drink as much as I could tolerate. So in between contractions I tried to drink lots of juice and water. I did throw up a couple of times, but I still continued to drink which helped me feel a lot better.
I stayed in the tub until about 1:30am. I was no longer comfortable and decided to get out. We intended to have a water birth, but because I started out so intense I got exhausted and really uncomfortable and decided to birth her in the bed. I tried going to bathroom one last time before getting in the bed. At 1:40am they checked the heart rate again - it was 148. They were pretty sure it wouldn’t be much longer. I tried standing, leaning, squatting, and sitting at the side of the bed. Finally we decided to try on the bed. I tried a few, but not many positions on the bed and they suggested having Michael lie on the bed propped up, and I lay between his legs against his chest. After a short time on the bed they suggested I try pushing lightly to see how it would go and if it would provide relief. It did.
I started really pushing (2:05am) and there was nothing but encouragement from the other side of the bed. Every push they saw more and more head peeking out. They encouraged me to feel. I felt the head go back up after a contraction and after that I started pushing more to keep it down. I was ready for her to be here and feeling her head was enough incentive to focus and push. At 2:15am the head had crowned. About 2-3 pushes in I started to really feel the pain. I didn’t get behind the contractions though and about 2 pushes later our baby was completely out (2:21am). MWA didn’t even have a chance to tell me to stop pushing so she could check to make sure the cord wasn’t around the baby’s neck. She just flew right out. And there she finally was – our daughter Paige Noelle.
Up onto my belly she went. I bled more than what they anticipated and although they were very serious and intent on taking care of my immediate medical needs, they didn't do it in a way that made me scared. They had a look on their face that they were worried, but they were very reassuring that they had it under control. They gave me oxygen and two shots of Pitocin in my legs to help slow the bleeding and then allowed me to push the placenta out (2:39am) once the cord had stopped pulsating. MW filled a dropper with medicine (we still don’t know what it was – something for the bleeding) that tasted like battery acid. They did the APGAR test immediately and she was a 9. They did another APGAR at 5 minutes and she was a perfect 10.
They watched me for a while then asked me to slide to the end of the bed. They used some chairs from the other room to put my legs up. They handed Michael the baby, numbed me and stitched closed the small, but very uncomfortable, tear I had received from the explosive birth. You would think feeling of pushing a 6.5 pound object would top the feeling of a needle in the crotch … but no. I’ll take another kid to a needle.
They encouraged me to get up and go to the bathroom after suturing me if I felt good enough. I did at the time so MWA and MW helped me up and to the bathroom in our bedroom. Once done I wanted a shower and try to get washed off. They were great helping me get back and forth between the bedroom and bathroom. They slowly walked me to the shower but before I could get in, I felt weak and wanted to lie down. On the way to the room I passed out and fell into MW’s arms. All I remember is her saying “MaryBeth, MaryBeth, can you hear me?” and it slowly fading out. They guided me to the ground, propped my head up on MW's lap, and put pillows under my legs. MW called for ammonia but before they could get it I woke up. Their voices sounded really far away as I came back. The noises slowly got louder and louder. I heard MW ask for ammonia and then her say “MaryBeth, can you hear me?” I think I asked her if I passed out or something. I think Michael was more scared then I was. I looked over at him, he looked absolutely terrified. He was looking at me with these huge eyes like “Is she going to be ok?” He was doing a wonderful job keeping our daughter content.
MW stayed with me on the floor while MWA pulled the sheets off the bed and remade it. She put down chucks where I was going to lay. After the rest on the floor they helped me crawl to the bed. I felt like one of the crippled people you see in movies when someone pushes them out of their wheelchair and they have to crawl halfway across the room to get it. Needless to say, I didn't walk for the rest of the day - I crawled back and forth to our bathroom. They got me back on the bed and monitored me for about 3 hours as they continued to clean up. They put the dirty sheets and towels in the washer, put hydrogen peroxide in with it, and let it soak. Later we ran the load and all the stains came out!
So that's how the homebirth went in a nutshell. Shorter and more intense than we expected, but overall a great experience =)
The postpartum checks have been great also. MWA called me on Sunday (11/16), came out on Monday (11/17), (our midwife) and MWA came again Wednesday (11/19). The final visit was this past Wednesday (11/26). At the final visit, MWA did the PKU test for the baby, as well as the hearing screen which she passed =)
