I’ll start my story off by mentioning that my first baby was a planned home water birth with a non-Choice midwife. I ended up having to transfer, getting an epidural, and getting an unexpected hospital birth instead. It bothered me for a long time despite my hospital experience not being so bad.
I was technically due August 29th, 2012 but figured he’d be a Sept baby since my daughter was 2 weeks late. On a Thurs., Aug. 23rd, I had bloody show with plug off and on all day. Later that day, I started to leak/ gush a yellow and clear shiny fluid. I wasn’t sure if it was my water, pee, or what. After leaking/ gushing for 4 hours, I called my midwife, Kelley. She came and checked me out. We determined it was not my water, but in fact pee and A LOT of thin mucus. She checked me, fingertip dilated and very soft cervix (guess 90% effaced).
After she left that night, I started getting light cramps, irregular contractions. They got to 3 min apart only 30 secs long, not strong, but annoying enough to keep me up. Took a bath and they slowed down to 10-15 min apart and I got some sleep. Fri. and Sat. went pretty much the same. Contractions were still fairly easy, but slowly gaining more intensity and were getting closer together/ lasting longer. Sat. night my bath didn’t slow them down like the previous 2 nights, so I didn’t get sleep.
Sunday, August 26th, I had more gushing of pee and thin mucus along with a big glob of plug. Contractions got more painful. They never did really last more than 45 secs which made me think I wasn’t progressing. I kept expecting them to last 1 min+. Some of my family left with my daughter at 4p which after that I finally got my husband’s full attention to help with counter pressure on my back.
I labored in the bath tub a bit, but the hard bottom was really uncomfy and had nothing to lean on. Moved to the birth pool. The birth pool was AWESOME. Hung out there for a bit, but was so tired I just wanted to lay down. I labored in bed for awhile and thats when I started to scream. I kept yelling that I couldn’t do it, wanted to transfer, and thats when I told my husband to call the midwife and have her get here now!
When Nina, the midwife, arrived she checked me and I was 8 cm! She called the other midwife, Kelley, and told her to come. I moved back to the birth pool and not long before my body was doing little pushes. It was relieving and I let my body do the work (I was too drained). My body pushed for 25 min. total with what felt like 5 min. breaks in-between. I felt the ring of fire and it wasn’t bad at all this time around. The midwives and my husband could see my bulging bag. Shortly after that, Ferris came right out in the caul when I pushed a little along with my body’s push. I think my first words were “Give me my baby” (rude, right?), “I did it!”, and “You guys are crazy!”. I was in total shock and felt euphoric.
We got out of the tub and moved to the bed where I birthed the placenta. After feeding baby, my husband helped me with a quick shower. Midwife said I had no tears, just a skidmark that required no stitches. The midwives did baby’s apgars while we were gone which were perfect. Came back to a clean bed, did baby’s stats, and the midwives left. It was such an incredible experience. It was everything I wanted.
-Rachel Benson, London, OH