Home Birth

Yes, in our bed. And it did get a little dirty. Ethan was ready to enter the world before the birthing pool was even all the way filled with water; my body labored extremely efficiently, and our relaxation practices helped to progress the labor very quickly. So, while we didn’t have our water birth, as I had hoped, we had a very empowering and successful natural home birth.
At this point, I was pretty sure labor was pending even though the contractions still seemed really mild. Have I mentioned I am a huge ninny? Like, huge! I do not handle pain well, so I thought that I really probably was still in very early labor stages if anything. You can imagine how surprised I was around 5 p.m. when my contractions became regular but I could still handle them no problem while draping my chest over the birth ball in the living room. During this time, it was really important for me to have a soft blanket under the birth ball to touch. For some reason, it was really soothing, and it helped the contractions sail by smoothly.
We called our midwife, Sandra, around 4:00 when the contractions jumped from being ten minutes apart to 3 to 4. The intensity picked up a little, but each wave of contractions was still extremely manageable. Our midwife listened to my breathing over the phone and decided that based on that, she should come over. When she arrived, she coached me through some contractions and we talked about my first labor and how glad I was to be at home. She was awesome support. Her voice was constant and soothing, and she really hit all of the wonderful spots on my back during each contraction. She then checked my vital signs and my cervix for dilation. I was in complete shock when she told me I was 4-5 centimeters dilated after having only very manageable contractions for an hour. (Remember, I am a HUGE wuss!) I almost began crying I was so happy that my body was doing its job because, with my first son, I was stalled out at the hospital at 5-6 centimeters for 22 hours. That’s right, 22 hours! Our midwife celebrated with me that my body was so able to perform during this second labor, and we praised God for it there on the living room floor!