Looking for your unassisted birth stories!

[MittensKittens]

Hi,

I blog about UC at www.writeaboutbirth.com and am hoping some of you ladies would like to share your birth stories on my blog. Of course, my story is on there and there are some others too, but I would love to hear from you as well! If anyone is interested, or wants to talk about why they decided to have a UC, please let me know!

Hope this doesn't break MDC's rules, I've been on here for a long time

[L J]

I would love to share my story. Its in the Birth Stories section here, feel free to look it up and let me know if you want to use it.

[MittensKittens]

Originally Posted by L J 

I would love to share my story. Its in the Birth Stories section here, feel free to look it up and let me know if you want to use it.

I'm so sorry you lost your sweet boy, Laura. What a very powerful story. If you let me use it, I would be honored to host it.

[Sharlla]

While at lowes buying an attachment for my water hose I went to the bathroom and noticed I was spotting. I told Nick that it was time and called work to let them know I wouldn't be in the next day. I knew it would be awhile so we went to WM to get some things and to kill time. We came home and I went into super cleaning mode and swept and mopped the kitchen and did some dishes LOL Then we blew up and filled up the pool. I ate some and sat on my exercise ball because by then I was really feeling the contractions and sitting there made me feel more comfortable. My best friend arrived and we hung out and waited until I wanted to get in the tub. We lit the candles, put on the music and Nick and I stripped down and got in the tub. My BF took lots of pictures :P I labored in the pool for about an hour before I felt the urge to push. I pushed gently with each contraction. I was on my knees and I was hugging Nick who was sitting right in front of me. The baby came out and I pulled her out of the water. She instantly started crying and I put her to my breast and was so happy to see I had given birth to a girl (I thought I would, just had that feeling but I was still on the green team) I sat in the tub until the cord stopped pulsing then we cut it. Nick took the baby while I got in the shower, there I delivered the placenta and my BF took it and put it in the fridge. I sat on the couch and nursed the baby while they took care of emptying and cleaning out the birth tub.

I couldn't have asked for a better first home birth. It was soooooo much better than being in a hospital. Most of my family were nay sayers so I made sure to call everyone to let them know that everything went smoothly and that I had a girl. The whole thing was less than 4 hours which I thought would be the case since the other 2 came so fast. She couldn't have come at a better time, some stuff had changed at work and we were getting new staff and clients and I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with the change that was going to start the next day LOL Also when she came the weather had went up from being in the teens to the 50's and 60's.   

birth pics http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1274487/my-birth-pics-finally

[babycatcher01]

I would like to share....it will give me insentive to write my birth down I keep meaning to do it.

[MittensKittens]

Wonderful! It would be great if you could include something about your pregnancy and how you decided to UC as well - the stories will probably mostly be read by folks who are pregnant or trying to conceive, and contemplating UC. Pictures are great, Sharlla! You can PM the story or email me at [e-mail]

If you have any experiences with Lotus Birth, placenta eating, etc, that would be nice to hear about too. And for that matter, if you have a traumatic or unpleasant hospital/midwife attended homebirth story, that is welcome too.

[MittensKittens]

Sharlla, your story is up! Sharlla's unassisted homebirth story.

Let me know if you would like me to add a link to your blog, if you have one!
 

Thanks for sharing!

[ElizabethE]

Way to go, Sharlla! That was awesome of you to share your story and pics. It sounds like such a nice experience for you.

[Sharlla]

Well thanks for posting it on the blog.  it was a great life altering experience for me.  I had gained soooo much weight during my pregnancy but I'm glad that I can share that plus size women can and do have healthy uncomplicated pregnancies and births

[catholic74]

I had an unintended UC.  My baby came so fast that my midwife didn't make it!   I knew that I gave birth fast and that there was a chance my midwife wouldn't make it and I have to admit that near the end of my pregnancy, I found myself secretly hoping she wouldn't. There was something very compelling to me about giving birth quietly in private.  So when my water broke in the middle of the night, I did call my midwife, but then hung up and calmly went about the business of birthing my baby.  I quietly informed my husband and my mother, who was staying with us.  My other two children were sleeping.  I labored for about 20 minutes on my birthing ball next to my bed. The contractions were painful, but manageable and I remember feeling like I had to throw up, but I never did. After a short time, I felt the subtle urge to push.  My mom put a chux pad on the floor next to my bed and I got down into a full squat.  I can't say I really pushed. My  body just pushes on it's own.  I just concentrate on relaxing and dealing with the pain while my baby's head slowly crowns. I did reach down and feel his head as he was emerging.  With my husband right behind me, he reached between my legs and helped me catch my son as he came out. He was slippery and screaming up a storm!   I stood up, curled up in my bed, suctioned his nose and mouth, put a hat on his head and nursed him until my midwife got there 30 minutes later.  We left the placenta and cord attatched until she arrived and took over that part of things. The actual birth took about 30 minutes! Unbelievable!  It was an awesome experience and a very empowering feeling.  I wouldn't change a thing!  

[ElizabethE]

I'm glad you got to experience it on your own, without the midwife. I often wondered how the birth of my second might have been if the midwife had only come late.

[Almi]

I always knew I wanted to give birth unassisted, even way before I ever decided to become pregnant.  Something inside me just told me that it was right, and it is what I was meant to do.  I am the type that cannot handle being talked to, looked at, touched, or bothered in any other way when I am in pain or discomfort, and I knew that, because of that, a hospital birth was not for me.  I later learned that giving birth at home was the best choice for me and my family, because I was able to give birth in a stress-free environment with no interventions, all of which would have hindered my birth and possibly had a bad outcome.  

When I became pregnant in November 2009, I was ecstatic.  I instantly began researching homebirth, and ultimately, unassisted homebirth.  Unfortunately, December of 2009, I miscarried.  But I kept on reading, and I was feeling really good about my birth choices when I became pregnant again in April of 2010.  I was so sure of myself, and I knew this was the best way for me and my baby.  In July 2010, I discovered I was having twins.  My partner and I, so set on unassisted childbirth, both immediately felt uneasy and feared that we would not get the birth we wanted.  I read more, I did some soul searching, and I talked to my babies a lot.  I watched a lot of videos, and I read twin homebirth stories.  They gave me strength.  I decided that if all went well, we would still be planning an unassisted homebirth.  

By the time I reached 30 weeks, my babies were still both presenting head down (though I would have attempted breech), and I had no pregnancy complications.  I was healthy, and so were my babies.  They were so connected to me, and they knew what to do.  None of us feared birth.  At 32 weeks, I went on leave from work, and the waiting began.  I waited until that day when my babies would greet me with their faces, with just a tiny bit of fear that they might come early, but I trusted them and I trusted my body.  Then at 36 weeks, 3 days, my water broke, and not once did I even think to go to the hospital.

Here is my birth story:

December 5th, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. not feeling too great.  Turned out I had a bug, or food poisoning...or something.  But it was not pretty, I was throwing up out of both ends, and my bum was bleeding all day.  Despite how awful I felt, I lost a ton of mucus plug that night, and was getting some contractions.  I told Jason that I'd be mad if I went into labor when I was that sick...I was so exhausted and hadn't eaten anything all day, just drank water.

 

December 6th, I was able to sleep all night and I felt sooo much better.  I was able to eat all day, and I drank lots of fluids to help me feel better.  I also took a really nice nap.  After I got up from my nap, I continued to sit on the couch for a bit, then I got up to go get something to eat.  As I was standing and eyeing our food stash, I noticed I felt kind of...wet.  I felt myself and I was like, am I leaking amniotic fluid?  I went to the bathroom to check it out.  I sat on the toilet and peed, and right away there was a small *pop*, little bit of fluid, and I literally felt my babies move down.  Still not quite believing it, I continued to sit on the toilet and see if I still leaked after I wiped.  Yep.  I happily informed Jason that my water had broken, I was almost sure of it.  I later proved it to him by dribbling it all over the carpet...oops.  It was about 8:40 p.m. when my water broke.

 

While still on the toilet, I started to feel crampy right away, and it felt good to lean back, so I did so, and I called my mom to tell her my water had broken, since she requested to be informed when I went into labor.  I had a gut feeling I would not be in labor long, so that's why I didn't waste much time and just called her anyway.  Right when I started talking to her, I started to get all shaky and anxious...and I realized that I didn't really feel like calling anyone while I was in labor.  So I told her I'd just call her back.

 

As I was sitting on the couch waiting for my birth pool to fill, contractions started to pick up, and it was not long into my labor that I couldn't talk through them, so Jason began answering my phone for me, at my request.  I did not want to talk to anyone, and as I went further into labor land, I had made the decision that I would not be inviting anyone over, I knew it would only hinder my birth.

 

While Jason was filling my birth pool, my brother took his kids to their mom's house.  Once the pool was full, I tried to get in, and I took one contraction in the pool.  I hated it, and I never got back in the pool.  I decided that sitting on the couch was the best way for me to labor, and it made the contractions more bearable.  At about 11:30, my mom showed up and let herself in.  I breathlessly told Jason to tell her to go home between contractions.  I was really starting to have to concentrate.  Throughout most of my labor, contractions were less than two minutes apart.  Though sometimes I got lucky and I'd get a lighter contraction after a particularly gripping one.

 

Jason argued with my mom, her telling him basically about how stupid we are for not going to the hospital, and then she got pissed and left.  She promised she would not do this to me, but maybe she was just angry that she was told I didn't want any company.

 

After my mom left, contractions started to pick up more.  I had to really concentrate through them, and I began moaning through them, and even yelling through some (at a somewhat low volume, I guess).  I rocked my hips from side to side, and it felt great.  It felt the best to lean back through each one especially, slightly to my right, propping myself with my hands and elbows, still sitting on the couch.  Through many contractions, I could not get comfortable and would just kind of flail around.  Between each contraction, I took a sip of water.  Since I was still somewhat recovering from being sick and the contractions were getting pretty strong, I kept feeling nauseous.  The water helped.  But I think I drank too much, because I randomly threw some up on the towel in front of me, which made me sheepishly turn to Jason (who was quietly observing from the loveseat next to me) and say, "Sorry," and "Can you clean that up a bit?"

 

Once contractions started to become unbearable, I decided I needed a better coping method.  I began to visualize what was happening with my body and I totally relaxed my uterus, cervix, and vagina when I'd get one of these huge contractions.  It actually started to feel much better, and I could now feel my baby's head descending into the birth canal instead of just the crampy pain I was feeling before.  Because I was sitting on the couch, I knew I couldn't push a baby out with the way I was sitting.  So every now and then, I'd stand up and maybe squat a bit, to see how far the baby's head was down.  Each time I did that, I felt more pushy each time.  Then the last time I stood up, I pushed, and I knew it was time to stop sitting on my butt.  I flipped over so I was on my knees, my butt hanging off the couch, to which my body responded with a crazy contraction or two, and made me start to push.  I began groaning loudly as baby number one began her journey through my birth canal.  Jason responded by coming over to take a look, and asking me if I wanted any sort of perineal support.  I told him no.  After a few pushes he goes, Omg, I see the head!  So I thought I might stick my hand down and have a feel, and sure enough, she was crowning.

 

It was really cute, because Jason kept asking me for direction, and I told him, you'll be fine, you'll do great.  And I continued pushing until half of the head was out, then her whole head, and then one more push, and her body shot out of me.  I immediately heard this tiny little being cry, and it made me so happy.  I heard Jason talking behind me, saying things like, Omg, and What do I do, and he was just in awe of the whole thing.  But he did such a great job.  He untangled the cord from her body and passed her under my legs to me, and I pulled her to my chest and kneeled on the towels in front of the couch and we ooh'd and aww'd at her, and I remember thinking about how tiny she was, and I think I told her that, and I knew right away that she was Jova Lynn (aka Baby B).  She was so alert, just looking around and around!  I also remember Jason asking me if the blood that had come out was normal, and I looked at it and told him reassuringly, yes, it's fine.  But she did come out covered in blood too, so I somehow knew (but didn't think about it at the time) that the placenta was separating.  Jason also later told me that she came out with her hand on her face.

 

Not long after Jova was born, I began rocking my hips back and forth and up and down, to help move the second baby down.  Sure enough, I got another one or two contractions, and *pop* went her water.  I then immediately felt the urge to push, and began groaning and pushing her out, while still cradling Jova against my chest.  Jason started getting anxious because I was only a few inches from the ground, and he asked me if I could move up, which I replied with a, "No."  Lol.  But as soon as I felt her crowning, I moved up, and pushed her head out into his hands.  For some reason, it felt like more of her had come out, and I was confused as to why she wasn't sliding out of me, so I reached down and discovered that only her head was out.  Annoyed, I said, "Fuck," and leaned forward and gave another few pushes, and my baby Sunny Jay (aka Baby A) slid out into Daddy's arms crying, along with a shower of amniotic fluid, which made Jason exclaim in surprise.  Both babies were born within 5 minutes or less of each other, around 12:40 a.m. on December 7th.

 

I then stood up and swung my leg over the cord, and I sat on the end of the couch on a towel, with babies on my chest, covered in a towel.  It was so great.  Sunny was so cheesy with vernix, and I remember laughing and telling her how gross she looked, kissing her at the same time.  We took a look at both babies, and they were pinking up so great.  Then Jason asked about the placenta, and I just said it would come soon enough, and I asked him to go rinse out the placenta bowl.  As he went to do that, I squatted on the towels on the floor to let gravity help ease it out.  Then I realized that it was already coming out...without any help.  I ended up having to hold my placenta in (as well as I could, anyway), and told Jason to hurry up!  He got over just in time to catch it in the bowl, with a bunch of blood.  Ugh, that would have sucked to have dropped it on the towels.  It was huge and slippery.

 

Since Sunny and Jova's cords were so short, we had quite a time juggling babies and placenta, and decided to cut the cords, so we clamped and cut them, and wrapped the babies in some blankets.  Before we did this, we had called our friends Dustin and Rhoda and told them to come over - we had babies!

 

About ten minutes later, we heard a knock on the door, and were expecting our friends, but it turned out it was couple of cops.  My mom had called the cops on me.  Great.  We didn't let them in, because I was still naked and babies were still naked, and we had a big bloody mess in front of me (including my placenta in a bowl, lol).  And anyway, I just didn't see a reason to let them in my house.  So Jason went out and dealt with them on the porch.  They explained to him that we're not in any trouble because we hadn't done anything illegal, but that since they received a call, they had no choice but to check things out and call an ambulance.

 

A few minutes after the cops left, two EMT's arrived, and I decided to let them in just to humor them, and so that they could see for themselves that the babies and I were just fine.  They did look at us (didn't touch us though) and commented that we all three looked great, and one of them commented that homebirth was becoming less uncommon, after they asked us a few questions.  They then left, and I thanked them for their help.  They were very nice.

 

Then Dustin and Rhoda arrived, and Dustin checked the babies over, and they were both breathing great.  They helped us weigh the babies, first Jova, who was a mere 4 lbs., 2 oz., and Sunny weighed in at 5 lbs., 6 oz.  They looked so vastly different in size, it's crazy.  Even Jova's head is smaller.  We also later measured them, and Jova measured about 17 inches, and Sunny about 18 inches.  Short babies!

 

My other friends Debbie and Al arrived shortly after Dustin and Rhoda, and Debbie was so nice to give me a bit of a sponge bath.  I had blood all over my legs and feet, and she helped clean up my bloody towel mess.  Everyone helped hold the babies for me while I recovered.  It's a weird feeling to have such a huge uterus, and then suddenly...it's empty!  Plus I was still sort of crampy, and breastfeeding made me more crampy (naturally).  But it was nice to know that both babies latched on well.

 

Anyway, once I was all comfortable and had things under me to catch blood (I did not hemorrhage at all, btw, I felt great after birth and didn't even nap until 5-6 hours afterwards), and Dustin and Rhoda emptied my birth pool, everyone decided to go home and get some sleep.  I was so grateful to have my friends there to take care of me after the birth, especially since Jason suddenly began feeling ill and had to go to bed.

 

All in all, it was such an amazing experience.  I had such an easy labor and birth, and perfect babies, I could not have asked for more. <3

 

 

P.S. No, I did not take the babies to the hospital after the birth, as they would have panicked and probably wanted to put both babies in the NICU, especially Jova, since she's considered a low birthweight.  Instead, they saw a pediatrician when they were a week old.  They were perfect. :)

[DirtyHippyMama]

my uc story (with pics) is here on my blog http://sahmhoodadventures.blogspot.com/2010/11/unassisted-birth-of-brigit-annabelle.html

feel free to use it.  (it's also here on MDC in the birth stories forum.)

[blondygirl]

I was on this forum when I had my first child but I never posted my birth story :( so I'll do it here, now 3.5 years later!

(oh, and I'm pregnant again which I plan to have another UC so hopefully I'll post it sooner this time!)

I was 15 years old when I got pregnant. I had never even heard about UC, but after I informed my family about the baby that would be coming, my sister who's 9 years older than me asked me to consider having a UC. (her account on this forum is mwright, perhaps some of you know her) When she explained the concept I was like "WHAT?! are you crazy?? nobody has babies ALL by themselves!" I had of course already planned to have a midwife there, but my sister had a MW at her birth just a year earlier and it turned out to be a very traumatic experience, so if anybody knew about how an unpleasant birth experience can affect you badly, it was her. So when I chose to do a UC I honestly trusted my sister more than I trusted myself. But she constantly nagged me to read about UC and finally after doing MY OWN research I really started to trust birth, and my body.

I was also UP'ing so I honestly was not sure of my due date. When I went into labor on a late Thurdsday night (10/18/07) that was 3 weeks earlier than I had GUESSED was my due date so I simply blew it off, and really tried to convince myself that I was just having some intense braxton hicks HA!!! I even went to my college classes Friday morning. It was really funny how much I struggled to waddle around campus and when I was in my PE (yoga) class, my instructor was constantly asking if I was OK because I could NOT do many of the positions... mostly I was lying limp on the floor and I told her "I just want to breathe today" HAHAHA I still laugh about how silly I must've looked to everybody! By that night however, I was obviously in labor and I could deny it no longer! I had met with a midwife once during my pregnancy and she agreed to let me UC and come to do a postpartum checkup for me so I gave her a call just to let her know and I continued to labor by myself. Well, I felt like I was by myself because my mother/sister wouldn't stay awake to keep me company hehe! And my older sister who had told me about UC hadn't come over yet, so Friday night I felt a little lonely, and I remember throwing up, that was a glorious feeling LOL! But in the morning everybody was up and ready for me to have the baby and then I WAS TOO TIRED! My mom told me to get in a squatting position and I could INSTANTLY feel the baby coming down, but I am in no way shape or form, tolerant of pain, so instead of letting her come out, I told her to stay in there so I could go take a bath. Basically I wasted all Saturday taking baths and naps and still pretending that I wasn't about to give birth lol! Maybe that's understandable to other 16 year olds? Anyways, around 9 pm Saturday (10/20/07) I woke up from a nap and felt around "down there" and I felt a huge bubble, so I told everybody that we were about to have a baby very soon. That was the water, and it hadn't broken yet so it protected her head all the way to the end. I got into a comfortable position for me on my knees with my hands on the edge of my parents bed. The last half hour felt just like a millisecond because I didn't even push 2 times, my body just did it by itself and she was born in a flash. No ring of fire, nothing. I honestly don't think anybody catched her she came out so fast... good thing I had my butt right on the floor! So almost no pain which is exactly how I like it!!!!

The midwife came about 2 hours later, I still had not been able to get the placenta out so thankfully the midwife was able to get it out. And that hurt more than birthing an 8 lb child!!! I remember the midwife saying that her head and shoulders were the same size which is why after her head came out, she just sort of fell out haha! But I like to think that was my careful shaping of her head for all those hours I didn't let her come out! LOL and obviously I was way off thinking I was 37 weeks, I was probably 41! And it was amazing how she latched on so easily, which I also so thankful for since a 16 year old can feel so unconfidant about being a new mommy. My daughter really made my life easy by not hurting me on her way out, already knowing how to eat, she slept good. Now she's 3 and she still makes me feel that parenting is easy! I can't help but feel that a good birth has contributed to her happiness. Now I'm 20 and pregnant with my second and we'll see if that theory is correct or if this kid wants to make parenting challenging for me. ;)