Tara Elisabeth was born on December 2nd at 7:07 (we think) in an unintentioned (and almost UC) homebirth.
My water broke at about 12:30 a.m. on the 2nd in a rather uneventful "Blurp". See thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...584#post2344584
I went to bed and had crampy contrax, which were pretty far apart but obviously did their job. We got up in the morning and went shopping for some last minute items (like a car seat to bring the baby home from the hospital in) and went out for lunch. We came home at about 1:15 p.m. and I realized that I had forgotten my purse at the restaurant, so I sent DH back to get it (a 45 minute round trip) and went up to take a nap. Contrax were still far apart, but getting stronger, so I got up at about 3:30 p.m. and wandered around the house for a little while, but I was well in control of the surges, so I didn't think much of it.
Our intention was to stay home as long as possble (to 7-8 cm), then go to the hospital. Our friend who is a PA planned to come over to check my dialation to make sure we didn't go too soon. Well, I got into the bathtub at about 4:00-4:30 to get some relief and relax, which work REALLY well. I lost track of time in my water womb and by 6:20 (when DH and rommate were ordering pizza for the kids) I was really rolling and ready to call our friend to come over and check me. At one point I felt nausaous, but didn't throw up (THAT should have been my sign that it was time to go).
It took some time to track her down and by 6:45 p.m. when DH finally found her, I had gone into transition and was very deep into my self. She asked if I was feverish (no) or cold (sort of...half my big body was out of the water ), or if I was feeling pushy (now that you mention it...). She didn't have latex gloves, so she was planning to stop at the store and get some on her way over, so DH thought she would be about 15 minutes. I instictively knew it was probably too late, but got out of the tub to try and get ready to go to the hospital. DH threw the keys to our roomate and ordered him to get the kids in the car (we had intended to take them) and got me to the bedroom and was trying to get me dressed when I got the urge to push and knew we were not going to make it to the hospial. So I half squatted through a couple of surges and I could feel the baby decending, so I got on hands and knees on the bed and she crowned.
In walked our friend (with her sterile gloves, a new bulb suringe and nothing else) at about 7:04 p.m. and was like "oh crap!" and called our other friend, who is a lapsed midwife-in-training and was like "get your butt over here, the baby is crowning". I should note that neither of them has assisted in a birth in about 4 years (my ds#2 was the last one our Midwife in training friend attended and she was my doula...it was a planned homebirth). She asked if she should call an ambulance, but I said no (they would not have made it anyway). Friend helped support my leg and I pushed baby out in about 3 good hard pushes (though it felt like she sat crown FOREVER). Baby took a few seconds to pink up and cry, which made my friend nervous but we got her going and friend used her bulb suringe to clear the goop (which she didn't even know why she brought).
Midwife-in-training came running in with her birth kit about 5 minutes later (running all the red lights in the 1.5 miles in between our houses). She got to watch me deliver the placenta, which was intact and healthy . And we had no blankets ready, so baby went on me and was wrapped in one of my old nightgowns DH found until he could go down into the basement and find the bin with the blankets. Luckily we had just done a load of towels, which went under me, as we had no Chux pads (though there was a waterproof pad on the bed, so it was protected).
Meanwhile the kids are still sitting in the car with our roomate, wondering where the heck we are. So they came back in and ds#2 came and watched the cord get cut. My friends stayed about 2.5 hours to make sure we were both stable and then went home totally high.
All in all it was a WONDERFUL experience and I could not have asked for more. I only hope that my friends view it the same way once they are off their high.
And super cudos have to go to DH for being calm and collected through the whole experience. We had talked about having an UC, but he had not felt comfortable that he would know what to do once the baby was born, so I had agreed to either a midwife assisted HB or a hospital birth. For a variety of reasons, the midwife assisted plan did not come to fruition, and we planned a hospital visit with our FP doctor "catching". Once he realized that this birth was an inevitability he got right in there and did what he needed to do, with calm and collection.
ETA: Per fourittlebird's request on 5/2/2007 I wanted to add a reflective note to my birth story. While my story is not of a "true" UC, in reflecting back and being honest with myself, I deeply wanted an UC and was very resistant to the idea of a hospital birth, especially after having had a satisfactory homebirth experience in 2000. And I really didn't want a midwife attended birth either, even though I like my local midwives very much (knowing several of them personally). While I didn't pay attention to my "signpost" cues, which of course led to an "oops" homebirth, I believe in retrospect that it wasn't really an oops, but rather me being truly in touch my my innermost desires and my power to birth safely unattended in the comfort of my home. And the fact is, I engaged my two girlfriends in this experience to appease my DH, not because I trully believed that I needed them there for safety.. They were helpful and supportive, but their attendance was not paramount or needed for this UC/semi-assisted birth to have happened. But because I love them and my husband, I am willing to let them believe it was an oops and that they were absolutely needed for it to have gone the way it did.
My water broke at about 12:30 a.m. on the 2nd in a rather uneventful "Blurp". See thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...584#post2344584
I went to bed and had crampy contrax, which were pretty far apart but obviously did their job. We got up in the morning and went shopping for some last minute items (like a car seat to bring the baby home from the hospital in) and went out for lunch. We came home at about 1:15 p.m. and I realized that I had forgotten my purse at the restaurant, so I sent DH back to get it (a 45 minute round trip) and went up to take a nap. Contrax were still far apart, but getting stronger, so I got up at about 3:30 p.m. and wandered around the house for a little while, but I was well in control of the surges, so I didn't think much of it.
Our intention was to stay home as long as possble (to 7-8 cm), then go to the hospital. Our friend who is a PA planned to come over to check my dialation to make sure we didn't go too soon. Well, I got into the bathtub at about 4:00-4:30 to get some relief and relax, which work REALLY well. I lost track of time in my water womb and by 6:20 (when DH and rommate were ordering pizza for the kids) I was really rolling and ready to call our friend to come over and check me. At one point I felt nausaous, but didn't throw up (THAT should have been my sign that it was time to go).
It took some time to track her down and by 6:45 p.m. when DH finally found her, I had gone into transition and was very deep into my self. She asked if I was feverish (no) or cold (sort of...half my big body was out of the water ), or if I was feeling pushy (now that you mention it...). She didn't have latex gloves, so she was planning to stop at the store and get some on her way over, so DH thought she would be about 15 minutes. I instictively knew it was probably too late, but got out of the tub to try and get ready to go to the hospital. DH threw the keys to our roomate and ordered him to get the kids in the car (we had intended to take them) and got me to the bedroom and was trying to get me dressed when I got the urge to push and knew we were not going to make it to the hospial. So I half squatted through a couple of surges and I could feel the baby decending, so I got on hands and knees on the bed and she crowned.
In walked our friend (with her sterile gloves, a new bulb suringe and nothing else) at about 7:04 p.m. and was like "oh crap!" and called our other friend, who is a lapsed midwife-in-training and was like "get your butt over here, the baby is crowning". I should note that neither of them has assisted in a birth in about 4 years (my ds#2 was the last one our Midwife in training friend attended and she was my doula...it was a planned homebirth). She asked if she should call an ambulance, but I said no (they would not have made it anyway). Friend helped support my leg and I pushed baby out in about 3 good hard pushes (though it felt like she sat crown FOREVER). Baby took a few seconds to pink up and cry, which made my friend nervous but we got her going and friend used her bulb suringe to clear the goop (which she didn't even know why she brought).
Midwife-in-training came running in with her birth kit about 5 minutes later (running all the red lights in the 1.5 miles in between our houses). She got to watch me deliver the placenta, which was intact and healthy . And we had no blankets ready, so baby went on me and was wrapped in one of my old nightgowns DH found until he could go down into the basement and find the bin with the blankets. Luckily we had just done a load of towels, which went under me, as we had no Chux pads (though there was a waterproof pad on the bed, so it was protected).
Meanwhile the kids are still sitting in the car with our roomate, wondering where the heck we are. So they came back in and ds#2 came and watched the cord get cut. My friends stayed about 2.5 hours to make sure we were both stable and then went home totally high.
All in all it was a WONDERFUL experience and I could not have asked for more. I only hope that my friends view it the same way once they are off their high.
And super cudos have to go to DH for being calm and collected through the whole experience. We had talked about having an UC, but he had not felt comfortable that he would know what to do once the baby was born, so I had agreed to either a midwife assisted HB or a hospital birth. For a variety of reasons, the midwife assisted plan did not come to fruition, and we planned a hospital visit with our FP doctor "catching". Once he realized that this birth was an inevitability he got right in there and did what he needed to do, with calm and collection.
ETA: Per fourittlebird's request on 5/2/2007 I wanted to add a reflective note to my birth story. While my story is not of a "true" UC, in reflecting back and being honest with myself, I deeply wanted an UC and was very resistant to the idea of a hospital birth, especially after having had a satisfactory homebirth experience in 2000. And I really didn't want a midwife attended birth either, even though I like my local midwives very much (knowing several of them personally). While I didn't pay attention to my "signpost" cues, which of course led to an "oops" homebirth, I believe in retrospect that it wasn't really an oops, but rather me being truly in touch my my innermost desires and my power to birth safely unattended in the comfort of my home. And the fact is, I engaged my two girlfriends in this experience to appease my DH, not because I trully believed that I needed them there for safety.. They were helpful and supportive, but their attendance was not paramount or needed for this UC/semi-assisted birth to have happened. But because I love them and my husband, I am willing to let them believe it was an oops and that they were absolutely needed for it to have gone the way it did.
congrats on the birth of your little girl...thanks for sharing your story w/us 
