Mothering Forum banner

Jeremy Kenneth- waterbirthed @ home

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  lactationmom 
#1 ·
My homebirth was much anticipated after my induced, hospital birth with my first baby...

Starting at 37 weeks I had tons of prodromal labor and was 3-4cm 90% at 37w5d when my midwife checked me for the first time. For the next three weeks, I had contractions almost every day. It was definitely frustrating, but I was glad that I was that far dialated already. Less work when the real labor came! (yes, I was very impatient.
:

On the night of the 22nd, I had lots of contractions and thought they might be the real thing but by 4am I was able to get back to sleep. I had contractions off and on all day on the 23rd that were a bit painful but they were 10-15 minutes apart and sometimes I had a break of an hour or two with none at all. After eating dinner at my mom's house and taking a long walk we went home. At that point my contractions were every 5 minutes or so. I talked to Gay (my midwife) on the phone at about 8:00pm and we decided I should go to bed and see if they went away or kept coming. I made a batch of waffles to put in the freezer, sent Bill off to work at 9:00pm and put Elana to bed at 10:00pm. I drank a cup of pregnancy tea, checked my email and went to bed at 10:30pm.

By midnight I was unable to sleep or lay down through the contractions. I called Gay (my midwife) at 12:20 and she said she and Kelcy (her assistant) would come. I called Bill and left him a voicemail on the cell phone, called my mom and Norma (family friend training to become a doula) and starting filling the pool. Bill left work as soon as he saw there was an 'urgent voicemail' on the cell and called me on the drive home.

By 12:45, the pool was filled and I was using the birth ball during contractions. Leaning on the birth ball with my knees on the floor became my position of choice during contractions. My mom, Kelcy (midwife's apprentice) and Norma arrived about 1:00am. Gay arrived at 1:20 and started setting up her supplies and Bill got home right after that. Norma lightly rubbed my back during contractions. She brought a neat relaxation CD which we played until after Jeremy was born.

At 2:30 Gay checked me and I was 8cm. She was surprised that I was that dialated because no one really thought I was in active labor because I was laughing and joking between contractions and hadn't even broken a sweat. I got in the pool shortly after Gay checked me and labored in the pool for a while.

At 4:10, she offered to break my water and I said go for it! I was 9cm when she broke my water. I hardly got back in the pool before I had another contraction. This was the first contraction that I had to moan through- a pushing contraction! Ouch! I was pushing. They were telling me what a good job I was doing and I said, "I feel his head!" Gay asked me, "Are you pushing?!" and I said, "Yes!". She checked and said, "OMG, there he is!" That was about 4:30. Bill scrambled into the pool to support me and at 4:32 Jeremy crowned and at 4:34 he was born. I pushed out the placenta three minutes later and we cut the cord a minute later. Talk about "wham, bam thank you ma'am"!!

My mom cut the cord (and she's very proud of this too!) and then everyone helped me to bed with Jeremy. Elana had slept through the entire labor and woke up because she was sleeping in our bed (yes, the family bed) and Jeremy was crying. She was very sleepy at first (it was 5:00am after all) but after that patted him and smiled.

Kelcy showed us the placenta and all that fun stuff and then she bagged it to put it in the freezer (it's still there, we haven't decided exactly what we'll do with it yet). Gay and Kelcy weighed and measured him and did a newborn exam. Of course, he was perfect! Gay and Kelcy gave him scores of 10/10. After that, everyone got ready to go home so we could rest. Ellie went home with my mom to spend a few hours so that we (Bill, Jeremy and I) could get some sleep. Mom, Dad and Josh brought her home early evening and my dad treated us all to steak dinners from Hobby's. Yum.

It was a short labor overall, and only the last half hour was intense. I attribute the ease of my labor to my comfort. I was in my own home with a wonderful midwife and family and friends who supported me. I'm so thankful that I was able to experience a pure birth without the trappings that go along with technology and hospital births. I feel that my son's wonderful birth erases the disappointments and interventions that I experienced with my daughter's birth at the hospital.

Bill wasn't really crazy about the idea of homebirth in the beginning but I overheard him on the phone with his best friend telling him how great it was at home and that it made a big difference in how the birth went. We've since discussed it and it was only fear of the unknown. He is all for homebirth now and if we do end up having a third child (crossing my fingers!) it will definitely be a homebirth. I will never again consider the hospital a place for a healthy woman to birth.

Welcome to Our World~ Jeremy Kenneth Sanders
7lb 7oz and 20in long
Apgars of 10/10
Waterbirthed at home on April 24, 2003 (39w6d) at 4:34am

Jeremy is named in honor and memory of his maternal uncle, Jeremy Kenneth Ingram (November 29, 1988- February 10, 1990) and his paternal grandfather, Kenneth Gordon Sanders (December 1933- February 1998).

Pictures can be seen at: http://groups.msn.com/busybusymomma
 
See less See more
1
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top