Planned home waterbirth turned UA homebirth - 45 min labor

Sunday morning was a normal day. Wake up, make breakfast, head to church. Of course, it being 1 day prior to my due date, everyone was asking how I was and couldn't believe I hadn't had my baby yet. When we got home, I set to work on my latest Sunday craft project: sewing a carseat cover for our soon-to-arrive little one. It took all day and I finished it around 1:30 in the morning. I'm dedicated like that.

During the day, I got multiple texts and phone calls from my midwife, both doulas and parents, all asking how I was feeling, wondering if this week would be the week. I honestly didn't think it would be. I felt fine, like nothing was coming. Rob asked me what my body was telling me, to which I replied "It doesn't talk to me anymore. I have no idea what to expect." I had given up trying to decipher all the "signs" of labor.

So at 2:00am Monday morning, we finally went to bed. At about 4:45am, I woke up and felt about 3 fairly intense contractions. This wasn't entirely uncommon, as I had been getting contractions like this (only not as strong) for about 2 weeks while lying in bed. I got up to pee and went back to bed just as another contraction was starting. At 5:05, as I got back into bed and settled on my side, I felt a "POP" and then a gush! Holy cow, it was happening!!! I told Rob that my water had broken and asked him to go get a towel. Somehow, miraculously, I was able to catch it and cover myself enough that only a small spot got on the bed.

I went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. I asked Rob to go downstairs and get the birth tub blown up. He also turned up the heat so it would be nice a toasty for us. Did I mention that we were in the middle of a blizzard? No? Well, we were. At this point, we had already received about 7 inches of snow. I called Aly, our midwife, at 5:07 to let her know what was going on. She asked if I wanted her to start getting ready to leave right then, and I said it would probably be a good idea, but I would call her in 10 minutes when I knew how close and strong my contractions were. At 5:18, I called her back and said she definitely needed to start getting ready. By this point, my contractions were right on top of one another. I didn't even attempt to time them, though I would guess they were about 20 seconds apart. I started feeling nauseous and was shivering uncontrollably. They were so intense and no matter what I did, no matter how I stood or tilted my body, the intensity got stronger.

Rob had been up and down the stairs, getting stuff ready downstairs then coming back up to check on me. At about 5:20, my body started uncontrollably pushing. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I told Rob to forget the tub downstairs and start filling the tub in the bathroom so I could move off the toilet and into the tub. There was only enough time to get about an inch or so of water before I got in. We called Aly back at 5:25 and told her the baby was coming right now. She stayed on the phone throughout the whole thing.

I was squatting in the tub, my feet were the only thing in the water. The contractions were just as strong and there was no break. Surprisingly, as I was pushing, I felt no pain from the crowning. At about 5:29, our little baby's head was born. Her face was turned away from Rob, but he could see that the cord was wrapped over her shoulder from her front to her back and he moved it around to the front of her body. He cradled her head to keep her face out of the water. With the next contraction, I pushed out the rest of our sweet little girl. Rob caught her and immediately put her on my chest. She was quite purple and hadn't opened her eyes yet. Aly was still on the phone and asked if she was opening her eyes or making any sounds. It was a very tense minute or so as we rubbed her vigorously with a towel to warm her up and get her to cry. What lasted only a minute seemed like an hour to us both. She finally opened her eyes and let out a good cry and started to get pink. What an amazing feeling!

Leah heard a baby crying and came to see what was going on. She waited in the hallway until I was ready to have her come in. We had prepared her in advance that it might look gross and there would be some blood but that nobody was hurt. Rob left to get our bed ready so I could move from the tub to the bed. I had Leah come in and meet her new baby sister. She couldn't believe that the baby was finally here. She was so immediately infatuated and speechless. She just stared at this new little life that had come into our family.

Rob came back and helped me get dried off and out of the tub. He supported me and helped me get comfortable in the bed. He immediately gave me a blessing, since we didn't have the time to do it beforehand. Baby girl wasn't ready to eat and didn't latch on right away so we just snuggled on the bed. We called Aly back at 5:50 and she suggested I get out of bed and try to stand to deliver the placenta, allowing gravity to help me out. We were kind of on a timeline to get it out within an hour of the delivery. I stood, then squatted, then stood again for about 10 minutes, but it wasn't ready to come out and I was very uncomfortable so I got back into bed. We called Aly again at 6:30, since we had hit the 1 hour mark and still no placenta. She stayed on the phone with us again and helped walk Rob and I through my contractions, instructing Rob to give gentle traction to the cord to help get it out. At 6:40, Rob caught the placenta too. He sure had done quite a bit of work before the sun even came up!

I was finally able to relax a bit. Rob gave me some ibuprofen to help with the after-birth cramping and our little baby girl latched on for her first meal. She ate like a champ and knew just what to do. Sometime between 7:00 and 8:00, Russell woke up to see what was going on. I don't think he was completely awake when he came in to see us. He climbed up on the bed with me and I asked him if he wanted to see his new little baby sister. He just kinda stared at me and said "Yeah". I think it took him a few minutes to fully wake up and realize that the baby was here. He finally smiled and asked if he could touch her.

At 9:40, Aly and her assistant, Vanessa, pulled into the driveway. They came upstairs and got to work. Both mine and Katie's vital statistics were taken. Our temps, heartrate and my blood pressure were all perfect. When it was time for Katie's exam, we found out she had a head circumference of 13-1/2", was 21-1/2" long and weighed 8 pounds on the dot (of course this was after 2 feedings and her first poop, so it could have been off just a bit). All of her reflexes and physical checks were perfect, just as we already knew she was. After we were given instructions on post-partum care and everything was cleaned up and taken care of, Aly left at about 11:15. We were alone, Rob and I with our 3 perfect children.

Katherine Jane came into this world, delivered by her daddy at 5:30am on her due date, February 21, 2011.

Rob was absolutely amazing throughout the entire day. I knew he would be helpful, I knew he would have no fear and I knew that he could handle anything that happened. Still, I was and am completely in awe of what an amazing man he is. He is my strength and I know that there is no way I could have done what I did without him. He had 3 hours of sleep and managed not only to deliver his baby, but to be a constant help and support for me, take care of his children and launder and clean everything in the house. I am so blessed to have him as my eternal companion and want the world to know how much I love him and appreciate all that he does for his family.