Miles's Homebirth ( very long)

 Looks like November 2nd was a productive day

After months of BH I had a period of calm and I felt like I was disappointing people around me every day when they checked on me. Then I had a couple of days when DH were strong and all through the day. It meant nothing to me since LO actually went back up. At my appointment with MW I felt like I was the problem, just not mentally ready for it. I was preparing myself for a long hard labor since last time my contractions did not pick up and with Pitocin it took hours.

November 1st was my due date with MW, which was based on my chart and not my LMP. When I got home I decided that I REALLY did not want to go to work the next day and was really ready for the LO to come. I even had DS #1 tell little brother to come. LOL. That evening we took DS #1 to playground, I was swinging for a while and then we took the long way home and walked as fast as I could. We ate dinner and put DS #1 to bed as usual, nothing exciting. I took a shower and started watching some TV with DH around 9pm. Then I noticed real contractions, with a build-up and a peak and release. I though little of it until I realized I had 3 during a 20 minute TV show episode. I told DH that we might have a baby that night. He looked at me strangely and I told him I've been having contractions for the past 40 minutes. He freaked out a little and downloaded an app to time the contractions. It was a bit challenging because I started running off to bathroom with upset stomach. Having contractions on the toilet was not fun.

DH asked if he should call MW and I said we should wait even though each contractions was closer and closer to the previous one. I just could not believe this was a real thing and I that I was timing correctly. Just in case I decided to go ahead and make the birthday cake I was planning on making during my long labor... I figured worse case scenario I would have to make another one. By this point I started walking circles around the house during contractions. DH asked if he should start feeling up the birth pool just in case and I was just not sure, but he probably should run to the store to get ice and veggie tray for snacks. He started on the pool and called midwife about 10:30. I told her that we might have a baby that night, but did not want her to come because I was not sure this was the real thing. I had contractions while on the phone with her, but held conversation, so she asked if I had any blood (no) and told me to take a bath and see if contractions would stop. DH left to the store and I finished cake between contractions, got baking pan out and ran a bath. By then I gave up timing my contractions, last time I did they were 3 min apart. Before bath I went potty and noticed some blood. I txted midwife about it and she said she was coming to check me, she would rather make a trip for nothing than miss birth. I got into bath, had 1 horrible contractions when I could not move around and promptly got out. I wanted to shave and put on some make up, but my contractions were strong and close together so I mainly leaned on the couch and swayed and squatted, which made it more intense, but felt more productive. Thinking of flower opening made it more intense.

DH was still at the store, DS #1 started crying, so I had to go to his room even though I was scared how he would take it if I had contraction in front of him. As Ina May stories mention, my contractions just stopped cold turkey while I was in his room and I felt silly that midwife was on her way. Once I left his room 5 min later, contractions picked up where they left off, fast and furious. Holding on to the couch I thought that I might not be able to make it through hours of "this" and realized that I was probably in transition. That scared me and I decided to lay down until DH got home to hopefully slow things down. It worked for a few blissful minutes. Then another contraction came and I grunted a little. That really scared me because I realized I was starting to push. Then DH came home and tried to ask me something and instead heard me grunt. He knew what it meant. I asked him to call MW and see where she was. Thankfully she was on our street. I moved to the toilet because I felt like I had another round of upset stomach. I definitely started pushing hard once there. Next thing my MW was there with huge eyes telling me it was ok, she was there. I told her I was not sure if I was suppose to push, all confused how in the world I was pushing already!!

Poor MW had procedure done on her wrist that day and was not supposed to get it wet. But, there was no time for the back-up midwife to show up, so DH wrapped tape around the glove the best he could and she checked me. The baby was "right there" and she told me to go to the birth pool right away if I wanted to deliver there. I was not sure what I wanted to do because I did not want her to get her hand wet. So we argued a little (somewhere in there I told DH to get the camera since I realized documentary lady was not going to make it). Another contraction hit and pop, my water broke. MW and I just paused for a second and I dashed to the birth pool. DH had changed into his swim trunks when he got home and realized how close we were, but he never got into the pool. I pushed for total of 10 minutes after midwife came and Miles Ethan was born. I felt the head pop out, then shoulders and the rest of the body slide out. I never felt these things with DS #1 because I was overwhelmed by pitocin contractions. When had came out MW checked for the cord and then took over the camera while DH caught the baby. Miles cried immediately once he was out of the water. I sent DH to bring DS #1. He came to meet his brother and was super excited and gave him a kiss. Placenta was delivered and put in a bowl. Baby was basically wrapped and laying on top of the bowl. I moved to bed and took pictures of DH and DS#1 cut the cord together. Miles was 8 lb 4.5 oz, 21 inches long with 14+ cm head born at 12:48am. I had 2nd degree tear.

The documentary lady, back-up midwife and my MIL came shortly thereafter. DH got his wish- a private birth, I got mine- DS#1 was at home with us. DH was also right about short labor - under 4 hours. There was a lot of paperwork, breastfeeding, some stitches, herbal bath and champagne in the next few hours. Documentary lady got some footage of this, but not actual birth. I let her watch it on our camera and had no problem with her being in the room while I was stitched up (no video). Even though I barely knew her, she was a friend at the moment and shared our excitement.

Miles's homebirth gave me the biggest "high", I could not even sleep. It was such an amazing experience, even though DH was not there to help me with labor and MW barely made it. It was fun and it was amazing !