My homebirth

Here's my story:

My baby was late. I was stressed because I wanted to have my homebirth and she was so late I was about to risk out of it.  Baby was ROP and engaged but not going any further. She was ready to come out but for some reason she just wouldn't or couldn't.

Friday, I went to the chiropractor. No major misalignment. I planned to go back Monday anyway, though. What else could I do? Monday, March 11th rolls around, we really needed to have this baby. My MW called and suggested we see an acupuncturist. I skipped the chiro.

The acupuncturist was very interested in my predicament. She poked me with many needles that didn't hurt (as long as I relaxed and didn't move to much or too fast) and stuck short fat rounds of mugwort incense to my pinky toes (called moxibustion). After an hour's rest, she showed me the pressure points I was to instruct my DH to massage at home. When she rubbed my ankles in the right place it hurt like a purple bruise. I winced.

"Oh, its going to hurt." she said in the sweetest voice, her thumbs rubbing the sore spots harder, "You're very tight. These are connected to your reproductive organs. It will hurt. You're tight. It should hurt." I couldn't help but feel that her words were also about the pains of labor.

I realized then that I was scared and that it was making me tense. maybe my fears and stress were making it hard for baby to turn, drop and come out? I talked as much as I could to DH about my fears while he rubbed my ankles. It helped. I went to bed, DH and I both thinking that my bump looked lower or at least different. I peed more times that night too.

I woke up to pee at around 6:30am on Tuesday morning and felt/heard a pop low in my pelvis. The acupuncturist had said that I might hear or feel a pop when baby turned. Maybe this was it? But when I got up slick fluid came gushing out. I couldn't move without spilling fluid everywhere. I called DH for help and after we made it to where I could walk, I called my midwife.

MW said to call her when contractions started but no contractions ever came. When my fluid leakage turned from gushing and soaking to what seemed like simple incontinence, I called her back. We had planned to to a BPP that day or Wednesday. We both decided to do it that day.

Meanwhile, I went to another acupuncture session before our appointment at the u/s clinic. My session was shorter and no moxibustion.

After the u/s, we got our results back immediately, 8/8 and normal fluid levels.

The next day, my MW came over and we discussed our options. Since the beginning of our prenatal care, my midwives had calculated my EDD as being 2 days later than my calculation. Those two days were up Friday. We decided that the waters was most likely a fore-bag that ruptured as baby turned. This was confirmed when baby was found to be LOP instead of ROP and my waters seemed to be intact when she did a cervical check. My baby was turning, but taking the long way around to OA! We decided to strip my membranes. It was hard because I was only about 1.5 cm dilated. She did her best. 

On her way out the door she teased, "I'll be back tonight to deliver this baby!"

I went to my third acupuncture appointment and stayed for as long as I could. I was there at least two hours and I had a little moxibustion done too. After I left, I finished up laundry and then had dinner (including lots of celery b/c my friend told me that it induces contractions). I got really sleepy and asked DH to rub my pressure points before I went to bed.

As I began to fall asleep I noticed contractions! I also began to notice that these contractions were time-able! 2 hours later I knew I was going into labor!

My 12 hour labor was intense! It was beautiful, painful and so unbelievable! My baby was born OA She was tilting her head a little on her way out though she righted herself before she came out. It only took about 5-6 pushes to get her out and she came flying out all at once! I tried to take more pushes so I wouldn't tear or tear too badly. But after 42 weeks she was ready to greet the world!

I didn't prep for natural birth at all except to read Spiritual Midwifery which is full of info and birth stories. Both my MW and her assistant offered great advice during labor, tho. They said to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth to try to relax into the contractions and they said to vocalize with low sounds during the contractions and to rest between them. I started out OM-ing and ended up chanting and singing through all of my contractions. DH and the asst. MW also fanned me pretty well and that was nice. I didn't eat anything but I drank water and coconut water and early in the morning I had a small glass of honey water for energy. A couple of times, in order to stand and use gravity, DH and I did a slow dance in place. It was really hard to do but the sweetness of the act made it easier. I was so relaxed when it was time to push that my MW couldn't believe the baby's head was right there when she went to check.

After the bliss of meeting our baby finally (and learning that she is a girl!), it was time to asses my bottom. At first my MW thought I had no tear, but then she discovered a small 3rd degree tear on the right side of my perineum. She also noticed a blood blister on my urethra. I was still numb from the birth at the time and when she got me prepped with laticaine I stayed numb for almost 36 hours. I've still only taken four doses of advil over the course of the last 6 days since the labor.

I had prepped a postpartum care kit that included frozen comfrey maxi's (shaped to fit as they froze on a cookie tray) and aloe/witchhazel/lavender oil spray. The comfrey packs needed a little defrosting before each use and make my seat wet (so I use absorbent underpads) but they work great. The spray irritated my urethra after using it a lot, so I stopped all together.

I had a wonderful homebirth and a great recovery (so far) and I hope my story is helpful to some of you. If you have any questions, go ahead!