Bradley Method Homebirth (short labor, long story!)

ClaireOtoms · October 2013

At 38 weeks 6 days gestation, my midwife raised a concern that my fundal height was measuring 43 cm. Even though we all know that ultrasounds can be off by at least a pound, we decided to go in for a check to see if there was an obvious problem that would rule out a home birth. We went in to the hospital the next day (midwife at my side - she is so awesome) for a quick sono that measured Wyatt at 9 lbs 3 oz with no polyhydramnios or other anomalies; on the large side but certainly nothing that I didn't feel I could handle.

That night my husband hesitated about whether he should go to his weekly volunteer fire department meeting, since I had been feeling extra tired. I encouraged him to get out of the house, and proceeded to spend the next three hours keeping busier than I had been the last month of my pregnancy. I remember really savoring bedtime with DS1, rocking him and snuggling him for a few extra minutes. After he went to bed I got the cleaning bug and wandered around the house doing dishes, sweeping, lighting candles and listening to music. I had no real clue that labor was about to start, but judging from my actions there was something subconscious at play.

DH came home to a quite, clean house and a serene wife. We crawled into bed and started looking at DS1's baby pictures. Suddenly we both HEARD (and I felt) my water break - around 10:30 pm. I texted my mw to let her know that things might get started sometime in the night, and that we were going to try to get some sleep. About 15 minutes later I was calling her to get here soon - my contractions were already 3 minutes apart. I also called my mom, since she was going to be there to take care of DS1 in case he woke up.

While we waited for mw to arrive DH TRIED to get the birth pool set up, but since my contractions were so close and intense he didn't have much time to do anything but support me. I remember him saying he felt like the poor dad in the Bradley video who was just trying to eat a sandwich while his wife was in labor - remember that one? Ha!

Once mw arrived 30 minutes later things started moving even more quickly. I went to the bathroom and didn't bother to put my pants back on, and said "well there's a modesty signpost for you!" I think that's the last joke I made until after Wyatt was born. We gave up on the birth pool and I found quickly that I just wanted to lay on my side in bed with DH rubbing my back and talking me through contractions. I had one contraction that seemed to go on and on and on - probably 2 or 3 minutes long - and I told DH I couldn't do this if I wasn't going to get a break. I started saying I wanted to get out of my body, and then said "it's way too soon for transition; how am I going to handle the rest of this labor?!" It couldn't have been much more than an hour since my water broke, because both my mom and mw's assistant showed up around that time.

Mother nature truly is kind, because very shortly after that double peaking contraction I started grunting through contractions. MW did her first and only cervical check and told me I was fully dilated with a tiny posterior lip. I did my best to breathe the baby down until the urge to push was overwhelming. I tried the alternate classic position leaning back against DH, but when I realized it meant I would have to hold my own legs back while pushing - you wouldn't believe how fast I flipped over to hands and knees! Something about holding my legs back made me feel like I was completely out of control. I finished pushing in hands and knees position and squatting with my arms around DH's neck (although will tell you there was one point at which I climbed on top of him momentarily). At 12:30 am, after 2 hours of labor (including 25 minutes of pushing), Wyatt crowned with a compound presentation - right hand on his cheek. He still sleeps like that. The umbilical cord was really, really long and had wrapped around his body multiple times.

We were able to do immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin, and my mom went and woke DS1 up to meet his new brother. Wyatt's apgar's were 9 and 10, and I lost a very minimal amount of blood, though I did have a 2nd degree tear. 3 hours later everyone was gone and we were able to sleep comfortably in our own bed.

My homebirth was an amazing experience, and barring any medical complications I would never do it any other way again. We are all smitten with little Wyatt (even DS!!), everyone is happy and healthy.