My 2022 Home Birth Story Pt 3

My midwife offered me the option of a bath and a nap or powering through. I didn’t mention that at one point I threw up, and prior I was already having a hard time eating anything. So I felt pretty depleted.

I opted for an Epsom salt bath and a nap. Gabe filled the tub and I got right in. I couldn’t lay back because it put too much pressure on my low back, so I sat cross-legged in the bath tub, nodding off to sleep in between rushes.

After about 15 min, I got out of the tub to lay down on our bed and close my eyes for a bit. Unfortunately, Shay had other plans. My contractions stayed pretty regular and pretty intense, so resting wasn’t in the cards.

After a few contractions I got up to tell her I was ready to be done and get this baby out!

There was a slight miscommunication and she initially thought I meant I wanted to go to the hospital so she said to pack a bag and we’d go, to which I responded, “there’s no way I’m going anywhere right now, I just want to power through”.

When I said I wanted to be done, I just meant I didn’t want to take a nap anymore 😅😂. So I got back on the toilet to labor again, and this time it felt different.

Each rush felt even more intense, to the point that it drew guttural grunts from me. My doula stayed with me so Gabe could rest, massaging my back and squeezing my hips.

I felt like I was on the toilet for an eternity, but when I was ready to come off, my midwife checked my cervix again. After a few minutes, I heard the best words I could have heard in that moment: “Let’s have a baby!”

I was seriously so relieved and so excited. Then she told me to breathe through my next few contractions without pushing, and let me tell you that in the moment that literally felt impossible.

But with each rush, I shot out short breaths and tried to stay patient while our doulas and midwife set up the room for birth.

We initially had planned for a water birth, but we were supposed to pick up the blow-up birth tub at our 38-week prenatal visit.
My water broke before that visit, so we never got the tub.

Instead, I chose the birth stool.

The finale (part 4) coming!