Why we chose a Home Birth with a Midwife.

The Birth Story of our Daughter Emma:

My story begins on Monday, March 25th. I was beginning to wonder when I was going to go into labor with Miss Emma. My due date had been the previous Monday March 18th and still no sign of Emma. Sure, I had had lots of early labor signs and knew it would be soon. But that had been going on for nearly two weeks! Drew took the day off of work to be with me because I was weary and he was helping me with our 19 month old son, Aaron. We just had a relaxing day, my midwife had come by that morning and confirmed I was walking around at 4 cm dilated, and then that night we decided to grab a bite to eat out as a last hurrah as a family of three. I had been having stronger Braxton hicks contractions, but nothing more. On the way home from dinner I realized the contractions had changed. And I had had at least 2 for real contractions in the 15 minute drive home! Finally! It seemed that things were happening! So, we got home and began to time the contractions. They weren't super consistent, but they were getting stronger! So, we called my midwife, and decided to wait another couple of hours timing contractions and see what happened. We also called Drew's family to let them know they could come our way! They were going to stay at our house with Aaron while we went to have Emma! Contractions continued to get stronger and we got more and more excited! By 1am, Drew's family got to our house and Drew and I hit the road! We got to my midwife's a little before 2am and I was about 5cm! We were thinking we would get to meet our little girl in just a few hours! Little did we know! I continued to labor and then things slowed down....so, we decided to get some sleep because I knew I had a big job ahead of me! In the morning, Linda (my midwife) made breakfast and I was still contracting....sometimes some really strong contractions and sometimes not. This was definitely much different than with Aaron. I began to wonder if something might be wrong or if maybe she was just turned wrong. And that is how I continued all through the day, sometimes strong contractions and then sometimes not so strong. Drew was my hero during labor! He held me up through each contraction as my position of choice was standing up. That evening they really picked up and we thought for sure that this was it! My water broke and we could see her head! It was really cool! Except then my contractions slowed considerably and she was no longer progressing downward, but had gone back up. In the back of my mind I knew something was not right. Yes, I remember being scared, but I was so focused on birthing this special little girl that I could hardly think of anything else. We decided to allow me to rest and wait for things to pick up again. It was now after midnight and into Wednesday morning! Everyone went to catch a few winks and so did I. This was not a normal labor at all! A couple of hours later I woke up with stronger contractions again and I had this determination that I needed to birth this little girl! Everyone woke up and we began discussing options. This was the hard part. I was thankful for my husband at this point because he made the tough decisions for me. I was so determined I did not care what we did. I just knew we had to do something and birth this little girl. For the first time in my life I acquired a one track mind! It was decided that Emma was not turned right and that as a last ditch effort (because the next option was transport for a c-section) my midwife would go in and manually turn her. My husband came over to me and my midwife with him and we all just prayed and asked God to use my midwife to bring our little girl here without any problems. This was the hardest moment of my life! So, I was told to just relax as much as possible and when she said to bear down and push to bear down and push for all I was worth! Any discomfort I felt before was nothing compared to what I experienced, but I didn't care at that point! I was that focused! Three contractions later, at 7am on March 27th, my beautiful little girl was born with the cord wrapped around her neck twice! My midwife got her unwrapped quickly and she began to cry! It was the most beautiful sound all of us had ever heard! There were tears all around! Come to find out she was not turned correctly at all. My midwife literally turned her 180 degrees! Every time I contracted and pushed it was pushing her into my pelvis incorrectly. This caused her to be bruised and her forehead was a bit misshapen. But she was healthy and beautiful and it was over! For almost an hour me and Emma just rested! We did not cut the cord until it stopped pulsing nearly 45 minutes later. My 10lb 3oz, 22 inch long baby girl was my little miracle! Amazingly, I did not tear at all and hardly even bled (I hemorrhaged with my son, so we were prepared this time). It was truly a special labor and delivery! I am so thankful that I had decided to go with my midwife over a hospital birth because I would have had to have endured an emergency c-section for sure! Total hours in labor were 37! 

So, why did we decide to go this route? Because our rights as parents are being taken away in the hospital. Procedure has taken precedence to what is best for mom and baby and doctors and nurses rely on procedure and on machines than on solutions when things do not go according to "normal." In the hospital they believe labor and delivery should follow a set standard. The thing that is wrong with this way of thinking is that every woman labors differently. Some women's bodies (like mine) require more time, whereas others only require a couple of hours. Women come in all different shapes and sizes, but all women are made to birth babies! Our bodies were specially designed by God for this very thing! 

Unfortunately, the hardest part is not fighting to have a natural, unmedicated birth in a hospital. It is after your precious baby is born. Immediately, they want to apply medications onto and into this newborn body. Most, if not all of these are not necessary. It is this reason that caused us to desire the home birth route with a Certified Professional Midwife. 

When my son was born back in 2011 we specifically stated in our birth plan that we did not want the eye salve antibiotic that they put on all children. We had done our research and found out that it was to prevent an infection in eyes in the event the mother was being dishonest and actually had an STD like gonorrhea. If the mother had an STD it could lead to infection in the newborn and could cause blindness. So, because of the lack of trust in the mother, they apply this to every baby. We refused it because we knew there was no risk of infection. My doctor had signed off on this on our birth plan so it was not a huge issue. 

What did have us a bit upset was concerning our wishes about the vitamin k shot. I was taking a liquid chlorophyl supplement knowing that was the better alternative to the vitamin k for my son. He would receive what he needed through my milk. Both of the doctors had signed off on this on our birth plan. Apparently, that does not matter though, because the nurse, against our wishes, with my husband standing there opposing the decision, gave it to my son. Well, he got jaundice so bad that we had to stay longer in the hospital and we were charged a lot more money. When I got home I looked up the vitamin K shot and sure enough jaundice is one of the side effects.  

This time around we did not have to deal with any of those issues after Emma was born. Yes, she had a difficult time getting here, but instead of going ahead and cutting me open, the decision was made to try to turn her and see what happened. I was ok, and Emma was fine. We monitored her heart tones through it all and she was never in a state of distress. To me it was the difference of my midwife being an active part of my entire labor and delivery and making the best decision possible based on me and my baby verses a doctor just running in last minute to catch the baby or perform an emergency c-section. For me, going the route of a midwife was one of the best I could have made for the health of me and my daughter.