For our 10th child we finally decided to have a homebirth. I was a little nervous since all my other babies were born at the hospital. But, I knew that I wanted a birth that was different and peaceful and a homebirth sounded perfect. Since my past labors were fast, my midwife took time to teach my husband what to do during a delivery in case he was alone. I just thought, "You guys are silly. Of course my midwife will be there."
On 9/29 I went into labor. The midwife came over and told me I was only 4 cm, but she was worried that baby was not head down. I freaked out and prayed that my labor would stop, which it did. The, we went to an ultrasound where they confirmed that baby was breech and not head down.
I spent the next several days feeling anxious, crying, and trying to flip the baby head down. On 10/10 I finally gave up and told the Lord to let me labor be whatever it needs to be.
On 10/11 I woke up at 2 am to go potty. While on the potty I had a contraction. I tried to go back to sleep, but was feeling achy. My husband woke up and asked if I was ok. I told him to go back to sleep and that all was well. He told me, "I am not going to listen to you since I have been here before. I am going to call the midwife." I rolled my eyes at him and said, "It is just one contraction. Let's wait and see how far apart they are." On my next contraction I realized that it was stronger and they were 3-4 minutes apart. I told my husband to fill up the tub which he quickly did as soon as he hung up with the midwife.
As soon as I stepped in the tub, all my achiness went away. I felt great! My midwife called and asked us to keep her on speaker phone. I reached down and could feel my bag of waters bulging. I got on my knees and told my husband that baby was coming. On my next contraction I felt like pushing and I could feel baby moving down. My husband said, "The bag of water is intact and I can see the baby's butt." On My next contraction I pushed again, but when the contraction passed instinct told me to keep pushing. My midwife yelled over the phone, "What is happening? Talk to me!" I felt the bag break and the feet flip out towards the bottom of the tub. Next, the body and the head slid out. My husband put his hands in the water to catch the baby. He took the cord off his neck where it was wrapped 2 times just as the midwife had taught him to do during our prenatal visit. My husband took the baby out of the water and laid him on my chest at 2:37 am where I rubbed the baby and he started to cry. We were both so amazed! Over the speakerphone the midwife asked us to add warm water and to see if baby was pink. At 2:45 am the paramedics turned up and wanted to cut the cord, but I refused and I knew my midwife would be there soon.
Unknown to me, my oldest child went and woke up all the kids to tell them that the baby was born, but they all told him they did not care and wanted to go back to sleep. I later chucked when I heard that. Anyway, our midwife soon got there and sent the paramedics and fire truck away. Next, her crew let me cut the cord and helped me get out of the tub. We spent the next several hours chatting and admiring baby. I was so impressed by how quickly they cleaned up everything. I even saw my midwife scrubbing the tub herself! They were such a great nurturing support team. God blessed me to have a wonderful birth and I am grateful He helped me find a great midwife like Heather Munoz at Nova Birth Services. My birth might be exactly as I envisioned it, but I had all that I needed at the moment I needed it. My husband now jokes that he is a midwife (or midhusband)and has more breech birth experience than most OB's.