MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER'S BIRTH STORY
Why a Home Birth?
When we first found out I was pregnant I didn’t realize there were so many different options on how to have your baby. I thought it was mandatory to have your baby at the hospital and with a doctor. As we began searching for a doctor we also explored the option of a midwife, which lead to us discovering birth centers and home births. After my sister Niza had her baby last July, I realized labor and delivery isn’t something to be fearful over and seeing how successful hers was, it led me to discovering how I wanted our birth story to be.
My biggest motivator wasn’t so much about having a natural birth, but rather comfort. I wanted my entire family to be there, where they too could be comfortable. I really desired for my mom to be there along with Mike’s mom, but I didn’t want them to feel forced. The thought of having our labor/delivery at home gave them the liberty to be there but also step away/out as they pleased. I am so humbled by God’s grace because He gave us just that. My labor and delivery was everything I wanted and more. It was stress free, relaxed, and when the baby was born he never left our sight or arms. My mom and Mike’s mom were able to meet Michael Christopher the second he was born ♡. I also loved that we could welcome visitors at anytime without it feeling overbearing, because they could hangout in our living room while I rested upstairs with the baby. These were some of the many blessings we were able to enjoy.
My due date was on December 14th, 2019, I was scheduled to see my midwives on Tuesday for my 39 week check up, but since my weeks started on Friday’s and I really didn’t think this baby was going to be coming anytime soon I pushed it back for Thursday. I was excited about this appointment because it was the first one my mom could attend with me. At this point I am feeling pretty normal, except for swelling in my feet, it was getting pretty bad to the point where walking, running, and/or elevating my legs wouldn’t help at all. We went in for my appt and everything seemed normal, my midwife reassured me that the swelling in my feet were normal and it just means the baby is coming. She took my blood pressure and it was elevated–my blood pressure is typically in the 90s–it was elevated in the high 130s. My mom was really concerned at this point and immediately preclempsia came to her mind. So my midwife checked my urine sample for protein and it came back negative….phew. But because my blood pressure was elevated and we were 1 day from my due date my midwife decided to check for dilation and perform a membrane sweep. After checking, I was 1.5cm dilated and 60% effaced, I was sent home to relax, distract myself, and to check my blood pressure three times a day. So off we went.
The next day, on my due date I ran my last mile and it felt good, running really alleviated the swelling in my feet. On Saturday we decided to go up to Washington D.C. to do some Christmas shopping, tons of walking and distractions, still no signs of the baby. My dad kept saying the baby wasn’t coming until the 28th! hahah (2 weeks past my due date)
That night at 1:13am my water broke, I was sleeping and it immediately woke me up. I jumped out of bed and was so upset with myself, I said not again I peed my pants, but for some reason when I got up and the water kept coming I knew it wasn’t urine. I woke Mike up and told him what had happened and asked him if I should call my midwife now or wait till the morning. Half asleep he responded and said to call her now, so I sent her an email and within the hour she called and told me to time my contractions if I was having any, to relax, get some rest, and she would check on me in the morning. So I went back to sleep but an hour later I was woken up by intense cramping and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I started to time my contractions for the next hour and they started at 6 minutes apart and towards the end of the hour they were 4 minutes apart. The intensity started to pick up so I decided to get in the tub to ease the pain, but they weren’t letting up. So I laid down and just tried to go to sleep. At 7 am my midwife called to check up on me and told me she would be heading my way, I kept telling her it wasn’t necessary, I didn’t want her to come up for my “pre-labor”, but she insisted. I then went downstairs to tell my mom of the exciting news..she couldn’t believe me! haha By 10am my duola and midwife had showed up. In the meantime Mike and my dad were dropping Roman off at doggy daycare and picking up some last minute things for our home birth. My contractions were starting to get really painful as time went on, but during all of this I was in denial and kept wondering when real labor was about to occur. haha My midwives were noticing that I was starting to get a little fatigued so they suggested I get in the tub and boy oh boy how wonderful it was!! It was so relieving, I literally felt like I was taking naps in between contractions (they were 4 minutes apart) After about an hour my midwife told me I had to get out because my contractions were slowing down…I wanted to cry I asked her “do i really have too” haha She told me I could get in the shower and would check my dilation in an hour. but that didn’t help, if anything I hated it. Once I got out I only lasted about 20 minutes, my midwife checked me and I was 8.5 cm!! Whoop whoop what a relief! Now I believed I was in labor, I immediately asked the midwives if they could go and tell my mom. She was in and out of the room she was a nervous wreck at times haha and couldn’t handle the action! Lol I’m not sure how much time went by but before I knew it I was able to start pushing. I started off laying down on my back but wasn’t a big fan and asked to change positions and try being on my hands and knees but that position exhausted me so I asked if I could try standing and this position was my favorite! And finally…. after an hour of pushing our sweet baby boy was born at 4:54 pm! As soon as he was born, the pain was quickly forgotten and replaced with intense joy! "Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.” John 16:21
Our midwives were RiverCity Midwifery I could not have done this without them…Mike and I are forever grateful!
