Our Doula's Version of
Jacob's HomeBirth

Lisa and Mike found one of my brochures at a birthing center affiliated with a local Hospital. They were interested in having a doula present mainly to help with their children, Mikey(5 1/2) and Amanda(2 1/2), during the birth. Their family wasn't comfortable with the fact that Lisa would be having an out-of-hospital birth and the children would be present. Mikey was even going to cut the cord!

Lisa's first two hospital birth experiences were much less than she expected. Lisa has such a sweet disposition that I think it was difficult to assert herself. By choice, she went through both labors without epidurals, but amniotomy, episiotomy and pitocin (with the second birth) were unwelcome procedures.

With this pregnancy, Lisa, with Mike's blessing, decided to have as much control over the birthing process as possible. Having a doula present was the second step after choosing to have her baby at a birthing center. After meeting with them at 19 weeks gestation, I learned their preference of procedure for different situations, went over their birth plan and became acquainted with each other. I thought they were a really nice family and their children were very cute, well-behaved and very affectionate. I knew this family would be a joy to work with. I let them know that I would be there to help them in whatever capacity they needed me, whether it be helping with the children at the birth or helping Lisa.

Durning the next few months, Lisa informed me that the AFP test was normal. She didn't want an amnio (as suggested). Amanda and Mikey went to a special birth class at the birthing center. In September, as Lisa was going over her birth plan with the midwives she decided that she was not comfortable with them and opted for a homebirth midwife named Judy. Lisa said she was hesitant to inform me of this because of how a lot of people feel about homebirth, but was relieved to know that I thought it was a great idea and something I would choose for myself. I reminded Lisa thatI would support her in any way that I could so that she could have a safe and satisfying birth experience. We decided that all involved in the birth (Lisa, Midwife and myself)would meet closer to her due date of November 14th to talk about the birth and become better acquainted.

On Wednesday, October 15, 1997, we met at Lisa's house. I was excited about meeting my first homebirth midwife. Mike seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with all the birth talk and was in the kitched a lot! When Judy examined Lisa, she found her cervix to be mushy and 2 cent. but still posterior. The baby was really low, at about a 0-+1 station and there was some mucous present. Since Lisa was at 36 weeks, Judy hoped Lisa could keep the baby in at least for one more week so she wouldn't have to make the decision to go to the hospital for the birth. She also didn't think it would take much to start her labor and felt with Lisa's history that the baby would definitely be earlier than expected. We left around 11:30 p.m.

At 10:20 a.m. the next morning, I recieved a call from Mike saying that the midwife had come back early in the morning because Lisa thought she was in labor. She was only examined at 10:15 a.m. and was at 7-8 centimeters! I got dressed and got to her house in 30 minutes. When I arrived Lisa was in a good mood because her contractions had stopped. This lasted at least one hour, perhaps one and one half hours. Judy said that she had seen this happen before and the baby's heart rate was fine so Lisa was able to rest for awhile. Judy was waiting for an oxygen tank to be delivered because someone had tampered with hers the day before at a birth, and felt that Lisa was somehow waiting for the oxygen to be delivered before she continued the birthing process. I had been tending to the children as Mike and Judy waited with Lisa, so I'm not exactly sure when the contractions resumed. I went upstairs at 12:50 p.m. to check on her and Lisa was kneeling on the floor concentrating on her contraction. Mike was rubbing her sacrum and saying soothing things to her. A tape of the ocean was on. Her contractions came only about 8 minutes apart. At 1:00 p.m. her water broke rather forcefully with a contraction and we could hear a little pushing grunt. Judy and I looked at each other with a little smile knowing that it was time to push. The amniotic fluid was clear. Lisa cried a little during the next contraction and we acknowledged her discomfort and reminded her that the baby would be in her arms soon. We all quietly whispered words of encouragement and support to her during this phase of labor.

I personally was absolutely thrilled to be at a homebirth and to be of assistance to the midwife. Everything was so different than the hospital births that I've been to. It was peaceful in Lisa's bedroom and had the warm smell of comfort. I loved handing the midwife things and hearing her gentle words to Lisa. Lisa was the quiet director and Judy was accomodating to Lisa's desires for position, drinks and amount of pushing. Actually, Lisa's contractions were pretty far apart. I think she only pushed about eight times until the baby crowned.

Lisa moved to a semi-sitting position on the bed as her knees were tiring. She sat with her eyes closed as if she were lost in another world in between contractions. As the baby crowned, I called Mikey and Amanda to watch their baby brother being born and they stood at the foot of the bed very interested in what their mother was doing. They said "happy birthday" to little Jacob as he lay on his mother's belly. Mikey decided that he didn't want to cut the cord afterall. I think the blood and fluids changed his mind. He and Amanda went back downstairs to watch cartoons as Lisa delivered the placenta. This took about 30 minutes as Lisa had no urge to push. Judy gave her a dose of Lady's Mantle to prevent any hemmoraging and we all waited. Lisa stroked Jacob's back and commented on his dark head of hair. Lisa was rather expressionless during this time, trying to grasp the reality that was occuring. She was holding her newborn son that she had just given birth to in her own bed. She really did it her way and without a hitch. I felt her sense of triumph later when she was smiling a Jacob and talking to him.

This experience gave me courage to birth my baby at home someday. Lisa said it was painful but she never looked out of control or even in that much pain. She was very quiet and relaxed when I saw her from 7 cm to birth, and only made a little noise during the actual delivery. I had expected it to be noisier! But I didn't expect it to be as beautiful as it was.

It only took 10 minutes to clean up the linens on the floor and change Lisa and the bed. Lisa wanted to eat some of the placenta so Judy cut a few pieces off and put it in a blender with pineapple-orange juice. Lisa said it did not taste bad. Jacob weighed 5 lbs. and was 18 inches long. His apgars were 9 and 10 (nine for some bluish limbs). Judy determined his age to be between 36 and 37 weeks by the amount of erectile tissue on his nipples and the fact that he had only very slight creases on the soles of his feet. He was very alert during his examination and made cute little baby sounds. He was then bundled in warm clothes and nursed again immediately. Mikey and Amanda were loving Jacob right away as they said cute things to him and touched him gently. I was surprised by their genuine interest and affection towards him so soon. I think they will always remember his birth and have a special bond with him.