On Aug 21 my dream of a home waterbirth was realized with the birth of Bethany Camille.
She was due on Aug 15, and my pattern was to only go a couple of days over, so by the 20th I was having a lot of "this is just never going to start on it's own" type of thoughts. Which sounds funny even to me since I plan to work in the childbirth field myself! At 7pm I had a bit of show and called the midwife to put her on alert that things might happen that night, and then at 9pm on a trip to the bathroom my water broke. I was so NOT impressed about that, as I have experienced labour after rupture of membranes and know how much more difficult it can be! There was a bit of meconium staining, but nothing too worrisome, and midwife came and checked us--everything was fine. Contractions started immediately, and progressed quite quickly, so by 11:30 or so when the pool was filled and ready I was in quite heavy labour and ready for it! We spent the time in a dark room with a few candles and some gentle music, me in the pool and dear husband behind me for support. There was also a fantastic lightning storm going on that night, and I wish I had been better able to appreciate it as there's not much I like more than a good storm!
I was complete at about 1:30am, and she was born at 1:48am, for a total of about 5 hours of labour. I can't say that the water provided noticeable pain relief for me, but I never did any heavy labour out of the water so maybe that would have been worse. Also her head measured at 37cm (14 1/2") which is pretty big, so maybe nothing could have cured that! I brought her to the surface immediately by pure reflex. I had thought before about maybe paying attention to her and bringing her up more slowly (like maybe less than 1 minute) but of course you're just not responsible for your actions at that point and I scooped her right up! Her cord broke at that time because it was very short and quite thin (didn't have this with my other 2 kids) so I didn't spend too much time in the pool as I had to get out so my midwife could clamp the other end. Couldn't have her client bleeding out on her, you know.. :-)
She behaved just like what you hear sometimes happens in home or water births, acting like she didn't quite realize that she'd been born. She never really did cry, just gave a couple of mews and sighs and tried to open her eyes. Beth weighed in at 9 lbs 4 oz and was 22" long. And she continues to be a very calm and contented baby, never really fusses, and goes right back to sleep after she feeds in the night! I wish you all this kind of baby!
It is so very clear to me how unneccesary a doctor/hospital would be in my case, and would even be detrimental. And a nice suprise is how good I feel now, at 1 week postpartum compared to my last pregnancy & birth. Part of this is due to Beth letting me get lots of sleep, I'm sure, but I suspect that some of it has to do with how I decided to have this baby. I am totally happy with my choice and looking forward to getting to know my new daughter and also continuing on with my plans for study in childbirth and midwifery.
Cheryl Francis
mom to Kayleigh (4), Jenna (3) and Bethany (8 days)
Used by permission of author
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