We have two girls, Uriel born July 2, 1995 and Mykael born on August 10,
1997.
Both our girls were planned home births. Uriel LaVonne was born July 2, 1995, after less than one and a half hours of labor. I started 'pre-labor' at 11:00PM on Saturday night. The contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart, but they were so mild that I don't count them as labor. I slept through the night
and got up Sunday morning having the same easy contractions. At noon these 'contractions' stopped completely. I sent my husband off to work and told my 'support team' (my mom & chiropractor) to "stand down", that I must have been having the infamous Braxton-Hicks contractions, as I was not due for 2 more days. (My mother had these contractions for three weeks before I was
born). I laid down and took a nap.
I woke up at 2:15PM with my first real contraction. I went from sleeping on the couch, to standing up, wide awake in one second. I immediately started a pot of Red Raspberry Leaf Tea and a tub of water running while I waited to call my husband. I wanted to be sure this was really it if I called him home from work, and I knew he was doing a show until 2:30 and would be unavailable until then.
At 2:25PM, in the bath tub, armed with my tea, I called my husband home. He made the 25 minute drive in about 13 minutes!!! I tried to reach my mom to no avail. When Ken got home he called our chiropractor and she was on her way. Mind you, she had over one hour to drive to reach us and had to get her son to a babysitter first. I labored in the bath tub for several more minutes before I got out. I had purchased a birthing kit, and we proceeded to get everything set out (clamps, syringe, alcohol swabs, gloves, etc.). We layered our bed with a shower curtain and hospital pads. I continued to have stronger contractions, closer together, but they were never painful or more than I could handle. I kept getting everything ready and spiffing the house for "something to do". I would breathe through the contractions and continue on. By 3:15PM I was in transition, but I did not know it!! I had an incredible urge to push, but I would not push because I did not know how far along I had progressed and none of our support team had showed up yet. Ken called the paramedics at this point, so we would have a back-up team just in case of an emergency.
I started running another tub of water and started getting into it when it was just 2 inches filled. Ken went downstairs and left the door opened for the paramedics. I called him into the bathroom, and he found me kneeling on one knee and standing on one foot, in the tub. I told him I though this was it, and he reached beneath me just in time to catch Uriel's head!!!!! At this point the paramedics came in, saw me in the tub, saw what they thought was the cord around Uriel's neck, and panicked!! They wanted to pull Uriel out, and I told them "NO!!!". They quickly looked and realized that it was just her neck folds. Then they picked me up and carried me to our bed (6 feet away). I was not on the bed 15 seconds when Uriel was born. NO PUSHING, NO KIDDING. Uriel came out with my contractions, I did not push her out.
The paramedics continued their mild panic. I made them wait until the cord stopped pulsating until we clamped it. We provided them with all the cord clamps, bulb syringe etc. before they could dig them out of their bags, because we had everything laid out on the dresser. After about 20 minutes, once the cord was cut, they pulled a stretcher into our bedroom and started preparing to take us to the hospital. I told them we were fine and staying home. They called into their main office to get "permission" to leave us home (like they could make us go to the hospital!?!?!), and they went on their merry way. Uriel LaVonne was 9 pounds 8 ounces, 21 inches long and perfectly healthy.
Mykael Ruth was also 9 pounds 8 ounces, 21 inches long and perfectly healthy. Her labor was much longer. I started at 2:00AM and she was born at 6:45PM. Don't start labor in the middle of the night!! I was so tired by morning that I would lay down in bed or in a tub of hot water and fall asleep because I would get so relaxed that my contractions would stop. My mom and mother-in-law were both at our house from about 4:00AM because we expected a fast labor like Uriel's. My contractions never got to the point of having a steady pattern or strength. I was having contractions every few minutes (5-10), but the time between contractions, strength, and length of the contractions remained erratic. At 3:30PM I had all but stopped having contractions. I was frustrated and tired and ready to have this baby. I finally spent about 1.5 hours walking briskly around the house, back yard and neighborhood. I made more raspberry leaf tea and drank it. About 5:30PM my contractions started picking up and by 6:15 they were regular contractions, but still not very strong. At 6:30PM I started feeling the urge to push, and again I breathed through them. At 6:45 Mykael was born after pushing twice, once for her head and once for her body.
These deliveries were different from each other, but still much more desireable than most birth/horror stories I have heard. I was never in "pain." The contractions were intense at different points throughout the labor, but not more than I could handle by any means. I strongly believe in red raspberry leaf tea and the benefits of it. I also believe that most labor complications are caused because the mother walked in the hospital. I realize that home birth is not for everyone. But the study and research I have done have proven to me that the hospital is a place for sick and dying patients, not healthy mothers delivering healthy babies. Too often a complicated delivery happens because a mother is restricted in her movement due to an IV or fetal monitor, etc., her dietary intake in resticted which causes her energy to drop, and a number of other things that happen to complicate the delivery.
I would love to hear from mothers with the same view point or those looking for more information.
Copyright 1997 by Jamie Larson
Used by permission
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