Our Home Birth Story

Everyone says that each kid is so different, but still there are some things you expect after you’re pregnant with your third. I expected to go overdue, but, well, each kid is different.

After going a full week of having extreme hip pain ranging from completely debilitating (try not being able to lift your foot about the grain of the carpet… yikes!) to just very uncomfortable, I was happy to be making progress enough that I could sleep on the couch. This was quite a big upgrade from first sleeping in a wheelchair, to sleeping in a glider. Each day I prayed I would not go into labor since I was in so much pain, I couldn’t imagine trying to manage birthing a child on top of it all. Add in our water heater needing to be replaced midweek, and hoping for an at-home water birth, I went through the 38th week of pregnancy without the constant wish for the baby to arrive any day.

Night one of sleeping on the couch versus an upright chair went well, but still had some hip pain from laying in one position all night. I braved turning to my side to continue resting, even though laying on my side was one of the most troubling positions to be in over the previous week. The position didn’t hurt too much, but I heard and felt a pop in my hips and thought, “Oh gosh, I just popped my pelvis and I’m never going to be able to get off the couch on my own!” Just a couple seconds later though, I felt some liquid and immediately realized my water had broke. Both my previous kids had gone overdue, and my waters never ruptured on their own… this was a whole new experience already.

It was definitely fun to go to Hubby in the morning and tell him to call in to work because my water broke – just like TV! hehe. We immediately started getting things ready for our home birth from laying out plastic and extra sheets on the bed to setting up the birth pool in the living room. I woke up Care Bear and told her we needed her help getting Little Miss’s breakfast and cleaning things up. I had worried throughout my whole pregnancy the labor would be very fast, so we needed all of us working to get things around the house setup up the way we had planned.

I called the midwife on call around 6:30a and let her know my waters had broken about 30 minutes earlier and I had some cramping, but nothing too exciting yet. Within an hour my help in cleaning and setup was slowing down enough I called again to let her know I think someone should start on their way over to our home. Upon arriving, my midwife Catherine checked to see how dilated I was and even though I was only at a 5, she called the other midwife, Vicky, to tell her to come right away – things were obviously moving along!

Thankfully Hubby had the birth pool set up so I could get in, which felt like such a relief! Labor was definitely intense, and there were quite a few times I told Hubby I didn’t want to go through with it (too late!) and asking why I did this to myself, but the water does take the edge off. The plan was Care Bear would be keeping Little Miss occupied while I was in labor, and they were welcome to come and go as they pleased. With keeping a maternity swimsuit top on, plus being in water, there is little for Care Bear to see, and I also told her she could stay behind me. Care Bear ended up being the one to keep cool wash cloths on my forehead and neck up until the moment of pushing and Little Miss just leaned over the edge and splashed in the water.

I remember a few contractions where I felt the pressure people talk about when they start trying to push, but I didn’t feel ready yet mentally to start pushing. Around half a dozen contractions went by like this until one hit and my whole torso lurched forward and I had no choice any more – my body was pushing whether I liked it or not. The tone of my voice intensified and Little Miss now looked quite shocked. Hubby told Care Bear to guide Little Miss out of the room as he reached down to catch his new child. Two uncontrollable pushes, and we had our new child in our hands!

Slightly more than three hours after my water broke, it was all over, and just minutes after she was born the second midwife, Vicky, arrived, adding to the feeling that this was an incredibly fast delivery! Care Bear came back to cut the cord, and we all took in our new little GIRL. Having a home birth was a fabulous change from travelling to another place to give birth, and allowed the whole family to be involved at their own comfort level. At a 7lbs 12 oz, our early bird baby is happy, healthy, and strong, mashaAllah.

Tulip seems an appropriate online name for my early blooming, spring baby girl. So far she’s been such a dream with her easy going nature, We are all in love, alhamdulilah.