Welcome Home Joanna

Let me begin by saying that I truly enjoy sharing my children's birth stories. The choices we make as parents are not always the norm and I think it's important for moms or future moms (and dads for that matter) to know there is another way of doing "birth". I think I have shared this before but early on in our marriage, I thought for sure I was going to have your typical epidural hospital birth because that's what everyone did right? It wasn't until we met a couple who chose to do things differently and shared their choices with us that I started to open my eyes a little. I realized there was another way.

What I am absolutely NOT doing is saying that one way is more right than another. I have gotten a little backlash in the past from people who think I am putting down other moms for their choices. Please hear me when I say that I respect a mom's choice to have all the interventions she wants for her birth and in the same way, I hope that other moms will respect how I choose to birth my babes.

With that caveat out of the way...I am thrilled to share about our homebirth experience!!!

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It was late at night on the eve of my due date for baby number 4. I was pretty sure I was in labor. I had been having contractions, timing them at about 7 minutes apart, and just couldn't fall asleep. In the past, we would have woken up the other kids, hauled their tired little bodies out to the truck, and settled them into Grandma and Grandpa's before beginning our 30-minute drive up to the hospital. But this time...we let the kids sleep and just called our Midwives.

Hmmmmm this was almost too good to be true! So convenient that it almost felt wrong to disturb them in the middle of the night. Especially because I wasn't even fully confident I was in labor!

And as it turned out...I wasn't. When they showed up about 45 minutes after we called. After an uncomfortable check for dilation, I was pretty disappointed to learn that I wasn't dilated...like at all! Nevertheless, they stayed for a few hours just to make sure. In fact, they slept in a spare bedroom (because all 3 kids recently wanted to share a room). After that false alarm, Ryan and I knew that this birth was going to be so different than our others. Not only had we woken them up in the middle of the night but they just hung out until about 3 am just to make sure I was not in labor.

One huge difference I learned about homebirth midwives is their keen awareness while moms are in labor. Unlike medical doctors (my first was born in a hospital assisted by a OBGYN) and even hospital midwives (number 2 and 3 were both born in the hospital by midwives), these women have nothing else to fill their time waiting for labor to progress than to observe. No other patients. No one else paging for a consult down the hall. And no nurses to rely on for labor updates. They have a learned instinct to little indicators of how moms are acting during labor...but more on that in a minute.

Fast forward a few days...

It's July 12th and again...it is late. But this time I am almost certain that my contractions are the real thing. But as any mom who has gone past their due date will tell you, I was now in the mindset that I might be pregnant forever. This little being inside of me just wants to camp out forever! Now I know this is ridiculous but ask any mom at or past her due date and I bet she'll say the same thing.

I try to get some sleep. Per the advice given to me by my widwives during my false alarm...I stopped timing and just tried to quiet my mind. If labor was real and progressing...I didn't need a timer to tell me. But around 3:30 I just can't do it...I cannot sleep. I wake up Ryan and take a shower. Still, the contractions keep coming. At about 4:30 we decided to give the midwives a call. We set up the living room for delivery during the time it takes them to get there. No joke, our living room looked like we were preparing to paint every square inch of the walls and ceiling. Shower curtains and chucks pads replaced our carpeted living room floor. Ryan was very concerned about "fluids" ruining the carpet or couch.

When the midwives arrived at about 5:30, after observation of the room, said that this was the most protected space they have ever been at...nothing was going to through the coverings Ryan had laid down!

This time they are certain I am in real labor and reassure us that today is going to be our baby's birthday!

The strangest part of all was how relaxed the whole process was. No rushing to the hospital. No checking in and waiting for a room. No being hooked up to a machine to tell me what I already know...I am in labor. I was just calm. It was an amazing feeling.

By 6:30 am my contractions had gotten to be about 5 minutes apart. Since it seemed like I was progressing slower than I thought I would, we made the call to wake up the kids around 7 am and ship them off to my parents for breakfast. We didn't know how long we'd be waiting and we weren't sure what we'd do to entertain the three older siblings.

At around 7:15 my mom came to pick up the kids. I hugged my daughter goodbye through a contraction...that took some mighty mom strength because by now my contractions were getting a bit more painful.

By 7:30 the kids were happily buckled into grandma's truck and on their way. When Ryan came back into the house after saying goodbye our midwives told us that they wanted us to try something to see if it would help my labor progress. They said that since this was my 4th term pregnancy my belly was, rightfully so, a bit stretched out which may be causing the baby to not sit right on my cervix. Therefore prolonging labor. When the baby is sitting correctly on the mom's cervix each contraction puts pressure on the cervix causing the contractions to get closer and closer together. This wasn't the case for me.

So they told us that for the next 10 contractions, Ryan was going to stand behind me with his back against the wall (picture him doing half a wall sit...like in gym class when they made you do wall sits for 5 minutes but your legs were burning so badly that when the teacher wasn't looking you half stood up to relieve the burn). During each contraction, I would lean my back into his chest while he interlocked his hands around the underside of my belly gently putting pressure up and in. This helped put the baby in the correct position to put pressure on my cervix.

We made it through 6 contractions and I had the urge to push!

It was incredible how quickly everything happened after that! (We later found out that our midwives do not allow couples to perform this aiding posture without them present because the birth always progresses quickly after!) Then we moved over to the area set up for delivery. My water broke as I was pushing...which if anyone else has had this happen, it is like a rocket of fluid! I actually jumped a little when it happened because it startled me!

After a few more pushes, she was born at 7:55 am! I had wanted to catch her myself (and I am still struggling a little with the disappointment of not being able to push and catch at the same time) but my midwife helped me grab her as she came out. As I reached for my baby I worked so hard for and brought my little one into view, she looked at me with two big, beautiful blue eyes. It was the most incredible thing! I was able to move the umbilical cord aside and announce that our little babe that we had waited so long for was a girl! We were both stunned (as you can see from the photo of Ryan with his hands covering his face in disbelief!!)

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What proceeded her birth can only be described as peaceful. I cannot think of a better way to bring a child into the world than with a home birth. Again, I wasn't hooked up to any machines, Joanna was on my chest snuggling through all of my tummy checks and for the few stitches required after my slight tearing. She had a ton of birthday frosting or vernix on her. The most out of all our children. We were able to rub that yummy lotion all over her little body without nurses pressuring, asking when we'd like to give her a bath. We weren't made to feel guilty or like we're bad parents for declining the eye ointment, the vitamin K shot, or the Hep B vaccine.

After we let her cord pump all the blood into her little body that it could, Ryan was able to cut it. My placenta was promptly packed in a ziplock bag. Why? As if working with the midwives at Birthwise Homebirth wasn't an amazing experience already, one of the midwives dehydrates and encapsulates placentas for mommas! Again, this was something I have wanted to do since my first birth but never had the nerve to ask the hospital for my placenta...but I know someone who did so if you are a momma who wants to try this just go for it! Don't be nervous like I was! So yes...this means that for the last month I have been consuming my placenta via small pills. There is research to show that it can help with the baby blues and replenish important nutrients postpartum.

Our midwives stayed for about 2 hours post birth. They even threw in a load of laundry for us after cleaning up everything from the birth! They were amazing to work with (as if I haven't made that abundantly clear already). Another interesting thing that I would imagine only happens at a homebirth is how they took her first weight. The photo at the right shows Ryan helping one of our midwives weigh little Joanna. At the bottom, there is a "baby hammock" the device Ryan is holding is actually designed to weigh fish! It takes an accurate measure of the baby's weight without having to carry a huge, clunky scale around!

Then after they left, it was just the three of us. It was quiet. No one disturbing us to get vitals for the 100th time. No one poking and prodding. She was healthy. I was healthy. There is absolutely a time and a place for medical interventions to take place, but when everyone is healthy...there is just no need for all that "extra" that hospitals do as routine whether you need it or not.

A short time later we called over to my parents. Our three big kids were so thrilled to meet their new baby sister. As were Joanna's grandparents and great grandma...whom she received her namesake. (We later found out that her middle name, Grace, is also a family name on Ryan's side! What a happy coincidence as we chose it purely for the Biblical meaning.)

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The rest of the day was spent resting and snuggling. Our neighbors even dropped off a meal that night, fully equipped with a little cake. That evening, surrounded by her brothers, sister, and grandparents, we sang happy birthday to our new little baby girl. I could not have asked for a better birth story.

She is perfect. The day was perfect. And to top it off, she was born on Ryan and I's 9th wedding anniversary. Only God could give such a perfect gift.

I praise the Lord for you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

***If you have any questions about homebirths please don't hesitate to ask!