Today in Israel women are sharing their homebirth stories in order to spread awareness of this practice as a real and viable option for low-risk pregnancies. So, I've decided to share mine as well.
February 13,2014 was one of the happiest days of my life. After trying to get pregnant for 18 months, a few rounds of medication, visits to the Fertility Clinic, tests and blood draws, a lot of negative home tests, and an official prognosis of a very high improbability of not being able to have children without medical intervention, God miraculously granted our petition and gave us our baby boy! I took 4 tests that day, all positive! I told Joshua later that day and he was truly overjoyed! And so our journey began of "parenthood" by starting with where and how I would give birth.
We had done a lot of research before we ever found out I was pregnant. I knew I wanted a completely natural birth. This was very important to me, not knowing if I would ever have the opportunity to experience this again, I wanted to have the most real and raw experience I could. Being a low-risk pregnancy, I new my best option for having a successful vaginal, natural birth was out of the hospital. We toured a hospital in the area that is very naturally minded and has a cesarean rate of 17%, which was the lowest in the state, and well below the rate of the other 2 hospitals in our area. I felt ok if I had to give birth there but, Joshua wanted to check out the free-standing birth center in our area before we made a decision.
I toured the birth center and took my mom with me. I loved it and decided that was where we would have our baby. I was with them until 14 weeks along and decided to switch to a homebirth midwife due to a change in insurance. Our decision for homebirth was a bit "controversial" among friends and family, mostly because they had no experience with homebirth and worried about safety. However, as time went on they became more comfortable with the idea. Our midwife was a wonderful lady. She has been serving the area for over 30 years and delivered many many babies. With our house only being 5 minutes from the hospital, I actually felt a lot better about giving birth in our home than I did at the birth center.
I stayed low-risk throughout my pregnancy. I had to take some supplements to help with low iron levels and at 35 weeks by blood pressure began to rise to the "pre-hypertension rage". My midwife was not concerned about me needing to switch to an OB as she closely monitored me and put me on modified bedrest for a weekend. Although my BP was higher than normal, it was still at a level that she felt she was still able to provide me with safe care.
Then at 38 weeks 4 days I went into labor...while she was at a retreat 3 hours away! My doulas had come to check on me a few days prior and the back-up midwife was actually supposed to come check on me the day I gave birth! My labor began around 11:45 that night with "abnormally strong Braxton Hicks". Then after a nice Criminal Minds marathon with my husband we went to bed around 12:30. He went to sleep but I couldn't. I was in denial that I was in labor, as I thought it was too early! I googled "false labor" for a few hours only to find that I was actually in labor. Joshua woke suddenly saying he had a dream that I was in labor...then I informed him I was actually in labor!
I labored through the early morning, doing breathing exercises and trying to watch some Netflix to distract myself with humor. Joshua called my midwife around 7 am and she confirmed that I was in fact in labor. She called my doulas and her back up midwife. My birth team arrived around 10 am. I labored in the birth pool for most of the rest of the time. Once I hit transition around 4:30 they made me get out of the pool and sit on the toilet to help him engage. My water broke and I got back in the tub about 10 minutes later. I began to push. 20 minutes and 5 pushes later he was out! 5 lbs. 2 oz. 19 inches long. My beautiful Noah James Samuel was finally here! He was the smallest baby my midwife had ever caught. He was small but beautiful and perfect. My husband spent the next hour holding and bonding with our new son while I birthed the placenta.
Upon examining my placenta, the midwife found a small tear in it. She concluded that this probably caused by blood pressure to rise and for Noah to stop growing, since he was about the size he was around 36 weeks gestation.
We had a wonderful first day at home. My mom came over and took Noah's newborn pictures and brought us lunch. Then the midwife came to do the 24 hour check. She noticed Noah was breathing a bit faster than normal and that his oxygen level in his blood was a lot lower than it should be at between 85-87%. He had dropped down to 4 lbs. 11 oz., which she said was normal for newborns but between everything she found, we were going to have to take him to the hospital. We were devistated but took our new baby into the ER and were admitted into the NICU by midnight. They admitted him for rapid respiration but also found that he had low blood sugars and possible sepsis. He was on a CPAP machine for 36 hours. Our nurses were amazing as well as a few of his doctors, especially the one that admitted us. We were in the NICU for 13 days, which seemed like forever, but in reality we were extremely blessed to have only been in there for that long.
The doctor that finally released us was actually the doctor that admitted us. He sent us home with oxygen for Noah, saying that he guessed he'd probably need it for anywhere between 1-3 more months.
Once we got home I began pumping milk for him instead of trying to nurse him to keep his blood sugars up so he'd gain weight. It worked. When we left the hospital Noah was 5 lbs. 9 oz. and a few days later at his pediatrician's office he was over 6 lbs.! We worked closely with his pediatrician and had him off of the oxygen completely by 10 days after we left the NICU! Now, Noah is a happy, strong, and healthy 2 1/2 year old big brother. <3
There were times when I doubted my decision for homebirth. I kept going over everything we did that led to Noah being in the NICU. Should I have just transferred when my BP rose? SHould we have just gone to the hospital instead of calling the back-up midwife? Should I have birthed on the bed instead of the water? At Noah's 9 week check with my original midwife, I talked with her about this and she reassured me that his condition was not due to him being born at home. The only difference between my homebirth and me going to the hospital would have been being separated from my baby while he was in the NICU and I in recovery waiting to be discharged, so in reality, having him at home benefited the situation.There were some days when I still questioned our decision but, when I remembered the words of my midwife, I remembered that it was all for our benefit as a family. The LORD knew what was best and he guided us through everything. Now, I believe, having gone through this experience only makes me a better doula.
