Elizabeth’s Accidental Home Birth
-First Time Mom
-December 13, 2019
-39 weeks 6 days - spontaneous labor
-7 lb 9 oz
-Unplanned Home Birth (Planned for a hospital)
-TENS Machine
-Doula
I always knew I wanted an unmedicated natural birth and started my pregnancy going to a stand alone midwife-run birth center. Unfortunately, halfway through my pregnancy my insurance stopped accepting the midwives and I had to make the difficult choice to switch to an OB and deliver in a hospital. My relationship started off great with the OB and he promised me the experience I wanted. Towards the end of my pregnancy things changed and he started pushing interventions that I didn't feel were necessary. I left my appointments feeling like I wasn't respected or listened to and this made me very anxious for labor and delivery. Luckily, my husband is great with advocating for our wishes and I felt better knowing Rachel, our doula, would be there. I listened to positive affirmations and practiced deep breathing every night before bed.
Fast forward to the morning of December 13... I started having contractions as soon as I woke up but they were very irregular and far apart. I ate breakfast and my husband and I went on a long walk. When we got home I ate some eggs and bacon because I thought I might need some fuel for later. At 5pm my contractions were anywhere from 7 to 18 minutes apart and Rachel suggested we do some Spinning Babies techniques to try to turn the baby to a better position. Right after doing the exercises I decided to shower and that's when contractions picked up to 4-5 minutes apart. I wanted to wait to go to the hospital until they were 3 minutes apart because I wanted to make sure I would get admitted and be close enough to delivering the baby to not have labor stalled or any suggested augmentation. At 7:30pm I messaged Rachel to see if she would come to my house to check on things. She got to my house shortly after 9pm and I was still feeling calm and positive. (I put the TENS machine on at around 8:00pm and kept it on until I started pushing.) I felt best on my side in bed and focused on breathing through the contractions. They started to become 2 minutes long and I felt myself tensing up and resisting them so I said I thought it was time to go to the hospital because I would be able to relax better there knowing that was where I planned to deliver. My husband already had the car packed and we called the hospital to let them know we were on our way. I wanted to go to the bathroom one last time before leaving and as soon as I sat down on the toilet my water broke (10:25pm). I think this is when I really let my pelvic floor relax and contractions started picking up to about every minute. Every time I tried to get up another one would come and I really felt like I couldn't leave the room!
My husband had a moment of panic and kept trying to get me up and in the car. I kept telling him I couldn't get up and that everything was fine and to remain calm. (Funny how I ended up being the one to tell him to remain calm!) :-)
At about 11pm my body started pushing voluntarily. Rachel knew we needed to call 911 because we weren't going to make it anywhere on our own. The paramedics showed up and told me I need to at least get off the toilet and on the floor. I still felt I couldn't move. Rachel asked me if I could feel the baby's head and I reached up and felt the head a ways up the birth canal and she let me know that yes, I needed to get off the toilet. I finally agreed and got on my hands and knees on our bathroom floor. I continued pushing for another 45 minutes and really focused on staying calm in between and breathing. Rachel reminded me that I was about to meet my baby and that gave me all the energy and motivation I needed.
Our sweet baby girl was born pink and crying at 11:51pm and everyone was perfectly healthy and happy. Her cord was very short and I couldn't get her to my chest so we decided to clamp it earlier than I had planned but I am okay with this decision because I got to have immediate skin-to-skin and attempt breastfeeding. After about half an hour of holding her I gave her to my husband for skin-to-skin with him while I delivered the placenta naturally. After her delivery I was completely euphoric and so content.
We did eventually get in the ambulance and arrive at the hospital where I was stitched up for a second degree tear (no idea that I had torn at the time!) and for baby to be evaluated. We only had to stay at the hospital one night before coming back home.
I’m so thankful for all the positive birth stories I read because they helped me stay calm and positive in what could have easily been a scary situation. I feel my baby's birth was beautiful and happened just the way it was meant to.
