Homebirth

Yay Quinn Patrick was born on August 2^nd without medications, at home a successful HBAC!  He didn’t get stuck at all, I had plenty of room and my MW said “honey you were made for birthing babies!”  What a great experience.  This was my longest pregnancy. I went up to my due date. All the others came around 37-38 weeks so DH took his paternity leave early and now is back to work as of yesterdayL.  Honestly, I couldn’t catch those kids the last few weeks so I am ok with that!   Anyway here is my birth story:

Friday, July 31st I was fretting about my coming so close to the due date (Sat Aug 1^st) and decided to try that Scallini’s eggplant parm recipe floating on the internet which is suppose to put women in labor within 48 hours.  Saturday, on my due date we went to a lemonade festival with the boys.  I ate the leftover eggplant for lunch and decided to go to a state park nearby for a hike.  We took the supposedly mild hike of 1.4 miles which ended up intertwining with other paths and led us over a mountain!! Then we came home and swam for about an hour and a half.  We all went to bed around 11pm and when my Rileykins came in to nurse the next morning Aug 2^nd I began having mild contractions.  I was so happy; I called the mw around 11 just to let her know I was possibly in labor.  She is a Mennonite Midwife, I loved her!!  She still drives horse and buggy so she had to alert her driver and if she had another woman in labor we both had to go to her house.  Luckily I was the only one that day so she told me to call her when they came close together and I was overwhelmed.  I gave the kids their nap around 1 and called my MIL, who told me to call her if I thought it was “it” after nap.  We were supposed to go to our family’s house for dinner that evening.  I lay down with the boys and couldn’t get comfy so I got up and told DH “this is it, start contraction master”.  He thought I was funny since he was timing contractions but hey…he kept screwing it up LOL!  That tool is really helpful; we realized we were about 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute and a half.  My MIL came and got the kids around 3:30 and I waved goodbye to them standing outside barefoot in the rocks.  My teen was still inside with her bf and they told me when I needed them to leave they would.  Around 4pm I told them to “GO”  he hee.  Then DH ran me a bath and I climbed in around 4:30.  I thought it might slow things down as around that time they became really intense.  OUCHY.. that sped things up so I got out and told him to call the MW. Before he did he checked my cervix and estimated I was 3 centimeters dilate. I thought holy cow that isn’t a lot.   The MW came around 6 and brought the birthing tub to do a water birth BUT it was too late, I was 8 centimeters and in intense pain.  I didn’t want to go downstairs and thought I wouldn’t have had time to fill the tub anyway.  I labored mostly leaning on my bed and swaying side to side.  Soon I was feeling panicky. I didn’t know where to start pushing!!! I tried the toilet, the birthing still was way down on the floor and uncomfortable and leaning over the bed was not doing it anymore. My MW told her helper (her daughter) “oh I think she is feeling PUSHY”.  She suggested I get up on the bed in a semi sitting position, a position I was trying to avoid because of Aidan’s shoulder dystocia, but somehow it felt right this time.  I just felt like I couldn’t push face down because I felt my pubic bone was going to come apart!  He came out at 6:45 first his head and the umbilical cord was wrapped around it so she pulled it over and it snapped like a rubber band spilling blood all over her dress and she said “push honey" very firmly and out he came without incidence.  HE was 10lbs a full pound and 2 ounces bigger than my shoulder dystocia baby!!!!  What a total high!  I can’t believe how great I have felt these past two weeks… and at that old son Quinn the Eskimo keeps playing in my head when I think about pushing that little guy out.  “You ain't seen nothing like that mighty Quinn”. I couldn’t have possibly had a better experience.  Well the cord snapping was a little freaky… Anyway, Riley and Quinn are tandem nursing like champs and all is well.  I finally feel like a complete family.  I finally feel closure to Riley’s unnecessary c-sect.  My mood has somehow shifted and I am not feeling any post partum but feel I am getting back to normal.  It has been so long since I felt this much relief.  What a completely wonderful experience!

FYI: Quinn was born in the 48^th hour of my first dose of the Scallini’s eggplant parmesan recipe.

Monique