You
mommies won't believe this, but when I was pregnant with
Thea, I asked my O.B. if I could have an elective
C-section! I had read somewhere that it was better for
babies and that a lot of female O.B.s choose that
method. Months and many books later, I had journeyed to
the decision to attempt a home birth. We began to
explore that possibility quite late in the pregnancy,
and had barely committed to it when my water broke, one
month before my due date.
I packed my bag, assuming I'd have to go to the
hospital. I phoned the on-call O.B. and she said I'd
need to come in right away and start on antibiotics. She
was a brand new doctor and I was her first on-call
patient ever, so she probably felt she should stick to
protocol. But my midwife intercepted by calling the
doctor just as she was arriving at Clovis Community. She
asked if it would be o.k. if she managed the situation
at my home and said she would send me to the hospital if
the baby was at risk. The doctor turned out to be very
open minded and she agreed to this. We were lucky that
the midwife stepped in-- when we called, she had just
packed her bags to leave town for the weekend.
The contractions were strong enough so that I couldn't
sleep that entire night. The next morning I took a walk
through the neighborhood, then began pacing the house as
things got more intense. Peter walked with me and tried
to help me get comfortable. The midwife didn't think I
was making much progress. My primary O.B. phoned to
check on things and said, "Whatever you decide to do,
we'll still love you". Her warmth meant a lot at that
moment. I told her that if I wasn't progressing, why was
I so uncomfortable? "My back hurts," I said. "That's
GOOD!", she said. Then the midwife examined me and found
that I had suddenly dilated a lot. In fact, it was time
to decide whether to go through with the home birth or
go to the hospital. The answer seemed very obvious to
me. I really trusted her and her sense that it would be
safe to deliver at home.
The end stage of labor made me because it was by far the
most painful, which is not the impression I'd had from
my reading or classes. "I thought this part was supposed
to be fun!" I accused everyone. The Bradley breathing
exercises did not cut it for me, nor did any
visualization techniques involving bubbling brooks or
blossomingflowers. What helped was to make powerful,
deep sounds during contractions, like a truck roaring
towards the peak of a
hill. I kept thinking, "Get to the top of that hill!"
That made me feel like I was actively doing something. I
also paced all over the house and used the shower a lot;
I don't think I could have managed had I been tethered a
third of the time to a fetal monitor, as my O.B. said
she would have required. I was glad to discover that I
had no impulse to curse at Peter; I was just glad he was
there, and wanted no one else present except the midwife
and her assistant. I
tried different positions to prepare for delivery but
was most comfortable in a semi-sitting position. "Is
anything happening? Can you see her?" I kept asking, but
the last thing I wanted to do was to see for myself in
the mirror. I can't believe there are women brave enough
to do that.
We delivered Thea at 2:08 and they put her on my
stomach. I had no episiotomy (in over 1,000 childbirths,
the midwife has NEVER performed one!) and needed no
suturing. I had heavy bleeding- not a hemhorrage, but
enough to make me pretty faint, so the midwife gave
me a a shot of pitocin. Thea weighed 7 lbs. The hallowed
Dr. Kratzer came to our house and pronounced her
healthy. However, she was definitely pre-term: She
startled easily and we had to wake her up to nurse. She
got easily frustrated and had difficulty latching on: It
often took both of us to get her in position. Recovering
and being together in our room at home, on that first
July day and in the days after, was the most magical
time of my life. The dragonflies and hummingbirds played
outside, while inside we kept the lights dim and our
voices lowered so things would be womb-like for Thea for
the month until she reached her due date. The happiness,
though, was mixed with frustration for me because we
were under strict orders to keep visitors to a minimum
and I longed to see everyone I knew.
On the whole, though, the birth was an incredible
experience, and I feel that we were incredibly,
unbelievably lucky that things worked out the way they
did. We are hoping to tempt fate again by attempting
another home birth sometime in the next few weeks, so
please wish us a little more luck.
Jennifer
**side note
from Tina: Jennifer's son was delivered in the hospital
due to being overdue with risk factors...everything went
great, though!
