Henry’s Homebirth Story

Today I wanted to share Henry’s homebirth story for a few reason.

1) I LOVE reading other women’s birth stories

2) I get asked frequently about my homebirth

3) I would love to be an encouragement to other women who are considering a homebirth

---

So here it goes.

Henry’s due date was July 17th, 2021. Up until I was 32 weeks pregnant, I planned to have a hospital birth. I was being seen by a group of midwives that delivered in the hospital, and I was really happy there!

However, with all the Covid regulations and precautions, a hospital birth was starting to sound dreadful.

Homebirth was always something that intrigued me. I thought of it frequently after seeing more and more about them on Instagram (specifically Essentially Erin)! The freedom of deciding how my birth would go pulled me in. I thought it was would be so convenient, redeeming, and comfortable to be at home. Yet so painful without the option for an epidural…

I was the girl who was begging for the epidural as soon as I arrived at the hospital for my previous births. So, I am speaking to you mamas who can relate to the love of the epidural! That was me.

Birth History

Sienna’s birth was an induction. I got the epidural right at the beginning and I never felt any contractions throughout the entire process.

With Charlie, I was 9 cm when I arrived at the hospital but still demanded the epidural. They did warn me that it probably wouldn’t be very effective, being that they wouldn’t have time to fully administer the medication. I got it regardless, maybe out of fear of birthing without it.

I did end up feeling some partial relief from it, on one side of my body, but fully felt contractions on the other side. Charlie’s birth was super quick, the entire process only 2 hours long. I think being able to feel the contractions during his birth gave me the some confidence that I could handle a med-free birth if I ever chose that.

Decision Time

When my pregnancy with Henry came along and I was 32 weeks, after going back and forth with Tom about doing a homebirth, I could tell Tom felt peace about it. I could tell it felt “right” to him, and that helped me get over my fears. I was right on the edge, and his confidence in it was everything.

If other women can birth without meds, I could too right? Not only that, but I heard amazing testimonies from other homebirth mamas! I also felt relief that I’d get to avoid the hospital during 2021.

A note on finding a midwife–I met with a few homebirth midwives before finding “the one.” In fact, after meeting with the first one, who seemed to be the only option in my area, I felt very uncomfortable about a homebirth. I decided not to have one after that meeting. Then, after talking with some local ladies with local knowledge, they let me know there were a few others to reach out to. Amy was further away, but I was still in her radius of care. After I had a call with Amy, I felt soooo much peace and excitement actually.

---

A question asked frequently is how I handled the fear of complications when birthing at home. In response to that, I say that there are always risks of complications, whether you’re at the hospital or at home. There are pros and cons with each. And after doing a lot of reading and research on homebirths, I decided that the pros to birthing at home outweighed the cons for me and my family. The more research you do, the more you’ll see how safe homebirths actually are. If you’re looking for reading recommendations just reach out.

---

Go-Time

So on the morning of July 16th at 5AM, the day before my due date, I started having consistent contractions that were two minutes apart. I texted Amy. She told me to keep tracking them and to keep her updated. I was so excited it was time. I had never delivered later than 39 weeks, so at this point I felt overdue (and very much “over it” lol.) Tom took the day off work.

However, at 7AM the contractions completely stopped. I was so shocked and emotional, and was under the impression that I was never going to have this baby! Amy told me that the contractions stopping was normal, and that they would probably return that night. She said our bodies know that it’s daytime, that we have things to do, people to take care of, and it puts labor on “hold” in a sense.

So cool! Our bodies know what they’re doing if we just let them. She told me to rest and eat and get ready!

I walked on incline on the treadmill, I bounced on the ball, I slept, and I ate. I was ready.

Sure enough, after nothing all day, 11PM came around and the contractions were back. This time they weren’t consistent though. One would be five minutes apart, then 30 seconds, then three minutes, then eight minutes. Tom asked if we should call Amy. I told him no, because I knew I was supposed to wait for consistent contractions. I didn’t want her to come from an hour away to see that I wasn’t even in labor. However, a few minutes later, Tom could see me struggling through the contractions and could sense something was probably happening.

He called Amy, explained the situation and she said she would come check it out.

She arrived around 12:15AM and checked me; I was 8.5cm. It was go-time. We called our doula Caty over.

I still had no clue why my contractions weren’t consistent.

We filled up the birthing pool and I got in.

I was 10cm for a bit now, and had done some pushing. I felt like things weren’t happening as fast as they normally do for me. The baby felt like it wasn’t moving when I would try; I felt like I couldn’t make any progress when comparing it to my other births.

I asked Amy to break my water because I wanted to speed things up, so she did.

Having to hold myself up in the pool was expending too much energy. So we moved to the bed so I could rest more. (Looking back, I now realize there wasn’t enough water in the pool. Now we know for next time to fill it with more water so that it can give me more support.)

I told Amy the baby felt “stuck.” She informed me that the baby was coming and was right there. She could see his head. The pain was intense, and I started falling asleep between contractions. I was exhausted.

Finally, after an hour (my guess) of pushing, Henry arrived at 4:15AM. It was one of the best, most blessed moments of my life.

Remember those inconsistent contractions, “stuck” feeling, and lack of progress when I was pushing? Well it all made sense when Henry came out FACE UP! This was such a surprise yet made so much sense.

Posterior births can be a lot more painful because the baby is being birthed in an flipped position. As you can see below, instead of the baby exiting by the narrow, crown of his head (left photo), he is exiting by a much larger surface area with the top of his head (right photo–that’s how Henry was.)

Henry was here. I was in awe. He was so beautiful, so peaceful. I kept saying to Tom “I can’t believe I just did that.”

We were surprised by the gender for the first time. Which was SO much fun. We totally thought we were having a girl!

After he came out, he went right on my chest. We bonded and he remained attached to his cord for a long time. I’m not even sure how long, but much longer than at the hospital. There are SO many benefits to this. It is termed “delayed cord clamping,” although I don’t love this term. I don’t think it’s delayed, I think it should be the norm! Rushing cord clamping takes away a lot of good benefits from the baby.

Henry immediately latched. I was amazed. I didn’t need a stitch, which was surprising as he was my first posterior birth and only baby I haven’t needed stitches with. He weighed in at 8 lbs and was perfect.

I held him there in my own bed, my own house, and then got into an herbal bath that Amy made in our bathroom. It was basically a massive tea bag with all kinds of healing herbs in it. I fed him in the herbal bath, and then I passed him to Tom so they could do skin-to-skin. I took a shower and Amy cleaned everything up; my bed looked like a hotel bed and the laundry was being done. Is this a dream?!

At 6:30AM, Sienna and Charlie woke up and wandered in our room to meet their little brother. They climbed onto the bed and each took a turn holding him, with the biggest smiles. It felt right. We thanked God for a safe delivery and a healthy baby.

---

I think that deciding to have a homebirth took a leap of faith and a lot of research. Lack of knowledge, I believe, is where so much of the fear of birthing at home comes from. Knowledge is power! I always say that having a homebirth is addicting, it make you want to have more kids, because the experience is so surreal, special, and fulfilling.

Having this experience changed our lives.

If you have any questions that you’d like answered on the experience of a homebirth, please feel free to reach out. As someone who has experience both hospital births and a homebirth, I love being able to share both sides of the coin!

Thanks for reading, if you’ve made it this far!