Tirzah's Home Birth:

"I just knew this was something my body can & was made to do."

I was a couple weeks past the 3rd due date the doctors gave me. At an appointment, my midwife suggested I go in & just get my fluid levels, placenta & baby's activity checked. We had no need for concern but just wanted to take precaution. Baby was extremely active & I was feeling great. At the appointment, the doctor told me that my placenta was at a level or stage 3 which was a sign of it aging & calcifying. At this point, I was at 41 weeks from the last due date they gave me. He told me if it were up to him he would have induced me already! When he said this, it made me realize again why I did not want to have my birth at the hospital. From all the research I've done & the stories I heard I was actually afraid of losing any say so regarding my birth. I didn't want to lay on my back w/my legs up on an unfamiliar bed, cold room filled w/strangers who didn't know me from Adam.

When I pictured a hospital, I imagined a place where people go when they are seriously ill, hurt or having some sort of surgery, not a place to have a quiet, calm & relaxing birth. I knew that women have been birthing babies since the beginning of time & that God created our bodies to handle this & by golly I was going to let my body do what it was made to do! The doctors induction comment just reiterated my belief that had I done this at the hospital, they would most certainly intervene. I didn’t want to be drugged up, I wanted to be fully aware of what was going on & experience it to the fullest. I'm not saying the Hospitals are bad, I just knew for me it wasn't what I wanted.  

While I was there getting the babies activity checked they noticed I was starting to have contractions. At this point I had no idea & didn’t feel anything different. By 2:00 pm I was sitting on the couch at home & started noticing a tightening feeling in my stomach. I called my hubby who immediately came home. Now what I failed to mention was that I never took any kind of birthing class! What was I thinking? I wasn’t! I really didn’t know what to expect but just knew this was something my body can & was made to do. I did go over some literature that talked about breathing through the contractions, why it was so important & that if you don’t, you stall the process. That’s pretty much all that was coming to mind at this point. 

I crawled into the bathtub in efforts of relieving some of the pain. I more or less remember the pains I felt in my hips & lower back more than anything. With each contraction I did my best to breathe through it, to relax & just let it be…I was so afraid to fight it because I just wanted this to be over with. At one point I felt this HUGE urge & I felt my body push & I was like WHOA, what was that!!! The midwife said to just let my body do what it’s doing, it’s pushing the baby down now. So I just kept breathing & embracing the contractions. I started losing strength though & told my husband “I don’t think I can do this”. He was a great coach & reminded me that I could. He ran downstairs & brought me back strawberries & peanut butter (weird mix I know, but boy did it do the trick). The berries were juicy which helped w/my cotton mouth, the pb gave me some energy & I was back in the game. After my snack, He tells me the words out of my mouth were, “I got this”!! 

My midwife was called to another birth right before mine so her assistant showed up. She was wonderful! She told me that it has been 4 hours that I was in the tub & needed to get out & move around. So I did. I am not going to lie, it hurt like hell but I was determined, I was almost to the finish line. I wondered how much more pain my body could handle before I actually experienced death & I remember crying out to God to ease my pain. I laid down on the couch w/my husband holding one leg & the other on the back end. My water hadn’t broken yet & the midwife asked if I wanted her to break it. I told her nah, if it hasn’t yet on it’s own then let it just do it’s thing.  However, I think it almost acted as a lubricant because when the baby started rearing his head, he would slip back in. So the midwife suggested I get up on all 4’s maybe & let gravity befriend me. Minutes later I was pushing with whatever might I had left. Then suddenly I felt him inching out, oh what a beautiful feeling, relief was in near sight. Then out he was & it was the sweetest moment I felt emotionally, mentally & physically! 

I was in shock & everything seemed so surreal. He was born w/the veil (sac) still on him so the midwife had to pull it away from his face. He was a caul-bearer baby & come to find out, that’s very rare. For fun, I guess there are many myths & legends that go along w/a caul-bearer baby. I have to tell you that the best thing was that I got to crawl into my own bed immediately after & cuddle w/my family. Oh & before I forget to mention, the midwife always examines the placenta & there was absolutely no calcification or signs of aging! Anyways ~ to wrap this up I’m 6 months pregnant now & I’m really looking forward to this birth, knowing what to expect this time & knowing that after a few hours of pain & discomfort, comes a lifetime of enjoyment!

Thanks for reading!

-Tirzah