Anna’s Homebirth Story (w/o Pictures)

After doing everything I knew to do to prevent my water from breaking early like it had with my 2nd pregnancy, I had the opposite problem this time around…my water wouldn’t break. And it led to an extra tough labor. But that being said, I loved having a homebirth and so many prayers were favorably answered through this entire pregnancy, labor and birth. Here’s Anna’s story…

It was Friday morning, May 7th. I had been having on and off Braxton Hicks contractions for most of my third trimester. This morning started off no different. Except, I thought I noticed they had the tiniest bit of crampiness to them. I didn’t get my hopes up. As the day progressed however, I did notice somewhat of a regular pattern and that I was right about the cramping as it increased. I still didn’t know what to expect in the following days or if I could even consider this early labor.

By the evening, I was feeling the cramps in my back and was starting to apply some of my own counterpressure. I texted our doula to let her know about the day. By the time bedtime rolled around, probably around 11 pm, we decided to call my midwife to fill her in as well. That night I was only able to sleep in between contractions. I still wasn’t timing anything, but I would push hard into my back any time I woke up when one came.

At 3 am I got up to go to the bathroom. After that, contractions really picked up. I started timing them and they were around 45 seconds every one to three minutes. I had to move through them but again, they weren’t intense enough to feel like I needed to call anyone. I even let my husband keep sleeping. After a couple hours they started to slow down, so I laid back down in bed to try to get some more sleep. Thankfully I was able to get some more sleep in between contractions. I texted my midwife at 7 am and my doula at 7:30 to fill them in about the night. After having to use the bathroom some more, at about 7:45 I had my first bit of bloody show. That meant things were happening!

I still had no idea what would happen that day. I was nervous. I didn’t want another restless/sleepless night again. But I didn’t know if it would happen that day with how much contractions had slowed. They were anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes apart even though they still hurt quite a bit when they came.

Randomly that morning, my brother and sister-in-law offered to take the kids for the day as they were heading down to help my husband’s parents in Kokomo. We talked about it and decided that would be a good idea even if the birth didn’t happen that day. I was tired and could rest, and my husband could go get carpet that needed to be picked up from Menards. We fed the kids lunch and they got picked up around noon. By this time, contractions started to be a little closer together, probably about 5 to 10 minutes apart. We ate lunch, my husband left, and I turned on a movie to watch while I rested on the couch, knowing it would be hard to sleep even though I was tired.

Through the movie contractions were about 5 to 6 minutes apart but not crazy. I just continued to push on my back hard as that was the worst part. With about five minutes left in the movie, I had to go to the bathroom where I had some more bloody show. It was just after 2 pm. I never finished the movie.

Just like in the night, contractions picked up fast. And this time they were more intense and took extra focus. I still wondered if this was truly it or if it would just slow down again. In not too long I decided to tell our doula to come and texted my midwife. I was pretty sure this was it and it was go time. My husband still wasn’t home, so I gave him a call as well. He was close, picking up our nephew to come help unload the carpet.

My husband made it to the house first. We gave our nephew one of our cars to take home as my husband would not be able to bring him home. I needed him right away. We called my midwife and she was already getting in the car to head our way. She said I could go ahead and fill up the tub and get in.

My midwife arrived and soon after, the midwife’s assistant, my friend to take pictures, and our doula. By 3:30 we were all together, in the bathroom, and I was laboring hard. I had a lot of body shakes with this labor, making it hard to relax in between contractions, and my back hurt horribly with every contraction. It was at least nice to be in the tub. My husband was a rockstar, giving lots of counterpressure and just being the safe and supportive presence I needed. Around 4:30 I got out to go to the bathroom. My contractions slowed down a little bit and weren’t quite as intense.

I thought this was maybe the resting phase where I was already fully dilated and my body was preparing for pushing. I didn’t want to get my hopes up though. I had never been checked for dilation and still didn’t want to be. My water was also still intact. So I continued on. I got back in the tub. As laboring went on, I got more and more discouraged. It didn’t feel like anything was happening. Contraction after contraction, unforgiving back labor, uncontrollable body shakes, no pressure or urge to push, and my water still wouldn’t break.

I was in and out of the tub, trying many different laboring positions. I decided to be checked around 6:30 pm, and sure enough, I was fully dilated. My waters were just barely bulging out. We continued trying all the things to get my water to break naturally and it just wouldn’t. I had moments of feeling defeated and wondered if I would even be able to push my baby out at all. After trying everything we knew to try, at 7:48 pm, my midwife broke my water. This intervention was overdue.

My midwife was able to break it with her fingers after which I got back into the tub. One of the things I wanted was to birth my baby on my own in the water. Before long I finally felt some more pressure, and it built with each contraction. I finally was able to give a good push upon feeling enough urge, and in that one push, baby came all the way down and crowned very quickly.

Squatting in the tub and holding my baby’s head was such a wonderful feeling. It was just about over. With the next contraction, at exactly 8 pm, just 12 minutes after my water was broken, I gave one more big push and our beautiful, cheesy baby was born. I caught her in my hand and pulled her up out of the water and into my arms. She was finally here.

After several minutes of holding our baby and taking in that she was actually out, we looked to see that it was a beautiful baby girl. We spent the majority of time thinking it was a girl but towards the end of pregnancy, my husband and I both thought it really could be a boy as well. The surprise and this moment was certainly a special one. Anna Marie it was. A common name but with a lot of personal meaning.

Anna latched on right away and nursed for a very long time. This bonding with her was exactly what I needed, especially through quite a bit of blood loss, passing out, and working hard for another 45 minutes to get the placenta out. I was so exhausted and my back was completely shot.

After about an hour after the birth, I was in our own bed with our baby girl still nursing, skin to skin on my chest. It was perfect. My parents showed up, our other two kids came home, and it was one of the happiest of moments all bonding in joy together. Tears come as I write this and am taken back to that beautiful time.

Anna Marie, we love you. You are the perfect addition and completion to our family, and have brought so much joy to all of us.