Home Water Birth!

Our darling son was born at 9pm on a dark and stormy St. Patrick's Day.  He entered this world after a bolt of lighting and a loud thunderclap!  I had the windows open and the cool, fresh wind was blowing in and carried my birthing howls through the wild air.

My water broke in a gush 24 hours before that, and I spent most of the night sleeping through early labor. It wasn't until around 10am that the pain really geared up.  I wasn't able to use the tub until active labor because my water broke before labor, and sometimes a cozy warm tub will slow labor down.  The result might have been that I'd have to be transferred to a hospital for fear of infection.

 Luckily by evening I was dilated enough to jump in the water--the tub was a blessing!  My brother just asked if our tub was green on account of St. Patrick's Day!  I bought a separate tub liner, so that it was hygienic to reuse the midwife's tub. We bought a hose that is supposedly free of lead, BPA, etc., and connected it to our sink via an adapter in order to fill up the tub.  To empty the tub we used a pump that dumped into the bathtub and then threw away the liner which contained the rest of the residue.

The active labor was less painful (but more vocal) than the early labor. We felt so lucky we were able to have him born into the water in our own home with the help of our midwife Dr. Gleisner. I'd always envisioned giving birth at home in a tub and it was such a satisfying experience (despite the pain). 

Later that night we all bundled off to our bedroom and slept pretty much through the next day.

Here is my husband curled up with S on the night he was born.

Since then I've been completely and utterly exhausted!!  Walking and sitting hurt--a lot.  Husband is doing a good job of helping to take care of everyone.  We are currently working on nursing (around the clock) and sleeping and getting to know each other. We are so grateful for all of the support and love shown to us by our family and friends.  I'm frustrated I haven't been able to respond to everyone but hopefully in time I will be able to.

More details, please!!  OK!  I had an app for my iPod that timed my contractions.  That was helpful, because during a contraction I pretty much just was engulfed into my own world--almost like a trance.  Time basically stood still and everything outside of myself became irrelevant.  I would say contractions started out like waves on the shore.  As labor progressed, they grew in size until I could anticipate being pulled under and they eventually became like giant tsunamis!

 Kanagawa-Oki Nami-Ura^?, "Under a Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai,1830

Contractions were bearable until about mid-afternoon as I neared the next phase of labor.  My husband and midwife had to put enormous pressure on different areas of my hips and back in order to make the pain bearable.  I tried to move out of the bedroom between contractions and I literally just could not get further than the door--to which I grabbed onto the door handle and begged for mercy.  Yes, it hurt!!  Once in the bathroom, I ripped the toilet paper roll holder off the wall by accident.  I also slammed the door in my midwife's face and told her to leave me alone when she asked how I was doing!

Then, something changed.  My pelvis started doing sort of an "Elvis" forward thrust.  This was the baby entering the birth canal.  This signaled to me a shift in labor and entering into a new "phase".  While I still required pressure to the hips, I was able to get into the tub and that helped the pain immensely.  For some reason I became extremely vocal, even though there was no direct feeling of pain.  I call it my "Monica Seles" phase of labor, due to the loud grunting cries during each contraction--it's more like a giant muscular effort of the uterus and the effort that went into that than any sort of localization of pain.

I tried a few positions in the tub but ended up giving birth with my legs up and in a semi-sitting sort of position.  I don't remember pushing at all; I think I was concerned about putting pressure on the baby!  That was silly, because my midwife had been monitoring his heart rate with a Doppler and it remained strong and steady in the 150s throughout labor!  He did come out with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, which Dr. Gleisner quickly unwrapped before she handed him to me on my chest.  He looked right up into my face with his amazing, dark little eyes!

The only push I remember doing was the final push.  I felt the baby crowning and an enormous, stabbing pain at the top of the opening.  I felt down, and could feel his soft head and hair flowing in the water!  Don't be afraid to reach down and feel!  I was so surprised at how squishy his head was, and how soft the hair.  I really had no choice but to push and damn did that hurt!  I did tear, and had to have a few stitches.  I wonder how much worse it might have been if I hadn't been in the water.

I should mention in the middle of the whole thing my husband had to use a fishnet to get some fecal matter out of the water!  Unpleasant, but he was a real trooper.  He scooped it out immediately so it wouldn't be a concern for contamination of the tub.  During labor, I also yelled at him to get me apple juice.  I didn't stare dreamily into his eyes, or have him pat my hair, or any of those things I'd read about.  I did yell at him and my midwife to tell me I was doing a good job and to coach me a little bit more, because it turned out I needed that and found it helpful!  So: don't feel bad if you yell at your spouse, but maybe apologize for it afterward!

After bonding with him for a good long while on my chest (and having of course already closed the windows and turned on the heat!), I was helped out of the tub, umbilical cord attached, and put on the sofa.  There we lingered a little while longer before cutting the cord.  My husband and I really weren't interested in doing that--I was afraid it might hurt, even!  I didn't feel anything and the midwife did a clamping sort of action and attached a little band to it, instead of those giant bam-bam things you see at the hospital.

Then, I birthed the placenta.  It was like birthing a giant, warm, squishy squid.  My midwife made sure there were no pieces left behind, and then gave me a few local shots in the vagina before stitching me up.  It was not that great.

 As a side note: We saved the placenta and put it in the freezer since I wasn't sure what I'd want to do with it.  I declined the offer for placenta encapsulation--that just was not for me.  I thought about planting a placenta tree, but then though--what if the tree died?  what if we had to move and couldn't take it with us?  Was there symbolism in that?  I didn't want to worry.  It ended up being in my freezer for close to one year before I finally just threw it away!  Originally the idea of my organ rotting in the trash was pretty gross, but at that point I really didn't care.

After I was stitched up Dr. Gleisner started checking the baby (it is possible she did this before stitching me up, I don't recall)--she weighed him in this cute hanging sling device, checking his reflexes, measured his giant head, etc.  While this was going on I was given one of the frozen fruit pops I had prepared in advance, because I was pretty exhausted and while not actively starving, I definitely needed to refuel.  My husband put on the baby's first cloth diaper, and got him dressed.  The midwife then handed him to me and we gave breastfeeding a go!

I honestly do not remember if he nursed at all, but I think he did a little bit.  He latched on with no problems, and I know I'd already started leaking colostrum a few weeks before birth so he had a least a little bit of something.  It then all sort of became a blur.  We swaddled the baby, and all got into bed together and went to sleep.  My uterus had just run a marathon, and I cannot imaging how bad I'd have felt if I had not had the chance to sleep through early labor.  I'd also made sure to eat something right after my water broke so I would have the energy during labor because I knew I wouldn't be eating much.

Newborns sleep really well for the first week--I had to make an effort to get him to nurse and he did turn a tiny bit yellow.  Luckily he gained weight in the first week and rapidly grew!  I had a slight blip with nursing, but I'll post about my post v partum experiences later.

I'll also try to do a post with more information about how we prepared the house for the home birth, and how I tried to prepare mentally.

*This post was originally published in 2012, but I revised it in 2014

I'm planning another home water birth for my second child who is due in September 2014.