Many people have been curious about how a (now-) unconventional
home birth goes down, and some people just like to read birth stories, so I
thought I’d share mine. If you are squeamish about blood, poop, and lady bits, pass
this post on by. Otherwise, read on to hear the tale of how baby Nathan Scott came to be born in a log cabin!
We decided to use a midwife after my hospital experience
with Kyle’s birth was not what I’d hoped for. When we learned the famous
FarmMidwifery Center was only an hour from our new home in Tennessee, the decision was simple.
Their founder, Ina May Gaskin, literally wrote
the book on natural childbirth. Their practice, around since
The Farm commune was founded in the ‘60s, is
regarded as one of the best, if not THE best, in the world. People travel from
around the country and world to rent cabins on the idyllic property for weeks
on end to wait out the time until their babies arrive. I was referred by Kyle’s
pediatrician to contact
Stacie Hunt, one of
The Farm midwives. During our first
meeting with her, she pointed out it was silly for us to rent a cabin by the
week when we have a perfectly good home just an hour away. So a home birth it
was!
Prenatal care was pretty much the same as at an
obstetrician’s office. I had regular checkups, with all the same blood tests,
ultrasounds, fetal heartbeat monitoring via Doppler, etc. that you would get in
a doctor’s office, though some tests were outsourced to the local hospital or
other clinics and there was no pressure to do any unnecessary testing. The Farm
services the large local Amish community, and their patients forgo most testing,
and often times much of the prenatal care, with generally positive outcomes.
The midwives are thoroughly trained in the areas of medicine pertinent to
childbirth and are certified by a national board. In fact, I’d wager that
Stacie, who has delivered 1,800+ babies and been present at more than 4,000
births, probably has more experience than the doctor who caught Kyle. And we
knew that if something went really wrong, we could be at a hospital in ten
minutes under the care of surgeons.
Overall, I felt as safe, if not safer, with our choice this
time around. The somewhat intangible
pros and cons of my experience were: PRO – Prenatal visits lasted about an
hour, with great personal attention paid to us. About 15 minutes was spent
doing the actual tests and checkup, and about 45 minutes chatting about the
pregnancy, gardening, parenting, gossip, etc. It is rare that you get to bond
with a medical professional in this way. This is the person helping welcome your most precious possession into the world, and it's nice to know them on a first name basis (and even as facebook friends!). CON: Because I was working with one midwife (and
her team) rather than a practice of several interchangeable doctors, my
appointments would frequently be cancelled or rescheduled when Stacie was
called out on a birth. But, I just rolled with it.
I also decided to hire a doula, which is basically a birth
coach. With Kyle’s birth I felt I caved and asked for an epidural when I didn’t
want one. I felt ill-equipped to manage the painful contractions, and my loving
husband was no better equipped than I. I hoped to have someone on-hand who
could offer me support and encouragement, as well as various ways to cope with
the pain and struggles of labor. I told Stacie I wasn’t always good at taking
direction so I needed someone who could be a bit of a bitch if necessary. She
referred me to
Kari Jenkins. We met several times before the birth to get to
know each other and discuss what I envisioned for Nathan’s birth.
OK, so on to the birth. Nathan was due on September 24
th.
Because Kyle was a few days early, we all kinda thought Nathan would be, too. I
felt in my gut, however, that he was a bit of a late bloomer simply because he
did not hiccup nearly as much as Kyle did. Hiccupping strengthens a baby’s
lungs, and I recently read that
a protein in fully developed fetal lungstriggers labor. So my hunch was he’d likely not be THAT early. However, from a
week or two before his due date, I began having mild contractions. With Kyle,
the day I started feeling that way was the day I went in to labor. So for weeks
I was on pins and needles. The contractions would come every couple days, for
hours on end. Not painful, but semi regular or constant pressure. At my weekly
checkups, I found that the baby was very low, I was dilated to 1 or 2 cm, and
my cervix was softened, which meant I could really go at any time (those were
the same conditions I had at my checkup the day before Kyle was born). I was
texting the midwife and doula so often saying, “This might be it!” that I was
afraid they’d think I was “the girl who called baby.”
As the due date approached, I tried every method I could to
bring on labor. Some were old wives’ tales, and some were more scientific. But
they were all primarily ways to prepare my body for labor and move things along
from the false labor to real labor if my body was ready. I tried them all, to
no avail – physical, herbal, dietary, etc. Tom’s parents arrived from Hawaii
for a week-long visit on the 23rd. They hoped to meet the baby, and
offer help during the birth or afterwards, as needed. As the due date came and
went, and none of the labor-inducing tricks worked, I began to wonder if their
visit (although really wonderful in its own right) would be in vain. So, with
Tom’s prodding, on the last day it made sense to try, I inquired about the one
method I swore I’d never use: castor oil. Stacie said to give it a go! So
around noon on the 28th I dumped two ounces of the stuff into a
chocolate milkshake and tossed it back. It tasted like some brownie batter I’d
made a while back using stale vegetable oil. Castor oil is a powerful laxative,
but it works to contract the muscles of your bowels and in turn the muscles
associated with childbirth. The laxative took effect (and for me it was not
accompanied with any pain or nausea), and the contractions, similar to the ones
I’d been having for weeks, also began. In the evening Stacie and her assistant
Laura came by the house to check on me. They found I’d progressed since our
previous checkup but that labor was not in progress. They headed out, saying to
call if anything changed, and we went to bed, disappointed and tired, at 9:30.
Around 12:30 I woke up, as had become standard for me in the
third trimester, and rose to pee, get some ice water, pee again. A little over
an hour later I climbed back in bed, still wide awake. As I tried to fall back
asleep, I noticed new contractions picking up. These were different- rather
than in my abdomen, these were in my pelvis, and were slightly painful. I
decided to start recording their frequency on an app I have on my phone
starting at 2:15. At 2:50 I felt the unmistakable gush of my water breaking,
and waddled to the toilet before the floodgates opened. As I sat, I felt fluid
pass, but also many clots. I peered in the bowl, horrified to see a huge amount
of blood. I called Stacie even while the amniotic fluid and blood still gushed out
of me. She asked me to send her a photo (ah, technology!) of the carnage. I’ll
spare you all that image. Luckily our rag bin was in arms reach so I grabbed an
old towel, curled up on the bathroom floor, and called for Tom. I was very
light-headed, I assume from the combination of blood loss and squeamishness/shock
from seeing all that blood. I rested my head on Tom’s lap until I was able to
return to bed. Stacie told me to monitor the baby’s movements and I could feel
him some – he was never a wiggly fetus to begin with. I know that if the
placenta is damaged, it can be very dangerous to mother and baby. So I was
hoping that was not the case. At some point I also called Kari, the doula.
Within an hour Stacie and Laura (Stacie’s
apprentice/assistant) arrived, with rolling cases full of supplies. They immediately
checked the baby’s heart rate with the Doppler (which was strong and healthy)
and began an IV of lactated ringer’s to try to help me following the blood
loss. Stacie assessed the blood, fishing about two cups of clots out of the
toilet (it’s a glamorous job sometimes). The whispering from the bathroom made
me a little concerned but the news upon her return to the bedroom was positive.
She determined it was not placental, but likely a cervical bleed from a varicose
vein that ruptured once the pressures of labor began (a rare condition called
cervical varix). The blood likely began to pool and clot as I was timing my contractions,
resulting in the deluge when I got up. I found out after the fact that this was
not something she had seen more than a few times, and she told me she’s never
seen that amount of blood in all her experience. She told me later that when
she arrived and saw all the blood that she thought I might have to go to the
hospital, but when the baby sounded good and the blood stopped, she decided we
could carry on at home. Her level-headedness in the situation kept me (and Tom)
calm. I appreciate that her experience prevented her from having a knee-jerk
reaction, but that she would have taken further measures if necessary. As she
checked me, I also learned that there are two layers of the amniotic sac, and
only my outer one had broken. There was some fluid between the layers, but I
guess most of what I felt as my water breaking was actually the blood.
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| Nathan was born in a log cabin! |
While I was being assessed and monitored, Kari arrived. We
also woke Tom’s parents around 4:45 am, who were sleeping in the small log cabin on
our property, so that we could move our crew out there. The plan was for them
to entertain Kyle during the birth so he wasn’t scarred by the sights and
sounds of labor. He could remain in the house, in his element, while we did our
thing out in the cabin. Tom and the midwives brought all the supplies out to
the cabin and prepared the room (old sheets on the bed, turned on my
labor playlist, etc.). Once we got to
the cabin, I was still very light-headed, so I spent the next bit of time on my
side in bed. The contractions were painful, but manageable. Between
contractions we chatted and laughed. I think I dozed off a few times between
contractions. Every few contractions the baby was monitored with the Doppler,
and his heart rate stayed steady in the normal 130-150 range. This continued
throughout the labor. Laura had gone off to get the fancy baby monitor from
Stacie’s house, like they have in a hospital, just in case it was needed.
Fortunately, it never was. Another midwife apprentice, Angela, also arrived.
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| Tom helping me through a painful contraction while on the birthing chair |
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| Thumbs up to a home birth! |
After a while, a change in position was recommended so I
moved to a birthing chair. It was a collapsible, Amish-made chair with a
U-shaped seat. I stayed there for a while, and the contractions began to
intensify. Tom held my hand during them and I shushed the room so I could
concentrate. At one point I looked out the French doors of the cabin, saw one
of our geese looking back at me. Everyone laughed when I exclaimed, “Oh, a
goose!” But I was weak, dizzy and tired, and wanted to put my head down. During
a few contractions I even felt difficulty breathing. So I moved to straddling a
yoga ball and leaned forward with my head on a stack of pillows on the bed. Angela
and Kari helped with massaging my back. The contractions intensified, and at a
certain point I felt like the baby was catching on my hip bones or something,
because I was leaning forward. Stacie and Kari were going to try out a rebozo,
a scarf-like cloth that they could use to help comfort me and position my body
to ease the baby into place. But as I stood up from the yoga ball, another
contraction hit, and I suddenly felt the urge to push.
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| HE DID THIS TO ME |
Because I was still weak, I decided to do my pushing in the
bed, as I’d done with Kyle. In theory I understand that positions like
squatting or using the birthing chair are optimal to allow gravity to assist,
but I was not up for that. So in to bed I went and began to push. The cervix
was not fully cleared, so Stacie helped make way for the baby’s head. As I
pushed, the inner amniotic fluid sac still wouldn’t break, and she commented
that it was super tough. As I was pushing everyone was saying, “Get behind it!”
I don’t know what that means, but in the moment I understood. Every time I
pushed, Stacy leaned out of the way in anticipation of being sprayed when the
fluid sac popped, but it never did. Stacy kept saying the head was right behind
the fluid sac, and I just needed to keep pushing. After about 10 minutes, Tom
asked if manually breaking it would help, and she agreed and went ahead and did
it. The pushing phase took about thirty minutes, contraction after contraction
with breaks in between where I could catch my breath. Finally, out slithered
Nathan at 10:46 am, almost exactly 8 hours after my water broke (the same as
with Kyle!). Surprise number two: He was sunny side up. That’s the layman’s term
for
posterior birth. Babies are typically born facing down (facing the mother’s
back). Nathan came out completely face up- a “textbook” posterior presentation,
according to Stacie. In retrospect, I wish we’d videoed it because I was told
he came out looking around at everyone! I was surprised because he spent much
of his time in the womb in the correct position. Stacie also told me the cord
was wrapped around his leg.
Nathan was brought up to my chest and we were instantly
smitten, of course. Tom cried, which surprised him. His love for his son was
instantaneous. The baby was covered in
vernix, the waxy coating that develops
during the third trimester. He was a nice pink color and crying. Laura cleared
his airways while we cooed over him. After the umbilical cord stopped
pulsating, Tom cut the cord.
Stacie began talking about delivering the placenta, so I
handed Nathan off to daddy for some skin-to-skin. Stacie was working on the placenta, which was
caught behind my pubic bone. I knew from the ultrasounds that it was an
anterior placenta, which means it was located towards my belly rather than my
back. It was the main reason I couldn’t feel Nathan move very well until well
into the second trimester. Stacie had to pry it loose so it could be delivered.
When it flopped out, Stacie’s eyes widened. She held up the placenta and showed
me how large it was – easily 50% bigger than the normal size she outlined on my
massive placenta. She placed it in a Tupperware to be inspected and sent off to
be encapsulated. (I’d won free encapsulation in a raffle at a breastfeeding
event. It turns out that will be a blessing in helping to replenish my blood supply
and iron levels following the blood loss during labor.) The midwives confirmed
that the placenta was fully intact and that the blood loss definitely did not
come from there. Fun fact: The placenta looks like a stingray. I’ll also save
you from that image.
I was stitched up and cleaned up, then given some medicines
to help my uterus contract and to stop the (normal) bleeding. Nathan was
checked over, and everything was great. He weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces, was 20
1/4” long, with 36 centimeter diameter head. Slightly larger than Kyle, all
around. At his 2 day pediatrician visit he had lost some weight, which was to
be expected, and was in the 50th, 75th, and 60th
percentiles, respectively.
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| mmm milkies |
Nathan took to the breast quickly and easily. His latch was
perfect. He’s continued to nurse well over the first two days of his life,
cluster feeding just as I’m ready to go to sleep for the night (of course), and
nursing throughout the day, every few hours. We’ve been negligent about
tracking the details of his input and output, but it’s been good. I weighed him
before and after nursing at the pediatricians, and he took in an ounce, which
is the stomach capacity of a 2 or 3 day old baby.
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| And now we are four |
After Nathan had nursed, we brought Kyle in to meet his baby
brother. Kyle received a gift from his brother, a story book (which was actually
sent by the boys’ Great Gram). We read the story, and then Daddy brought the baby
over to Kyle. Kyle was (and is) fascinated with the baby. It was interesting,
while I was pregnant we referenced the baby in Mommy’s tummy, pointed out babies
when we saw them out, and gave Kyle a baby doll. We told Kyle he was going to
be a big brother and that his little brother would be called Nathan. Kyle would
say baby, pointing to my tummy, but he would never refer to the baby as Nathan
or brother. After seeing the baby in the flesh, he began using both terms. He
enjoys pointing out the baby’s facial features. Interestingly, Kyle and Nathan
look almost exactly identical to each other at birth. Putting pictures of the
two of them side by side, you would think they were twins.
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| twins? |
I am recuperating slowly. My uterus is still contracting
back to its normal size, and the cramps are painful. They come on
spontaneously, but are also triggered by the oxytocin release when I nurse
Nathan or hear him cry (or even sometimes while just gazing upon him). I
started out very light headed on the day Nathan was born (I even fainted trying
to go from the bathroom to bed, but fortunately Tom was supporting me as I wilted), but my
endurance is improving. I am working on increasing my iron levels and blood
volume through diet and supplements.
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| The awesome birth team! |
All-in-all, despite the peculiarities of the birth itself, I
enjoyed my home birth experience. I suspect that had I been under a doctor’s
care, I would have ended up with a C-section from the get-go. Instead, I am
enjoying the first days of my baby’s life in the comfort of my own bed, taken
care of by a doting baby daddy. I confirmed with Stacie at her follow-up visit
that none of the oddities of this birth should repeat in subsequent pregnancies
(Tom would like me to get a second opinion on that- seeing his wife crumpled on
the floor next to a toilet bowl full of blood has that effect on a person), so
I would definitely want to do the same thing next time if we have that chance.
