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Week by Week

Aaron's Home Birth Story

Aaron Timothy
Friday, May 6, 1994
6:49 p.m.
8 lbs., 3 oz.
Approx. 20 plus inches long
Home Birth, Austin, TX, USA

A few days before I found out I was pregnant, a friend of mine and I were talking about having home births if we got pregnant soon (my first, her second). She had found a phone number for a home birth midwifery practice in Austin, Texas, where we lived, and I made the call for the information packet. When I found out I was pregnant, my parents happened to be visiting and I was able to give them the news in person on my mom's birthday. I also told them that my husband and I were planning a homebirth. My dad was worried about the safety of it (me being HIS baby and all) but I reminded him that he himself was born at home and that my midwives were quite capable of detecting any reason for hospital transport. That was August - finally the day in May approached!

I awoke at 3:40 a.m., Thursday, May 5th, 1994 with some noticeable contractions every ten minutes apart. I urged my husband to go to work, but that I would call my doula to take me to my prenatal appointment at 1 p.m. that day. At the prenatal visit, I was 1+ cm dilated, at -2 station, and had bloody show on exam. My doula and I went for some ice cream then home to relax, read, and watch TV. By 5 p.m. my contractions became stronger and every 5 minutes. At 7 p.m., with contractions every 3 minutes apart, my midwives, Melanie and Barbara, arrived declaring me to be in active labor. I also had the loving support of my husband, Gilbert, my best girl friend, Cynthia, and my doula, Carol.

From 8 p.m., Thursday until 7:30 a.m., Friday, May 6th, I only progressed from 3 cm to 5 cm! I had spent the night trying out various laboring positions and relaxation aided mostly by my doula, Carol: on the bean bag chair, on the birth stool, walking, swaying, moaning, sitting on the toilet, showering, soaking in the bathtub, squatting, side lying, getting on hands and knees, using mental imagery of my cervix dilating, and some napping between contractions. I was nauseated, threw up, passed the major cleansing stool (no enema or castor oil), and tried sipping diluted gatorade. There was quite the talk of transport for lack of progress, being at 4 cm since 11 p.m. - turns out the baby's head was not positioned well - but they agreed to let us stay at home as long as the fetal heart tones were good. I did NOT want to go the hospital!

After leaving us for a couple hours early that morning with my doula and their assistant, the midwives went to assist the birth of another pregnant friend of mine who lived only a five minutes away. With every contraction I prayed that my cervix would open - I was drawing my strength from the Lord - I requested quiet during my contractions as even the encouraging whisper was distracting.

Upon their return at 7:30 a.m., I was 5 cm and at -1 station, but the baby's head was still a little tilted toward the left side. My friend had labor for only three hours and was now nursing her sweet baby girl - "when will it be MY turn" I thought! I walked in circles in our backyard in the cool morning air, swaying and moaning with every contraction. Gilbert was walking with me and between a contraction joked that he could get the lawn mower out so I could mow the lawn - I laughed!

We tried more side lying, nipple stimulation, swaying at the bedside, sitting in the bathtub and using the birth stool. I spent most of transition on the birth stool with an IV to help with hydration because of my bouts of vomiting. Barbara called it "birthing juice" as I would need more energy for pushing. I also had them play the Transitions audio cassette for me during my transition phase - and it's supposed to be for the baby's transition from womb life to the outside!! I very much enjoyed the sounds as it helped me "get into" the imagery of what was going on inside me. After that, I remember sitting in the tub thinking, "God made women able to do this", "I know my body was made for this" and "Christ's crucifixion had to be more intense than this." I know it sounds crazy that during this "transition" period I had thoughts like that, but it's true!

Finally, at 4:30 p.m., Barbara suggested she rupture membranes. We figured this would be our last shot at being able to stay home to complete this birth and that the hospital would surely do it if I were to arrive there. I was 9 cm 20 minutes later and she held my cervix back and had me bear down to have me complete. It worked and the baby's heart tones were still great! I don't remember it hurting any worse because of the manual dilation assistance as many moms groan about upon recollection - I think the transition stage with the vomiting was more intense. Barbara had Gilbert and I play "tug-o-war" with a sheet to help me focus my pushing. She had me in the Kaplan's position - on my back with Carol and Cynthia pulling my legs back to my ears. The cervical lip was gone an hour after AROM and pushing, then only a few minutes later Gilbert saw the baby's head and gasped, "Oh, my gosh!" I reached down and touched the baby's head and felt a curl of hair - I saw it too with a mirror! The baby crowned about 45 minutes later and I remember the sensation like an "Indian sunburn" - when as kids, we used to twist the skin on our arms in opposite directions to make it "burn". When his head emerged, I reached down again and felt his face - my sweet baby!

After almost 2 ½ hours of pushing, Aaron Timothy's head was out at 6:47 p.m. and Gilbert helped deliver his body two minutes later. The feeling of the baby's warm, wet body slithering out of me was a rapturous and awesome experience - one that would have been missed with an epidural or drugs at a hospital. I let out a victorious sigh of relief and pleasure. Aaron took his first breath after one minute and had a good heartbeat. Aaron was suctioned a bit as his breathing was a little "wet" and the midwives encouraged me to talk to my baby. At this point, I didn't know the sex of my child though everyone else did - my head felt like it weighed 100 lbs. and my upper body was exhausted from the "tug-o-war" that I couldn't raise myself up enough to see my baby and everyone was so interested in the baby that it slipped their minds to help me. The midwives handed me my baby wrapped in a blanket. I reached down to feel the genitals and exclaimed, "It's little Aaron!" Gilbert cut the cord after 7 minutes and I put Aaron to the breast to help with the expulsion of the placenta, for which the contractions I couldn't even feel, but delivered it 25 minutes later.

Aaron finally opened his eyes 35 minutes after his birth. We nursed again after I ate two huge plates of fresh cut fruit - YUM! My doula, Carol, gave me a postpartum massage - she had given me six massages prenatally and I was looking forward to the six-week post- partum massage, too. We had had one heck of a long 24 hours (not counting the 15 hours. of prelabor), but I felt so energized after the birth. I couldn't sleep much that night, but both Aaron and my husband slept all night long!

I never wanted to go to the hospital or have any pain relieving drugs. I just couldn't stand the notion of going to the hospital and risking one intervention after another, possibly ending up with a c-section, feeling "out of it" or out of control, or exposing my baby or myself to the hazard of nosocomial infection. I had worked at a hospital and, when I was three months pregnant with Aaron, even video taped an elective c-section of the L&D head nurse! I tell you, that lady's c-section was no gentle birth - that baby was yanked from her body! And it took 30 minutes to sew her up!

Living now in Houston, I am now 38 ½ weeks pregnant with my second child and another home birth is planned. This shall be another new experience as the birth father of Aaron died and my new husband, Paul, is very supportive of and confident in me, in my previous home birth experience, and in our midwife, Jane. I pray this home birth is safe with no complications and resulting in a healthy baby and mother! I'm already "prepped" more for this one (2 cm, 40% effaced, baby at 0 station, and loss of mucus plug) and labor hasn't started yet, so I hope this time is shorter and smoother once I really "get down to business."

Happy Home Birthing to All!!

Anne-Marie, aspiring midwife
Written December 3, 1997
Copyright 1997 - Used with permission by Childbirth.org