We bear witness to all births of all kinds. Homebirth, birth center, hospital. Each and all stir our souls and prompt our work onward. They inspire our hands and hearts. You inspire our hands and hearts.

And, sometimes we get to share this inspiration with you in the form of a birth story.

In this post, we share with you a homebirth story from a precious client who gave birth at home for the third time. We’ll share this in her words.

There’s something especially unique about your third home birth. You know what to expect because you have already done the difficult work of labor and birth, meanwhile having zero expectations of how your birth will go. All birth is a unique experience. I knew that this time I wanted my same birth team of strong nurturing women. I had never made it to 40 weeks so when my due date came and went I got to work trying to induce labor naturally.  I had been experiencing Braxton hicks for weeks, but when a surge woke me up at 11 pm I groaned and tried to go back to sleep to get extra rest.

Delivering a baby in the middle of the night wasn’t in my plan. I like my sleep. My older 2 were considerate and came in the early evening. By 1:30 in the morning surges were coming about 5 minutes apart and I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. Movement always helps me work through the discomfort. I woke up my husband and told him to start getting the tub ready. By 1:35 I told him to call our birth team. Not text, call. Things were progressing quickly and since this wasn’t my first rodeo; I knew I couldn’t wait any longer for my support system. I was having a hard time managing the intensity of my contractions.

My midwife texted me to get in the shower while my husband got the tub ready. Alyssa quickly arrived and opened the shower to hand me a crystal I previously asked her to bring for energetic support. She asked me how I was feeling and I told her he was coming soon. I was already starting to feel pushy.

They told me I needed to get out of the shower so we had enough water pressure to fill the tub, which disappointed me. Once I was in the tub I started to feel like the surges were more powerful than me. Understanding your body is in control and experiencing it are two different things.  Alyssa intuitively knew I needed some positive affirmations. When she told me I could do this it was exactly what I needed to hear. Although I was progressing quickly I was also getting really good breaks in between surges. This was new to me and I appreciated them because of how strong each surge felt.

I could feel him pushing his way through the birth canal. I focused on this sensation as it gave me a sense of progress. I burrowed my face into the towel on the side of the tub to let out my animalistic groans to keep from waking up my older kids. This was the first birth I felt present enough to mentally take that into account. I was also acutely aware of time and wanted to make sure he was born before 6am because my kids would be waking up soon after that. When my midwife went to check me for the first time my body started pushing and my water broke with such force that it startled her. She was barely able to get one glove on before I had such a powerful surge that made me push hard. I tried to slow down my pushing but the ring of fire was so intense that I decided I couldn’t do another surge that intense again. I was mentally aware that it’s better for their lungs to get the extra squeeze but I didn’t care in that moment. I needed to be done. I pushed him out and he was born at 3:37.

I remember looking over at my mom and seeing the pride in her eyes. My midwife looked at my husband and said, “your wife is exceptional at birth.” I felt so much pride for my body that has worked with all my babies to bring them earth side in the comfort of my bedroom. 20 minutes later my 3 year old daughter woke up to his cries as a proud big sister. I will always be grateful for the photos Alyssa took of her first moments as a big sister meeting her baby brother for the first time.

This is birth, dear souls. This is homebirth.

---

If we can answer any questions at all, please let us know.

Your Cherry Blossom Doulas