Home Birth of my Second Baby

Our first baby was born in 2022 at a birth center, I knew I didn’t want a hospital birth, but was too anxious to do a home birth. We found a middle ground at a local birth center…I’ll post more about her birth in a future post. But after my first birth I knew i wanted a homebirth for future pregnancies.

Small disclaimer: This is a pregnancy and birth story – I don’t sugar coat, birth is a natural process and I don’t believe it should be censored. That being said – there will be pictures 🙂

We found a local natural-minded, holistic-based midwife early in pregnancy and started planning our homebirth. Early on in pregnancy we experienced some unexpected bleeding, we thought we lost the baby. However, with continued care and bloodwork we found out we were still pregnant but had lost a twin.

Navigating this was such a roller coaster of emotions. Going from thinking we lost the whole pregnancy, to finding out I was still pregnant, but had lost a twin. We didn’t know how to feel. We were heartbroken when we thought I was no longer pregnant. We named her Sage and buried her in the garden, later planting some sage as a remembrance of her. Then to find out I was still pregnant; we were thrilled but still so heartbroken about having lost a twin. We had recently moved to a new area and had not yet found a local church – this roller coaster of events spurred us to find a new church and press into God for His strength through the heartache. We learned to lean on God heavily during this time, and throughout the remainder of pregnancy. Trusting God that he would bring this miracle baby to us safely and emergency-free.

The majority of this pregnancy went smoothly, albeit uncomfortable with hip pain from a pelvic floor that needed work before getting pregnant again…oh well. Then at 34 weeks I experienced additional bleeding, with light contractions – this time my midwife sent me to the ER for an ultrasound. The ultrasound found a somewhat low-lying placenta, but it was a few centimeters away from the cervix, so it was not posing any concern to continue with my plans for a homebirth. I was sent home, with instructions to just take it easy. My midwife gave me some Carry-On Tincture to help stop the contractions that were occurring. I was still nervous baby would come early, but trusting God that His timing is perfect, and even if baby came early that baby would be safe and healthy.

We made it to 39 weeks! Contractions started on a Tuesday evening at 39weeks and 3 days, contractions were alternating one strong and one light contraction, every 5 min apart. This continued for ~3 hours or so, and around 9pm, we went to bed as nothing was progressing we wanted to be well rested for when baby decided to arrive. Contractions subsided overnight and Wednesday we walked around the local mall for 2-3 hours, hoping to start contractions again. However it was more of the same, a few irregular contractions throughout the day Wednesday.

Thursday we decided to switch it up, and spent the day relaxing at the beach, as our midwife was of the mindset that relaxing is the way to bring on labor rather than trying to walk baby out. It was wonderful to soak in the time with our little 2.5 year old before she became a big sister and was no longer the center of attention. Occasional contractions continued throughout the day, but subsided once evening came. Friday was more of the same with occasional contractions throughout, but nothing consistent. We did our usual Friday evening grocery shopping trip to Costco and walking around Costco did start some regular-ish contractions again but they subsided once we got back home.

We continued to pray and thank God for the miracle baby He was bringing us. Trusting that His timing was perfect and that He would bring baby safely to us. Every day for the next week leading up to baby’s birth contractions would come and go until Tuesday afternoon when we did another quick grocery trip and contractions started while walking around the store. Something in me knew this was it, these contractions were different than the others. Contractions started regularly about 15min apart, gradually getting stronger and closer together. Within 2 hours they were roughly 5-8 min apart and we were out getting a Dairy Queen Blizzard, I decided Sequoia (husband) needed to drive us home as I couldn’t focus on the road during contractions. They were still light enough that I didn’t think baby would be coming that night, but we alerted the midwife just so she knew it would be soon.

Contractions continued and began to intensity around midnight, we called the midwife as contractions were roughly 4 min apart and becoming more intense. This labor was so different than with my first that I didn’t know what to expect. I felt like a first time mom again. Christine (our midwife) started to head to our house, and Sequoia began filling the birth tub as we lighted candles and listened to worship music. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, exactly what we had been praying for – a peaceful labor.

Around 2 AM contractions slowed and I was feeling very discouraged and tired. I tried nursing my toddler to see if that would kick contractions back into gear, but it did not. I personally did not plan on having any cervical checks during labor, as I wanted pregnancy with minimal intervention and cervical checks don’t really tell anything about when baby is going to arrive. Someone can go from 2CM to 10CM in an hour, and someone else could take days to dilate that far. However feeling so discouraged we discussed the options with our midwife and decided for her to do one cervical check to see what position/station baby was in.

When Christine checked around 3AM, I was only 3cm dilated and my cervix was high and posterior, which meant I still had a lot of labor and work ahead to bring baby earthside. We decided it would be best if midwife went home, so they packed up, drained the tub and we all laid down to sleep. Overnight, contractions intensified but spaced out quite a bit so I was able to sleep in between each surge.

praying during labor for the safe arrival of baby

We woke up around 9AM Wednesday to contractions that were quite intense and coming closer together. Sequoia had to apply pressure to my hips/lower back with each surge to help me work through them. He also had the job of reminding me to find my breath through each surge. We continued with our day, mostly staying in bed and watching movies to relax Around 2pm the contractions intensified again. We called the midwife at 2:15pm as my body had begun pushing with contractions. Christine recommended we do the Spinning Babies 3 sisters of balance again – which consists of the Leg Jiggle, Inversion, and Side Lying Release, upon doing these positions my body stopped pushing but the contractions remained regular and picked up a bit in intensity.

Christine and her birth assistant arrived around 3pm. We refilled the tub with Hot water and I labored in the tub for the next ~2 hours or so. The surges were intense, but i was able to relax and rest in between them, which was not something i experienced in my first labor. Again, labor seemed to stall, now I do know, and was aware that natural labor will progress naturally, it may progress slowly but as long as everyone is safe and healthy that is no reason for concern. However I was tired and beginning to feel discouraged again.

Midwife suggested changing positions and another cervical check. We thought about it, discussed pros and cons and decided it would be a good idea. We moved to the bed for the cervical exam, upon checking I was 8cm, but baby’s head was only engaged on the front of the cervix, baby had not engaged the cervix fully which was likely causing it to not dilate fully. Christine thought this might be because baby was in a funky position over my pubic bone. And we moved me into a forward-ish side lying position on the bed, almost immediately upon changing positions contractions intensified and after 3 contractions my waters broke. The contractions become so intense my body was pushing immensely hard.

After a few more contractions on the bed our midwife urged me to get back into the tub if I wanted a waterbirth, so we moved quickly between contractions with Sequoia and the birth assistant supporting me as we walked. I labored in the tub for a few more contractions and worked to bring baby earthside. After several more contractions I reached down and could feel baby’s head, it only took 4 more contractions from when I first felt baby’s head until the head was out. Then after baby’s head was out it was 2 or 3 more contractions while baby worked on rotating and then baby was out!

I reached into the water to pick up baby, and sat down in the tub. upon lifting baby out of the water I discovered we had a boy! I couldn’t believe we had made it through, God got us through it and I was so thankful He brought you to us safely. Baby breathed and cried almost immediately, he was so pink – much more pink than my first was, she was quite purple and then pinked up within moments after her birth.

Baby and I stayed in the tub while I marveled at his existence. The placenta had detached but was not coming out on it’s own so my midwife directed me to grab the cord and pull it out, I was surprised at how hard I had to pull, and frankly worried about pulling so hard! Our birth assistant and my husband helped me out of the tub as I held you and we moved to the bed. We snuggled up with some towels so we could dry off while we got to know eachother. Baby boy was super alert and after about 15-3- min we started attempting to breastfeed. Once baby was latched he got the hang of it very quickly (so different from my first…more on that in a future post). After an hour or so of leisurely feeding our midwife did measurements and checked baby over to ensure all was well, which it was.

We had a cord burning ceremony, where we sang happy birthday to baby so our toddler could sing along, and we all prayed over him, praising God for his safe arrival. After his cord was separated from the placenta, Sequoia was the one to weigh him 7lbs 5.11oz.

Our midwife and birth assistants cleaned up, and as midwife was inspecting the placenta she discovered that the cord has a Velamentous insertion. which is where the cord inserts into the membrane of the bag before reaching the placenta. A velamentous insertion occurs in less than 1% of single-birth pregnancies. On top of that, the way the bag broke, was in between the vessels and the placenta. Had the waters broken any differently, or bag tore any further we would have had an emergency situation and possibly lost baby.