Birth Story: Natural Birth at Home

All three of my birthing experiences so far have been natural. The first one was in the hospital and the second and third ones have been at home. It’s a big decision to have a home birth, because in our minds there’s always the natural fear of “what if.” But after talking with my midwife friend about all of our questions and fears and about what she would do in certain situations, we confidently moved forward with having a home birth. We chose this route because I was convinced that God had created my body to do what it needed to do to give birth without unnecessary medical intervention and that He had
given me peace about this decision. We had already had an uncomplicated natural birth in the hospital, so this gave us more confidence too. It was also reassuring to know that midwives are prepared with oxygen and Pitocin if certain post-birth complications arise. I really loved the thought of going through this experience with a midwife who loved me and was praying for me and in the comfort and peace of our own home.

It was Super Bowl Sunday 2009 and I was sitting on the living room floor helping our 23-month old son with some breakfast before church when I leaned forward and suddenly had “that feeling.” My water broke! It wasn’t a gush; it was just a trickle, but I knew that it meant we would have our daughter that day! I called my midwife because I was a bit worried about the order of events, since my water didn’t break until I was pushing with my first child. She assured me that it was normal and that things should be progressing soon. I took a walk around the block, did some laundry, prepared our room with the birth supplies*, took a shower, watched my husband as he did our taxes, ate some lunch…all while my labor progressed. And then I knew it was time to go to the bedroom, because the contractions that had been unbearable were now ULTRA-unbearable! (All you natural mommas know what I mean!) I laid
on my side with my leg propped up and let my body “push” without extra effort from me to hopefully avoid tearing this time. But I didn’t have to push because there was no holding back; my body was going to push no matter what I did! After 7 hours of labor and the worst pain of my life, our beautiful curly-
haired blue-eyed 8lb 5oz Leah was born!

Fast forward 21 months. It’s October 29, 2010. Six days past my due date. After being up and around for a couple of hours I noticed some cramping in my belly that was occurring in a pattern. Finally, I was in labor and would get this baby out!! I called my husband and he excitedly came home from work. I
was making progress quickly and my contractions got very strong very fast. Since pain medication isn’t an option at home, I relied upon a breathing pattern to try to deal with the pain. But having already been through this twice before, I knew that even though I was feeling mind-blowing pain during
each contraction (which were back to back to back), it still had to get worse before it got better! This experience was good in many ways in dealing with my labor, and in other ways it was not so good, because knowing what still lay ahead caused me, as I sat on our couch, to have a 30-minute emotional
breakdown where I couldn’t stop crying (which, of course, didn’t help my contractions any!). Sure enough just as my midwife had said, though, once I was able to get those emotions out, my body immediately transitioned and I knew it wouldn’t be much longer. I went into our bedroom, got on the
bed, and about 2 minutes later my water burst. (I say “burst” because it was exactly that! It felt and sounded like how a water balloon does when it’s thrown down on the sidewalk.) The sound of it literally startled me (and my midwife and husband too) and I tensed up because the pain instantaneously went
up another notch. But the good news was that less than ten minutes later our precious 8lb 11oz Ruby Jane was born with surprisingly little hair! A couple hours later, Ruby’s brother and sister came to meet her for the first time and they LOVED her!

Maybe we’ll try a water birth next time…but that epidural sure gets more and more enticing after each natural birth!

*We order a birth kit from a company in Liberty Hill, TX called In His Hands Birth Supply. Our midwife provides us with a list of medical and household products she would like us to have. The list includes items like: 12 large underpads, soothing bath herbs, olive oil, Phisoderm, gauze sponge, bulb syringe,
scrub brush (for baby’s head/hair in the bath), sterile gloves, plastic cord clamp, Goldenseal capsules (this is a natural powder applied to the cut cord to dry it out until it falls off), bendable straws, birth certificate, peri bottle, fitted plastic mattress cover (we make the bed with a set of sheets, then put on
the mattress cover, and then put on a 2nd set of sheets for the birth), 6 soft towels, 6 washcloths, after birth clothes for Mom, baby clothes/diaper/socks/hat, roll of paper towels, juice, pillows, hydrogen peroxide (this will remove any blood that happens to drip on the carpet), disposable bowl for placenta, trash can, trash bags, crock pot to keep washcloths warm, salt and garlic to add to the bath herbs (about 45 minutes after the birth, Mom and baby get into a warm herb bath prepared by the midwife’s assistant; this promotes healing and comfort for Mom and a soothing first bath for baby; also, while we are in the bath, the midwife and her assistant clean everything up and strip the bed down to the good set of sheets for resting; after the bath the midwife does a complete infant checkup on the bed including heart rate, respiratory effort, reflex stimulation, muscle tone, color, spine, orifices, joints, length, weight, etc.). The midwife usually leaves about 3 hours after the birth.

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Jessica Gilliam is a stay-at-home mom in Fort Worth. She and her husband, Josh, have been married for just over 6 years and they have a son and two daughters: Caleb James 4y8m, Leah Danielle 2y9m, and Ruby Jane 1 year.