| Homebirth Two Weeks Late by: Shari I think I was ready to have the baby at 38 weeks, but he had something different in mind. Harrison David Dexter was born on June 1, 2001, but his due date was May 16. He is my third son. The first two were born in the hospital. I delivered my oldest naturally and with the second I had an epidural. I decided this time I wanted to finally do this at home, since I haven't enjoyed being in the hospital and I hadn't found a doctor who completely agreed with my desires of how to labor and deliver. My midwife was wonderful. She became a dear friend and we would spend usually an hour talking at my prenatal visits. Try getting that much attention from a busy doctor! At 41 1/2 weeks, she took me to her consulting doctor to get a nonstress test and ultrasound to check on the baby. We both felt like he was okay, but better safe than sorry. I was concerned because my firstborn was only five days overdue and had a lot of complications as a result of being late. My body doesn't hold up well after 40 weeks. Well, that showed up on the ultrasound. There was almost no amniotic fluid left and the placenta had many calcifications. Legally, the midwife could not let me go past 42 weeks, so we scheduled an inducement on Friday, June 1, the day after 42 weeks. The baby did well on the nonstress test, but there was obvious concern. Thursday, May 31 came and I called the midwife because my contractions were finally getting in to a pattern. I had had Braxton Hicks contractions for months (most of the pregnancy actually). She was actually surprised when I told her that I was in labor. My husband, Dave, took our two sons over to his mom's house. The midwife came about 5:30 p.m.. I was at 3 centimeters dilation. My friend and neighbor also came over. She had had a homebirth a year earlier with the same midwife. Us three girls sat around and chatted while I labored and Dave came in and out while he was working on the computer. I progressed steadily, dilating about 1 centimeter every hour and a half. Incidentally, my mother had wanted to be at the birth and hoped I would have him before she had to leave on vacation. She and my dad left at 2 p.m. and my contractions got going at 2:30. She was very disappointed to have missed it all. She didn't get to see the baby until he was 2 1/2 weeks old! At about 8:30 p.m., the two student midwives came. Around 11 p.m., I was getting tired and just wanted to lie down. The midwife and I went and lay down on my bed and the others all rested in the living room. After 45 minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer because the contractions were too intense. We had set up a pool in the living room, because I wanted to labor in the water. The midwife didn't want me getting in until I was at least a 7. She thought my labor would slow down if I got in too early. Looking back, I wish I could have labored in the water a lot longer. Dave had to keep boiling water because the pool water was too cold. The water felt good, but a hot tub would have felt better. The students continued to monitor the baby's heartbeat every other contraction. He had good heart tones through the whole labor and I felt like I breathed for the baby. I was still in the water when I reached 10 centimeters and it was so intense. The midwife wanted me out of the water because she was concerned about shoulder dystocia. Since I was so overdue we weren't sure how big the baby would be. After the next contraction I literally jumped out of the water, because I didn't want to be caught halfway when another contraction hit. I was on my knees and Dave was holding me up. He was such a great support. It was like I was hugging him and he just held me up. The midwife directed me how to push, but I had it in my mind that I wanted to breathe him out and not forcefully push. I knew my body could do the work. So when she told me to push, it was halfhearted at best. This was my third baby, but the pain is so real and intense that I just wanted it over with so badly. He came out in less than 10 minutes. His head just finally popped out and the rest of him slid out. There was a lot of meconium. He was even passing it as he was born. The umbilical cord looked shriveled and the placenta looked very old and calcified. The cord and placenta were both stained green. The midwife and students worked on the baby to suction him and get him pinked up. We were so blessed that he hadn't respirated any of the meconium. We think it may be due to the fact that there wasn't any amniotic fluid left for him to swallow. This baby was so hungry. It seemed to me that he hadn't eaten in three days. He was so grateful that my milk came in the day after he was born. He was born at 1:45 a.m. on June 1. He was scheduled to be induced at 5:30 a.m. that same morning. I know that God heard my prayers to let him be born at home. At birth, he weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches. Now, at almost 3 months, he weighs over 16 pounds and is 25 inches. I plan to have a homebirth again when I have another child, although a part of me liked having the epidural with the second baby. The personal attention of a midwife is so very worth it. |