Being a pharmacist I have great respect for any medical professional. So when I became pregnant with my first child. I made the appointment with my doctor and never gave a thought to ever having a home delivery. I did however have the “idea” that I wanted to go natural. My research consisted of a discussion with my cousin who had a home delivery. My mom and sisters had relatively easy deliveries. So I really thought that I could do this on my own, with no need for an epidural.

I went over my expected delivery date, so my doctor and I discussed being induced. On the day of induction, my water was broke and pitocin was started at around 9 AM. At around 3 in the afternoon I couldn’t handle the pain any longer and was only dilated to a 6. I decided to get the epidural, which stopped my labor and dropped my blood pressure dramatically. So we had to start all over, stop the epidural and restart the pitocin. My baby boy was finally born at 3 AM (17 hours of labor) 7lbs 4oz and not breathing. Did this have anything to do with how long my labor was, I will never know. He has turned out to be an extremely healthy boy and full of life.

After this experience I knew that an epidural was not going to be an option for me. So with my second pregnancy I knew 3 things were absolutely certain. 1. No induction 2. No epidural and finally 3. Shorter labor. But, I still went back to the same doctor and hadn’t really changed my “medical profession” way of thinking. I was already over 30 weeks into my pregnancy when I scheduled a consultation with Janae and deep down I knew that this was what I wanted to do. But this was met with great cynicism and concern. Especially since I had a “relationship” established with my doctor. So I chose to use the midwife as a doula in the hospital. I dived headfirst into research, reading and gathered as much information as I could. I had a birth plan that was discussed with my doctor, my midwife (doula) and we were all on the same page.

Since I had went so far over with my first baby I was really surprised and a little bit in denial when I started to feel contractions the day after I was due. I called Janae and she asked me if I had decided on a home birth. There was no question at that moment; I wanted to deliver my baby at home.

So, New Plan. Then I started to panic, because all I could remember was the intense out-of-control pain from my previous delivery. But when Janae and her assistant Liz, came I was in my room in absolute darkness and listening to music I had preselected for labor. I was using the Bradley Method and found that the music and darkness really helped me to stay relaxed in between and during contractions. When Janae checked my dilation I was at 8 cm already and it had only been 4 hours. I must have been pretty calm, because her assistant Liz said “I don’t really believe that she is that far along because she is not acting like she is in labor.” I was having a lot of back pain and Janae was right there in between contractions helping me to relax again and massage my back. I was really amazed at how Janae and Liz just let me, the baby and nature take its course. I was not stressed. Janae kept saying you sound good, that sounds like pushing sounds, keep going. Everything just stayed calm and peaceful. When she checked my dilation I was almost fully dilated and my water sac was bulging. She told me that if you just give me a big push your water will break and we will probably have this baby. I believe I had 2 more pushes and my water broke, and then there was excruciating pain along my back. That would be when I found out that the baby was posterior. There was no way that I could lay on my back, so I went on to my hands and knees but the baby wouldn’t move under my pelvic bone. I had to move over to my back to deliver. At one point while I was pushing, Liz said I hear the cord. I didn’t really give it much thought because both Liz and Janae were very professional and knew what needed to be done. Both Liz and Janae were just amazing, they did not panic and this allowed me to complete my delivery without upsetting me. The cord ended up to be wrapped around his neck and his shoulders were stuck for just a moment. Once they had his shoulders out they were able to unwrap the cord and he was laid on my stomach. Not really crying but breathing. Austin was born at 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches after just 6.5 hours of labor. We bonded instantly because I was able to hold him forever afterwards and we started breastfeeding right way.

By having my delivery at home allowed my mother and my husband to be present during delivery and my other son was able to meet his baby brother just moments after being born. Being home allowed me to relax and sleep in my own bed! Thank you Janae and Liz for sharing the gift of life with me and helping me through it all!