Baby Sammy's Home Birth Story

Warning: this may contain details which you may consider TMI. Also it's real long. Read at your own risk.

Perhaps timeline style is the best choice for this story.

Thursday 12/10/09:
7:20pm First contraction. They alternate between 40 and 20 min apart. When I go to bed they become an hour apart. By morning they are gone.

Friday 12/11/09:
7:40pm Contraction. Follow exact pattern as Thursday except don't call midwife because what if they stop again. They stop, just like Thursday.

Saturday 12/12/09:
One stronger contraction in the night. I have re-given up on actually making a baby come out of me.

Sunday 12/13/09:
Extremely frustrated. By one count I am two weeks overdue. By another just a week. By the ultrasound just two days. Can't imagine being pregnant another week, hating the thought of Aaron going back to work the next day. Around 8 or 9pm contractions start again. Have them every hour or so through the night, skipping only the 4am hour.

Monday 12/14/09:
Since contractions did not stop during the night, Aaron decides to stay home. Maybe a baby will come out after all. Spent the day resting, contractions jump around from 20 minutes to 40 minutes and all around. Talk to midwife. She convinces me it's normal. I am still not happy, even though they aren't horrifyingly painful. I am just tired of waiting.

Around 10 we decide to go to bed, contractions are about 15-20 min apart. I lay down and can't sleep, as the pain is getting worse. Luckily Aaron goes right to sleep. By 11:30 I get up, as I am not sleeping anyway, I may as well watch TV right? I spend the contractions leaning on the birthing/exercise ball and rocking back and forth, focusing on my breathing. This is really funny to me because with Harmon all I ever was focusing on was not dying. And, after his birth if someone would have told me (as many sources did before) that I should have focused on breathing, I would have likely chopped them. At any rate, breathing was doing the trick this time.

At 1am my contractions had moved down to around 6-10 min apart, and I noticed that I was zoning out during them, instead of being able to at least follow what was going on on tv. I decided to call the midwife, just to check in again. I also felt stupid because I didn't want to be the girl who cried "labor" for the billionth time. (There was also the time a few weeks ago that I thought my water may have broken, but didn't. That was a daytime call though, and they were quite nice and unperturbed by it. Actually they were always amazingly reassuring, even when my labor was being all crazy.) Heather (the midwife) said she would come over at 2, because I needed antibiotics, and that if it was time for them (her plus two student midwives) to stay they would, if not we would make another plan. Aaron woke up, I called to have the labor tub delivered, and I called my mom to come over to watch Harmon if/when he woke up.

At 2 Heather showed up, followed quickly by Tonya (student midwife), the tub delivery lady, my mom, and Kyla (other student midwife). It was like a party. I still felt pretty good between contractions and was feeling like an idiot for having everyone assembled if I wasn't really going to have a baby that night/morning. At 2:30 they checked me and I was dilated to a 4-5. I told them right before that if I was only a 2 they should just lie to me and say 3. I was happy with what they found instead. And I was at a zero station. They gave me my antibiotics for group b strep, and I spent a while laying in bed or down on my knees during contractions. Kneeling seemed to be the best.

Around 4am I was still feeling good between contractions. They were closer together, from 4-6 min on average, with some 9 minutes in there as well. I had stopped keeping track, but Aaron seems to have snuck in a pretty good record somehow. Maybe because his wife wasn't on the floor moaning and wishing for death like last time? The tub had been half filled and was awaiting the hot water heater to recharge and I decided to get in. We turned the hose back on and began to fill it until the hot was gone again.

The water was AMAZING. In real life I love to swim. I love to be in the water. And with Harmon I was so sad the two times I got into the tub I had to get out because my contractions would slow down. This time it was meant to be. I was in the tub from about 4:20 until I had the baby, getting out once to try to go to the bathroom. The pressure was so horrible for the short time I was out (maybe a minute?), oh how happy I was when I got back in.

Around 5am they did another cervical exam at my request, as I was worried (again) that I wasn't making much progress, I felt much too good. I was talking between contractions, making jokes, eating crackers & juice, etc. It had to still be too early in labor... They checked and I was now a 7, at a +1 station. For real? Awesome. Heather and Tonya joked that I was quietly ambling my way along. Kyla had left because they got another call of another woman in labor, and around this same time Heather got a text announcing that the other lady, who went into labor at 8pm had her baby at 430am. Her first baby. Jerk! But I was feeling good in my happy tub so I wasn't too angry with some lady I had never met... With each approaching contraction I would announce "here comes some fun" which was Aaron's cue to come over and push on my lower back while I got on my knees and held my tummy and rocked.

For the next hour all the contractions hovered around the 5 min apart mark. They were getting stronger, and I could feel the baby moving down some. This was amazing to me, because I was comparing everything to Harmon's birth, and with him I felt nothing but horrifying pain. Sometimes in the middle of the contractions I would say silly things like "yes, go down, good" but for whatever reason they seemed to help me mentally deal with the pain. Nearer to the end I would begin to let my breathing get out of control and Heather would gently say something like "stick with it Kelsey" and I would work hard to get it back and it would work pretty well. I was in a fair amount of pain, but was still talking and joking between the contractions.

Just before 6am I barfed. Luckily just crackers and juice. And luckily into the bowl I had gotten out earlier. At 630 I barfed again. Just water this time! Still gross. Sometime in the 6am hour after barfing I was checked again and was a stretchy 9. I was pretty sleepy tired by this point, but still able to carry on conversations between contractions. Tonya told me I could push the baby through it when I was ready. After a while I actually felt the urge to push. And the times that I did, I did. And when I didn't, I didn't.

Harmon woke up around 6:45ish and my mom brought him out. He wanted to swim in the "bath" real bad. I don't blame him, because isn't a hot tub in your front room in front of the tv the best idea ever? I think so. We are thinking about getting one for there permanently. But I am off topic now...

I probably started pushing just before 7am. It hurt. Real bad. Ok, not horrific like Harmon, but real bad. Before long the baby was crowning and Tonya suggested breaking my water, because it hadn't on it's own yet. She did, the water was clear, and within a few more minutes of horrible pushing (and screaming, no controlled breathing here!) her head was halfway out. That was the worst part. Head halfway out. The next round of contractions got her body out, which was annoyingly difficult because I remembered Harmon's body just falling out. Of course with Harmon I had gravity working and his melon was so big, and Sammy's chest was the same size as her head, so I now see why. But whatever, it wasn't so bad, I was just not enjoying myself too much at the time. And then she was out. And Aaron who caught her was handing her to me. And I was happy, looking at my tiny baby.

Oh sure, you say she's not tiny. But when you have a giant come out first time around, she looks mighty tiny to me. Harmon got to put his feet in the tub and we spent a moment as a family getting our first photo taken. Aaron and I are smiling, Harmon is trying to get all the way into the pool, and Sammy is showing off her impressive lungs. It's a pretty great photo. That none of you will ever see.

Harmon got passed back to my mom, I passed Sammy off to Aaron and got out of the tub to deliver the placenta because it had split. I got a lovely shot of pitocin to my leg to help get out the chunk stuck inside. It all came out, and I begged Heather and Tonya to tell me if/how badly I was torn. A tiny surface tear. That's all? I forgot to add the part about during pushing Tonya putting pressure on my perineum to protect me from tearing something horrible like last time. She is a wonderful wonderful person. I asked how many stitches. None. What? But only if I promised to stay in bed for a week and keep my legs together to be safe. Otherwise one or two. I chose the stitches, and ended up with two, a tiny figure 8.

We moved into the bedroom and lovely Samantha Jane showed her extreme talent for nursing. She is a champ. The midwives cleaned up and left, and my mom hung out with Harmon while Aaron, Samantha, and I napped.

The best part (besides getting another lovely baby) (and being in the water for so long) was not having to go anywhere. I didn't have to drive to the birth center or hospital, and I got to sleep in my own bed when I was done. All my stuff was here, and it was so comfortable and relaxed. We didn't have to leave Harmon with anyone (luckily Momo came to us) and it was wonderful to have him here when his sister arrived.

I feel so good. It was frustrating waiting so long, and labor was long but also SO easy (comparatively). I cannot believe how good I felt through most of the labor, how coherent and how much less pain I had. I am so glad to not have a broken tailbone (like with Harmon) almost zero tearing, almost zero pain afterwards. I am tired, but that is probably mostly due to staying up all night. Aaron is taking the week off to take care of us, and my mom came back today to babysit us while Aaron was at a job interview.

Life. Is. Great.

Samantha Jane Evans
Born 12.15.09 at 7:24am
8lbs 10oz, 21", 36cm head circumference