I’ve struggled a little bit with how exactly to start my birth story. There was so much leading up to the birth of Caroline that effected all our choices. I’ll start with my diagnosis of cholestasis. I was diagnosed with ICP during my 34th week of pregnancy. This immediately threw a loop in my “birth plan” because it would require induction at 37 weeks. I took this very hard because I really desired for labor to start spontaneously. I continued to pray and ask God that he would keep Caroline and I safe and if He would will it to happen that I would still go into labor on my own and not need induction. When I was 35 weeks I started contracting and these were more than the Braxton Hicks I had been experiencing for weeks. I had already received betamethasone steroids to help with Caroline’s lung development just in case I would deliver early. I had a labor nurse friend come check my cervix to see if I really was in labor or if I had time to try and drink more water, take a bath, and get my contractions to go away. I was 1cm dilated and 60% effaced at this point. My contractions slowly spaced out and went away. Over the next two weeks I continued to have runs of contractions that would come and go. At this point, COVID-19 had started to really show its face and hospital policies started to change quickly. It started by eliminating all but one visitor and my doula, aka my mom, would still be allowed at my birth. I was bummed that I would not be able to have my birth videographer present but was still grateful to have my husband and my mom present. Soon after, the hospital banned doulas, making it impossible for my mom to be present for my birth at a hospital. This crushed me. I wanted my mom to be present but I also felt like I NEEDED my mom to be present to help me achieve my natural birth. This is when I started to investigate a homebirth.
I spoke with Jetta, a home birth midwife, to understand the logistics and safety of a homebirth. After all, I am a labor and delivery nurse and needed to know to feel comfortable with the idea. After speaking with Jetta, John and I felt like home birth was a great option for us if I would go into labor before I was scheduled for induction the beginning of the next week. On Thursday, 4 days before my scheduled induction, I had an appointment at my OB’s office and my cervix was still 1cm and 60% and -2 station so she wasn’t really engaged in my pelvis very well. If I’m being honest I was a little discouraged. I had been contracting for weeks with no cervical change but I continued to pray that God would have his hand over me and Caroline and her birth. After leaving my appointment my mom and I decided to go get acupuncture done! Neither of us had ever done it before and I knew it was possible to get contractions going if my body was ready. I started acupuncture at 4:30 in the afternoon on Thursday 4/2. During the acupuncture I started to get crampy but nothing that was painful or different than I had been experiencing. I came home and ate a good big dinner and did what everyone says to do to get the baby out…what got the baby in 😂 After that John and I went power walking around the block! You should’ve seen me curb walking, doing lunges, squats, and I even did some step ups at the park. This is when contractions started to pick up it was now about 7pm. They were slowly getting more intense. On our way back home we stopped by our friends house five doors down. I did the miles circuit and we continued to walk laps around their pool and hang out around the fireplace. At this point my contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart and I needed to concentrate through them. I called my mom to let her know what was going on and we all decided it was best for us to try and get some sleep to see if these would pick up or go away…
John and I both showered and headed to bed, it was 11:30pm now. I was able to fall asleep and only had to wake up to pee a couple times. I didn’t notice any contractions when I got up to pee, so I thought they had just fizzled out and gone away. Until…at 3am I woke up from a dead sleep and jumped out of bed because my water broke and gushed all over the bed! A huge rush of adrenaline flooded my body. It was really happening! I called my mom immediately and told her my water broke…only one thing…I was not contracting. I was on the phone for 17 min before I had what I said was maybe a contraction and another 15 min before another. I listened to Caroline with my doppler (labor nurse in me!) and after she sounded perfect, I decided to lay back down to try and sleep. I would set an alarm for 6am to wake up and start walking the neighborhood again if I still wasn’t contracting. As soon as I laid down to close my eyes, I had an intense contraction. And another. And another. They were three minutes apart right away! They immediately got more intense, and I told my mom sleeping or even laying down was not an option. I put on some worship music and started moving around our bedroom. John would support me through the contractions as we slow danced and I leaned into him for support. At this point I had to really moan through the contractions, so my mom decided to come over. John and I had decided that we would stay at home had I gone into labor on my own and so my mom let Jetta know that I was in labor. When my mom arrived her and John started to set up the birth tub in our living room and contractions continued to get more intense.
At 6:15, Jetta arrived to set up all of her equipment. I opted to have my cervix checked but did not want to be told what I was dilated to. If I’m being honest, I was terrified that I was going to still be the same as I had been. After being checked, my mom looked me in the eyes and said, “I really want to tell you what you are because I think you’ll be very encouraged.” I agreed and I was encouraged to hear that I was 4-5cm dilated and 90% effaced and Caroline was more engaged in my pelvis at -1 station (4-5/90/-1). Although contractions were intense, they had spaced out a little bit to 5 min apart so we went for a walk down the street before I would get into the tub. After my walk, contractions had picked up so I got in the birth tub to labor in the water.
I continued to do this, breathing through each wave, for a couple hours. My mom got me out of the tub to empty my bladder and I decided to be checked again. I was 7-8/90/0 at 10:55. That’s when my mom decided to bust out the peanut ball to do some different positions over the next hour. After the position changes I sat on the toilet again and started to get pushy as I felt lots of pressure. At 12:15 Jetta checked me again and I was 9-9.5/100/0. I got back into the birth tub and continued to grunt and work through the intense contractions. After about 45 minutes I remember Jetta asking me if being in the tub was the place I felt strongest to birth my baby. I opted to get out of the tub. I believe my words were something like “I’m ready to get out and get shit done” 😂 I tried squatting next to the tub for a couple contractions but decided to head to the bed. I was truly amazed at how much relief I felt from the contractions while pushing!
I started pushing on the bed at 1:08pm and Caroline was born at 1:29pm. It was love at first site and felt amazing to finally have my baby on my chest! I won’t lie, I feel like a total badass. Birthing at home with all of the support people I had has left me feeling more empowered than ever and I cannot imagine bringing our baby earth side any other way. I thank God every day for protecting Caroline and I and having His hand on her birth.
Want to watch my birth video!? Click here.
