Our baby girl Alicia Cate was born on Saturday. She made a very dramatic entrance into the world and I thought I would share with you the story of her birth.
It started with my waters breaking at 2.30am on Saturday morning, I was already three days overdue and wondering whether this little person was ever going to arrive. My waters had broken early with each of my children and so I knew exactly what had happened and woke my husband up to get me a towel. I tried to get back to sleep but of course I was too excited and nervous so I watched some early morning tv (Who knew they play 7th Heaven at 5am?) and then went back to bed for a brief nap at around 6am.
I waited until 8am to call my midwife to let her know that my waters had broken but that nothing had really happened. She said that if nothing had started after lunch then I would have to go into the hospital for monitoring of the baby.
We called my mother in law to let her know what was happening as she decided to make the three hour drive so that she could look after the kids for us. By that stage I had started to have a couple of contractions which were about ten minutes apart but not very intense. In the next few hours I was having some contractions but they would come and go and were just a bit annoying as I was keen to have things move along.
I had told the girls that it would be the Baby's birthday soon so we decided to make a cake for the baby. The girls were excited that we could have cake for the Baby but I realised we did not have enough butter to make the icing so we decided to take a walk to the local shops in the hope that it would make things move along.
We arrived back from the shops (where I did not even have one contraction) and made some lunch for the girls and soon after my mother in law arrived and we had something to eat and sat around chatting. I called my midwife and she said that since I was having contractions that I would not need to go into the hospital to be monitored but that since my waters had broken I would need to be on antibiotics from about 7pm so we decided to meet at the hospital at 6pm (unless something happened earlier).
At about 2pm I was getting really tired from the lack of sleep and decided to have a lie down. Of course as soon as I decided to lie down that is when my contractions really decided to get going. I tried to stay lying down but after about 15-20 mins it was too much and I needed to move around.
I had downloaded an app for my phone which times contractions and times between them and was in my bedroom using that and spending time praying and moving around the room. I called my husband in to tell him what was happening and to ask him to bring some music in for me to listen to. For some reason when I am in labour I prefer to be alone and just get through the contractions on my own without an audience who is looking on helplessly so my husband left me to dance through some of my contractions (which he thought was funny).
I called my midwife again at around 3.30pm as I had been having contractions which were 3-4 minutes apart and lasting for around 45 seconds to 1 minute. I think I expected that she would tell me to come in the the Birth Centre but she said that it was not so much about the timing of the contractions but the intensity and we agreed to meet at the hospital at 6pm as agreed before.
This part is a little "too much information" but one of my big fears was that I would do a #2 in labour and since I wanted to have a water birth the idea of that happening in the bath was just too much for me. So all day I had been trying to make sure everything was out of my bowels but for some reason I could not seem to finish each time I went to the bathroom. It was starting to stress me out a bit as I knew it was getting closer to having to go to the hospital.
After getting off the phone to the midwife tried to go to the bathroom again and had three strong contractions while in there. They were so strong I could not remain seated and had to stand up each time and even noticed myself groaning out loud.
When I came back into the bedroom I told my husband that I wanted to go to the hospital and have the epidural. Even though I was booked into the birth centre and would not be able remain there if I was to have the epidural I had decided that I was not enjoying the labour and did not want to continue in the pain I was in. As the other girls had taken a minimum of 12 hours of contractions I figured that I still had at least 5 hours to go before we had a baby. My lovely husband was telling me that he knew I could do it and giving me encouragement to keep going naturally but I told him that I knew I could do it but that "I just didn't want to do it any more!"
We called the midwife who started heading to the hospital to meet us and I had shower. While in the shower I did have one contraction that felt like my body started pushing so I got out and started to dry myself off. I called my husband to come and help dress me as I felt unable to dress myself.
As he was putting my underwear on another big contraction hit me and I felt the urge to push. If you have ever felt this it is a strange feeling as it is your body pushing rather than me really doing anything. As I had, had the urge to push with DD#2 but was encouraged not to with her as I was only 7cm dilated I started to worry that I shouldn't push. As the contraction hit my impulse was to try to hold everything in so holding front and back the contractions hit and I felt something coming out. I was devastated that I had done some #2 despite trying to hold it in (eww...I know) but there was no time to worry about that.
Somewhere in this time my husband had realised this baby was coming and called the midwife who turned around and started towards our house and she called an ambulance for us.
The next push I felt a slight burning feeling and thought oh this is the part people say is bad...then "pop" her head was out the next second. My hubby then realised that there was the potential for the cord to be wrapped or for her not to be breathing and yelled for his mum. She came in and realised what was happening and called the ambulance for us to try to talk us through it however the next moment out came her little body and it was done.
We looked down to see our little person lying on a towel on the floor and saw that she was alive and had little girly bits. Tim picked her up and handed her to me for our first moments of skin to skin contact.
A few minutes later the ambulance arrived and they helped move Alicia and I over onto my bed as she was still attached to me. The midwife arrived very soon after and gave me an injection to deliver the placenta and checked me out. As I did not require any stitches I was told that I did not even have to go to the hospital and could stay at home with my beautiful new baby girl.
During all this my girls were playing in the lounge room with my mother in law. The first thing they knew of their new sister was to hear her crying coming from the bathroom. Emily apparently said "That's my baby crying". My mother in law took them outside to wait for the ambulance and then they briefly came in while I was still sitting on the bathroom floor but were first introduced to their sister after we had both been fully check out. They were both in love with her from the moment they saw her.
Later that night, we all sat around the table and sung "Happy Birthday" to Alicia and the girls blew out the candle on the cake we had made (which my MIL had iced and decorated with DD#1 while I was in labour....appropriately in pink even before we knew). The girls gave their present to Alicia and she gave them a DVD each. It was a perfect end to an amazing day.
While I would not have chosen to birth my baby on my bathroom floor, I would not change a thing. It was such an amazing experience and I am so thankful that she was born into her fathers arms. I am sure they will now share a special bond that they would not have had in other circumstances.
Wow, what a great unexpected free birth. You and your DH did a great job and your DD's comment made me chuckle. Congratulations and than you for sharing
A wonderful birth story and thanks for sharing - congratulations! I know just what you mean about going to the loo all day too, it was just the same for me. Didn't realise it was bubs head pushing so far down, just thought it was number 2's!
Congratulations on the birth of your little girl. Sounds like a fantastic birth. As someone who is very concerned about not making it to the hospital this time around, its really reassuring to read positive stories about unplanned homebirths so thanks so much for sharing.
Lisa, you are amazing (I know you don't think so, but you really are)! And what an incredible experience for your DH too. I agree they will share a special bond. Plus a great story for her 21st
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Alicia Cate - Unplanned but Amazing Homebirth
and congratulations on your little girl!
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