First I'll tell you why I decided to have Sam at home.
I had first decided to have him natural. I heard the recovery was easier. In my opinion the recovery was the worst part of the whole birthing process with Jack. If I was going to do it natural I wanted to do a water birth. So I decided to do it at the birthing center. Also, if I were to have him at the hospital it would have been $4000+ after insurance. At home or birth center it was about $2000.
When I was about 32 weeks or so I met my friends midwife at her baby shower. I really liked her and I started wishing I had decided to do a home birth. The thought of a home birth before just seemed crazy. Having a baby is messy business and I didn't want to deal with the clean up. But they don't actually leave the mess for you. They clean everything up before they leave. And I had him in the bathtub so it really wasn't messy at all. Having a baby at the birthing center is really just like having a baby at someone else's house.
As I got closer to my due date I got really nervous for some reason. I didn't feel good about delivering at the hospital or the birth center. I was really worried about what to do with Jack while I was gone. he had never been without us overnight. I was worried about him sleeping in a pack n play overnight, he would probably get up a multiple times a night. The only solution would be to have someone stay at my house while we were gone. But I was only allowed to stay at the birthing center about 6 hours after I gave birth. What if I delivered at 10pm, then I would have to kick whoever out of my house so I could have my bed back. And also, who wants to get out of bed 6 hours after giving birth.
So at about 34 weeks (I think) I called the birthing center to see how much money I could get back if I decided not to deliver there. Then I called the Sherri (the midwife) to see how much she would charge me to take me this late. She had never had this situation before so she took what the birth center gave me, since start to finish they were the same.
I cannot tell you how thankful I am that I decided to have him at home. Also I'm thankful I originally was going to have him at the birthing center. Clint got laid off from his job at the end of January. There is no way we would have been able to afford prenatal appointments with no insurance. Or even the regular appointments after insurance. Luckily he got a job in March. But for February and most of March we had no income. and March we had no insurance. Also I probably would have ended up having him in the car on the way or in the parking lot.
The Birth story
On April 18th (6 days after due date) about 3am I started to have contractions. These were definitely more than Braxton hicks. But they didn't hurt bad. I could breath and talk through them. They lasted an hour. I was too tired and lazy to get out of bed to walk around to see if I could get them going. So I just went back to sleep. I figured if they got intense enough I would wake up. When I woke up in the morning they were gone.
That day I was super uncomfortable. Me and jack usually leave the house once a day. Otherwise Jack is bouncing off the walls driving me crazy. But today I was tired. I remember just sitting on the couch while Jack was body slamming me and climbing all over me. I was having contractions all day, but nothing consistent.
I think my labor technically started at 3pm. I was having more painful contractions but I could still walk/talk through them and they weren't consistent, maybe 5-7 minutes apart. When your delivering at the hospital they tell you to wait until they are 5 minutes apart for one hour. So I was going to wait for that before calling Sherri. But then I remember her saying to call at the first sign so she could plan her day around it. Also it would take her an hour to get there no matter where she is because she has to get her stuff together and plan her day. So at 340 I called her and told her I didn't know if I was in labor but the contractions were stronger than normal. She said she would come over and check me (meaning she would maybe set up and leave and come back depending on where I was)
This is a text conversation between me and Clint. I thought it was funny because I hadn't told him that I thought I was in labor or anything and I kind of snapped at him because he wouldn't come home. Honestly, I didn't think I was in labor I just really didn't want to be home alone when Jack woke up. That kid has more energy than I could handle at the time.
At 4 Clint texted me and asked me how far apart they were, I said they were 5-6 minutes, but the last one was 4 minutes. He was like, wow I need to hurry. He had just watched the office where pam is in labor an they talk about how you should go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart. So he knew it was serious now. By 430 they had been 3-4 minutes apart and strong. I texted Sherri at this point and said, ok, I'm for sure in labor. It wasn't until this point that I knew for sure I was in labor. You always hear about false labor and contractions going away. With jack I was induced so I didn't know what to expect. Jack luckily had slept until 430, right when Clint got home. I started getting his stuff together. Not sure where he was going. I called my mom, my dad was 20 minutes away in a meeting but she wasn't sure how long he would be. Maybe he could pick him up on the way home. (he didn't get home for hours later so it's a good thing we didn't wait for that). My neighbor from across the street offered to watch him, but I didn't have her number. So I was going to walk over and see if she was home and could take him. But I knew I wouldn't be able to make it. I couldn't walk through these contractions. I needed something to hold on to. Clint was busy getting Jacks clothes and stuff together. We didn't know how long labor was going to last so we were packing over night stuff for him. He also can't have dairy so I wanted to make sure he had all the food he needed. Then I realized my brother Troy works, literally a minute away. So I called him to see if he could come get him before he went home at 5. And he asked if he should just leave now, we decided that was probably best. Sherri and Troy both got to my house around 440. I said good bye to Jack. Sherri took me upstairs to check me. I was a 7! She told Clint to turn on the bath. By this time my contractions were painful and right on top of each other. Clint grabbed his tablet and sat on the toilet (it was closed, he wasn't going to the bathroom). He thought we were just going to be hanging out for a few hours. I yelled at him to put that down and get over here.
I had done the hypnobabies home study, but I didn't feel like it was helping. I think I was just in shock that everything was happening so fast that I couldn't relax. Clint got in the tub with me (I have a big tub) and did counteractive pressure. which is supposed to help. It didn't. I felt like I needed to push, so Sherri checked me and said yes I was ready. Clint was like, but your water hasn't broken yet. I was like, yeah this is real life, not the movies. My water broke once I started pushing which was at 530. I had him at 545.
I had always heard that pushing feels good, like a relief. I heard you feel a ring of fire but it only lasts a second. I felt that probably the whole time I pushed. I remember telling Sherri that I didn't want to push anymore. She said I didn't have to, just push when I'm ready. But my body needed to push. I found out later he was posterior and that's why it was so painful.
This is the team. Sherri is the one right next to me holding Sam. The rest of the midwives didn't get there until I was almost done pushing, one didn't arrive until after I had him.
This is how they weigh them. He was 7 lbs 13 oz.
When I started pushing clint got out and sat on the ledge close to the wall (Sherri was on the other side). I new he didn't want to be in the tub with all the after birth :)
Annie stayed under the bed the entire time and came out once I had him
My mom brought Jack back at 930
He kept wanting us to lay Sam down on the bed. he'd say "Sam by you" and point to that spot on the bed. (by you, coming from can I sit by you)
I love these boys!
People always ask me if I would do it again. YES!! I loved the experience. Being in my own home afterwards was the best. I loved being in my own bed. Clint especially loved this, he didn't enjoy sleeping on the hospital cot. Clint was awesome, he waited on me hand and foot. Sherri say's not to get out of bed except to use the bathroom and shower for 3 days strait. So Clint was really good at waiting on me. Even though it was super painful and I remember the pain very well I still would do it without the epidural. The recovery really is better. With Jack I was sore for 6+ weeks. With Sam I went jogging at 3 weeks (it was a slow jog). Although after the first week I though I'd never be the same. But by 2.5 weeks I felt pretty normal.
Also, nursing was so easy. Jack had a hard time latching. Sam latched right away.
