Written and shared with permission by - Kali
"At 31 weeks we made the transition to a Midwife & the plan of a homebirth after much research & documentary binges. We knew we wanted something different; something more peaceful. It took weeks to overcome the "what ifs." What if the baby isn't ok? What if we can't make it to a hospital? After seeking out our midwife, Rebecca, all my questions were answered. Soon we had a complete plan for the homebirth & emergency plan.
At 39 weeks, I woke up Monday morning to very painful contractions that were 10-15 mins apart. This lasted all day. For anyone that has experienced this before, "there's definitely a knife coming out of my ass" feeling. Like, I need you to actually check & see if there's a knife but seriously babe look. Even though, my contractions were not 5 mins apart, Rebecca came with how strong they were.
By 8pm, I was around 5cm dilated, but the baby's head was tilted unable to pass thru. She had me do a series of different movements to get her into place. Close to 12am, Sandra, another Midwife, came to assist. By that time, I was fully dilated/effaced; however, my contractions were still around 10 mins apart. By this time they were so painful, I was literally looking for something to hold onto to brace myself, wondering how much pain the body can take before blacking out & repeatedly saying, "I don't think I can make it thru another one." With Rebecca & Sandra at the foot of the bed telling me that I can & will with the most peaceful energy, is truly how I made it through. There's no going backwards no matter how much you want to at that point. We moved to the pool. With only a few pushes she was out and my whole body went heavenly numb. Luckily, Dad was there to catch her. "We did it." "I can't believe she's here." Is all we said over and over for a while.
Being able to climb into your own bed with your baby right away is the greatest feeling. Having my best friend by my side & amazing Midwives taking care of every detail was the best experience. A million thank yous would not be enough to Rebecca for keeping me sane & for taking such great care of Stevie. It still feels surreal in this house