Malcolm's Birth Story

[kim]

Most of you will know that my membranes were stripped (my request) on Tuesday afternoon and when that didn't get things going, I took two doses of a castor oil cocktail on Wednesday. It was weird that after having weeks of constant BH I had next to nothing going on Tuesday and Wednesday. It wasn't until well after 3pm that I had the odd contraction, but even then I wasn't sure it was going to amount to anything. Around 4 pm I sat down to watch the clock and my contractions were all over the place. 10 minutes, 8,6,6,4,3,4,4,7.....kinda wacky. Called my midwife to let her know, but neither of us felt like we knew things were getting terribly close. She told me to call back when I felt like things were getting steady. Just before 5pm (I think! ha!) my water broke in the middle of a contraction. I moved from the living room to the bathroom where I continued to labour leaning over my exercise ball and hubby called the midwife had her get on her way.

By about 5:10 (I'm guessing here...) I started to feel really pushy and got a little panicked. Both because no one had arrived yet and because our childcare (although called an hour prior) had not yet arrived. (MIL.....FIL was at a meeting for work and couldn't come soon enough.) So poor hubby, who had been getting dinner on the table for the kids was running around like a chicken with his head cut off between the kids and I. I had him call a neighbour I know (he had never met) that is a doula and had casually offered help when the time came if I needed it. We needed it!! lol!

She told me it took her about 15 minutes to arrive getting here around 5:30. She was saying hello to the kids (who were calmly sitting at the table eating their dinner) when she heard me and realized that things were, umm... more progressed than she realized. lol! She had enough time to walk into the bathroom, visually assess where things were at, hubby said "um, Twila.... the baby is crowning!!!" and seconds later she was catching Malcolm.

I delivered on all fours.... what an experience! It was so much easier and more natural than in stirrups they way I had always been required to deliver at the hospital with the other kids. Less effort... gravity did the bulk of the work for me. I remember thinking after his head was delivered "oh yeah... I need to push more" but then he basically just delivered himself with little to no effort from me.

All the while, no childcare in the house and the midwives got caught in traffic and took another 30-40 minutes to arrive.

Leaving the cord intact and the placenta undelivered, I got settled in my room with Malcolm while we waited for the midwives. I am *so* grateful that Twila was there. Prior to being a doula, she was a L&D nurse, so was able to assess that all was well and that we were good to just wait for the midwives. The cord was cut about 60 minutes after he was born. I had no tearing and was up and about in the living room with the rest of the family by7pm.

What a blessing to be able to have him at home. I never knew how much better it would be for me! I just felt so much more relaxed and at ease after he was born. It was so much less of an invasive experience.

So about 90 minutes start to finish. Wow. It was really interesting... having such a fast labour/delivery, my mental self had trouble keeping up with what my physical self had done. It took me several hours to really connect the dots in my head. It was surreal for quite a while. All in all... what a blessing to have such a wonderful birth experience. Our first at home. Praise God!!

[kim]

Originally Posted by BlessedMommy

ETA: Sounds like if you'd been planning a hospital birth, he would've been a car birthed baby.

Ummm... yes!!! haha! We've had that conversation several times since last night!

[melloyellochelle]

WOW! Kim.... that is amazing!! What a wonderful story!

Thank God for your wonderful neighbor Twila! Just to be there to help assess that everything was, in fact, OK. It sounds like you stayed pretty calm through it all. Did the contractions get even more intense after your water broke? Was it an intense hour of labor? Or just like "Whoa... OK, I've got this!" So cool!

Although, this sounds like one (or more?) of Tara's birth stories... Midwife was supposed to be there. Wasn't. Oops. But all was well. Now she's an at-home birthing pro! You gals SO make me want to join you in this experience!

SO, so, SO happy for you Kim!!!! What a joy to be up and with your family right away! Such joy! YAY!

[kim]

Yes... thank God for Twila!! We sure were blessed to have her close by and available!! Like I mentioned, I was just starting to get a little panicked when she arrived. Having her there was perfect under the circumstances. We certainly didn't expect to find ourselves in the 'birthing unassisted at home' camp, but there we were! lol! Praise God that everything went well and that there were absolutely NO problems.

[LovinMommyLife]

O that is just awesome!! Thanks so much for posting God knew that you needed to be planning this one as a homebirth

[kim]

Just realized I left out his stats:

April 25th
5:34pm
8lbs8oz
20.5 inches

[JY]

What an awesome story! That's gotta be one of the quickest L&D! How wonderful and happy for you! I just can't stop saying WOW - can I say it again......... WOW!!!
Enjoy your precious little blessing of a good-sized boy!

[GenLovesDen4ever]

Kim, Im reading this and thinking wow... Then I think about your 'issues' and anxieties about certain people being there and how it all turned out in the end. PRAISE GOD!! WOW!! God is awesome! What a blessing!!

[gamommyto4girls]

Agreeing with others that I LOVE how God worked things for you by sending Twila your way and dealing with your concerns about childcare and company during the birth.

Malcolm is precious! So glad you were able to experience a complication free home birth. Congrats on a job well done!

[jen1981]

I'm SO glad for you, Kim! You got what you wanted, just your family, and an awesome labor! Yay!