1 Attachment(s)
Man, I wasn't prepared... for a Home Birth!
So, my lil guy finally arrived. 8 days overdue and replete with drama and excitement.
My wife was measuring 45 weeks at week 41... and not a very happy camper. We did everything possible to induce natural labor and nothing worked. Finally had to admit defeat and leave it to fate.
At 1am Fri night/Sat morning the contractions increased in frequency and intensity, by 4am they were quite painful but still not coming every 5 mins as the midwives want before they'll get "concerned" that childbirth is imminent. At 4:30am my wife called them anyways and lied about the timing as her gut was telling her something was up and a baby was on its way.
The midwives however - having just gotten in at 2am from another birth - weren't eager to jump out of bed so soon for what was very likely a "false alarm" (their opinion, considering my wife had been able to speak through a contraction) and told my wife they'd grab another 1/2 nap and be at our place around 5:15am.
Well, 5:30am rolled around and they still hadn't arrived and I was just about as concerned/worried as I get. My wife was pacing the house in agony, and I couldn't get her to sit still as sitting was even more painful for her. At 5:40am she stood up and her water broke. While I was staring at her for a moment of shock the midwives rang the doorbell. I figured at that point, getting them in and working was more important than grabbing a towel and cleaning up. lol
Anyways, they did a quick examination and dropped the hammer on us - we wouldn't be going to the hospital. To do so would risk having the baby in the car as my wife was 8cms dilated and baby was deep in the birth canal.
This threw my wife for a loop as a home birth was NEVER in the cards. She'd had a baby previously (not mine) and it was by doctors, in a hospital, with an epidural - at no time during this 2nd pregnancy did she ever pretend to be tough enough to do a home birth. She wanted the epidural option incase things got too painful.
So, the midwives made their determination and my wife just kinda "went away" for a little while. lol Her eyes glazed over and she wouldn't respond to questions for a bit. She returned as the midwives were helping her upstairs to the bathroom and asked, meekly, "What are my pain options?" and the midwives replied "Honey, you're having a home birth... a hot bath and punching your husband is the best we can offer..."
Meanwhile I was literally sent scrambling to gather all the stuff the Midwives were demanding... towels - of course, blankets - of course, waterproof sheeting - ahh uhh I just used my last tarp to line a sandbox... umm *tears shower curtain off the rod*, cookie sheet - of cour... wait, what the hell do we need a cookie sheet for?
So, into the tub (that was too shallow for a water birth, so the hot bath to manage pain didn't even happen) and on with the rest of the labor. Everything went extremely smoothly due to the experience and competence of our midwives. They were able to manipulate the baby in the canal so that he came very easily, with just the contractions doing the work. No pushing or extra work for my wife.
Less than 20 minutes after our midwives arrived, we were holding our healthy 9lbs 8oz son. The mindblowing part comes now... this home birth, drug-free, was so ideal and healthy that my wife was examined, stitched, showered, dressed, wide awake and WALKING AROUND to greet our parents and siblings as they arrived to meet the baby just 1.5hrs after he was born.
It was a completely amazing life event and as perfect as it could be. My wife is my hero. If we have another baby, we won't even think about bothering with a hospital. lol How's that for going back to basics and living the pioneer life!?
Pics of Desmond Hendrik August, for any who like that sorta thing... He's a mega eater and despite being only 3.5 days old, he's already well over 10lbs and out of "newborn" clothing/diapers and into 3-6 month old stuff. Ouch.
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