“I Gave It My All—and God Gave Me Peace”: First Time Mama’s Positive Home Birth Transfer

"I had to share that your course and content really helped me all through pregnancy and through my son’s birth! I had a planned home birth for my first baby (born 2 months ago) but after laboring for so long at home with my midwife, we had to go to the hospital because my sons heart rate was not good and I wasn’t progressing at all. Your content and the support around me made me still have a beautiful and wonderful hospital birth even if that wasn’t the original plan!

The practice I did leading up made birthing him fun, easy, and pain free! God was SO good and I got to share my story to so many people! There’s so much guilt put on people for not doing home births when you sometimes have to do what’s best for your baby! I don’t feel guilt because God had his hand on the whole thing. It was a blessing that we were at the hospital because I hemorrhaged from laboring so long! We are gonna pursue a home birth again for our next baby with our same midwife! Thank you for everything!"

Birth Story:

On Thursday May 15th at 3am in the morning, I started feeling contractions that were definitely more intense and remained consistent throughout the day for the first time. We did lots of walks, curbwalking, ate lots of dates, and drank raspberry leaf tea. I was getting excited! I had been preparing for a home birth my entire pregnancy with an incredible midwife, pregnancy coach, and pelvic floor classes. At home exercise, stretches, LOTS of breathing exercises! 

Around 1am Friday Morning, my contractions got a LOT more intense and were only a couple minutes apart so that is when we turned on worship music, and I called my midwife and mom to come over. When my midwife showed up she checked me and I was 4cm dilated, VERY intense contractions at 2 min apart, and were most manageable by hanging onto Ryks as I breathed through them. My midwife checked our blood pressure but both baby and I had high blood pressure due to being in active labor for so long (over 24 hours at this point). She had me lay on my side to try and relax to bring down the blood pressure and dilate more. This is when I started to get shakes from adrenaline and for the first time felt some fear as I was worried about baby not having a great heart rate. I prayed and trusted the Lord had this situation in his hands and I felt overwhelming peace. I had prepared for moments like this with mental exercises and positive reminders I put on cards. I laid in bed trying to relax, eat, and drink electrolytes for 5 hours while my incredible husband and mom massaged my legs and helped me try to relax the entire time. My midwife did another check on baby and his heart rate was at a much better place. I felt so relieved and thanked the Lord! She checked me and I was still 4cm and made no progress, which was devastating to hear because I was exhausted at this point. My midwife suggested that at this point it would be best to go to the hospital to get an epidural. We were exhausted and needed rest so that we could make progress. It could be bad for baby boy if it continued this way with no progress.

Although I was devastated that the home birth I had been praying for and hoping for all these months was not going to happen, we were prepared that things could change and I felt so much peace about the decision because I knew it was best for my baby and I trusted my midwife completely. I knew that this was all part of the Lord's plan. Still one step closer to meeting my baby boy.

My mom and husband packed up bags for us and we told my mom to get some rest at home since I would just be resting at the hospital for a while. The entire ride to the hospital I prayed in between the intense contractions that I would at least have a nurse and doctor who genuinely cared about me and that I would have a positive experience there. Although we had a hospital plan just in case, I really wanted a home birth and to do things completely natural, so this was hard for me mentally. I had to remind myself that this was not me “giving up” but doing what was best for my son! Even in the midst I felt the Lord near and overwhelming peace repeatedly. This was still all in God's plan. 

We made it to the hospital, and I honestly could not wait to get an epidural as I had never felt this level of tiredness and just wanted to sleep. 30 hours of active labor is exhausting! I could barely answer questions. I was so out of it. After checking that I was STILL at 4cm, they gave me the epidural to take the edge off, and almost immediately I fell asleep for 1.5 hours. When I woke up, they checked me and I had reached 8cm and baby was doing so good! The relief I felt was incredible! We called my mom, dad, and brother to come to the hospital. The nurses and doctor I had were amazing! My nurse Elise was an angel, and so kind to me. I was so thankful! She asked what my birth plan was and made note of all of it so that I got what I wanted. Besides the epidural, I wanted to finish this off as natural as possible. I drank a bunch of water and broth, took another 30 min nap, and when I woke up I was at 10 cm and ready to push! They had to move baby boy a bit to make sure he was in position which Ryks got to help with! They lowered my epidural so that I could feel the urge to push and it was time! My nurse told me that I could be pushing for a couple hours but when I started pushing, I was making such great progress that my nurse goes “Wow! I think you’re gonna push him out in the next 20 minutes!” That was all the encouragement I needed!  Surprisingly, laboring on my back felt best which is not something I ever thought I’d do. After 30 minutes of pushing, using the J breathing method, deep and low noises and reminding myself that each push was one step closer to meeting our babe, I gave it my all! Suddenly little boy joined us! The joy we felt was overwhelming! God is so good! Since I had been in active labor for over 30 hours, I did end up hemorrhaging after my placenta came out. That is where we see how God knows everything and that we were thankful to be at the hospital at that time. 

Even in the midst of things not going to the plan I had, it was such a positive and great experience! God was SO good! I couldn’t be more thankful! I especially cannot express how thankful I am for the support around me! To my husband, who not only took care of me selflessly my entire pregnancy, but also throughout labor, doing everything he could to encourage, and support me. It hard to remember and to recognize everything he did, there's so much! To my mom, who showed up at 1am ready to help support throughout the entire birth! She rubbed my legs for 5 hours straight during contractions at home, packed our hospital bag last minute, captured moments throughout it all, and was the comfort and support I needed. We had an amazing and knowledgeable midwife who is so kind, and her wisdom sent us to the hospital at the perfect time and for the right reasons! I had an amazing coach, who met with me the entire pregnancy to check in with how I was feeling mentally. But she also helped prepare me mentally and physically with breathing techniques and emotional support! I can definitely thank her teachings for being able to push this babe out in 30 minutes, something the hospital was very impressed by!

I hope this is an encouragement for all expecting mothers. That God is good and near. Preparing your bodies pays off. Just because something doesn’t go as planned, it can still be such a positive experience! - @rayraynely

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