Feels Like Home Birthing Suites

A Birth Story

heather — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:53:16 +0000

I love reading birth stories.
And here is mine….

On Monday March 21st I was 4 cm dilated. I was technically overdue.

On Thursday March 24th my midwife gave us the option of going home, getting our stuff and coming back that night for a natural induction. I opted to come in the next day instead. This way I was able to go home and relax and mentally prepare myself for a potential birth.

On Friday March 25th we got to the birth center at 5:45 pm. With a natural induction the midwives will try for 4 hours to stimulate your body into labor. If it doesn’t work, they send you home because your body obviously isn’t ready.

We arrived and had the normal routine check up of peeing in a cup, etc. The midwife inserted more evening primrose oil in my cervix than I thought possible to soften my cervix up even more. Then I got a spa treatment! I received a 1 hour massage, and it was pretty nice. The midwives rubbed my feet and stomach with a few essential oils that stimulate labor. There were actually 2 pregnant midwives there who could not be in the room with us, it works that well. They rubbed pressure point on my feet and above my ankles and also my stomach. They also gave me some homeopathics that help to stimulate labor. After the hour massage Luke and I went on a 1.5 hour walk. I was having pressure waves about 4 minutes apart. I was having a hard time accepting that they might be real because they weren’t painful. We got back and I was dilated to a 6 (well, my outer cervix was a 6, my inner was a 3). The midwife gave us the option of going home, getting a massage, walking more, or breaking my water. I chose to go for another walk. This time we walked for about 30 minutes. I was making progress but if I stopped walking the pressure waves (contractions) became farther apart. On this last walk Luke and I talked abut breaking my water and how dilated we wanted me to be before we went this route. We went back to the birth center and I was slowly dilating more. I think at this point in time my inner cervix was a 5 (gosh details are blurring together). We were still not comfortable with breaking my water so we went out for one last walk. By this time it was close to 11 pm.

Almost immediately my pressure waves started getting more intense, even though they were still only about 3 minutes apart. Back at the birth center my inner cervix was 6.5 cm so we decided to break my water. This was about 12:15 am. Almost immediately my pressure waves picked up. The midwives started preparing the room for a birth. By the time the birth tub was filled with water my pressure waves were increasing in intensity. I got in and loved the water. The midwives left Luke and I alone and only came in every so often to check the babies heart beat and make sure everything was okay. Luke and I used hypnobabies again and worked through our birthing time together. Oh, and for the record laughing really hard through a pressure wave is really really painful.

After about about an hour of laboring I was starting to feel like I was beginning transition. I had small urges to push and a few desires to throw up. The midwives joined us from here on out. Transition lasted about 45 minutes when I hit the end of transition with a glorious barf (or two), I started getting a real urge to push. I changed positions in the tub to get comfortable. With Cora’s birth I felt nothing, this time I think because I hadn’t practiced hypnosis as much I definitely could feel the pressure of a baby making its way down a birth canal. After about 10 minutes of pushing I asked my midwife if there was a baby poking out yet! No such luck. I pushed through a couple more pressure waves and then exclaimed that I could feel the baby coming out. I thought I was being really dramatic but Luke recorded this part, and I now have proof I won’t share with anyone that I was very calm. Out popped a baby head. I pushed more, and couldn’t figure out why the baby hadn’t fallen out by now! I gave a few more hard pushes and out came an entire baby. What a relief. I pushed for 17 minutes.

The midwife pulled the baby out of the water and put it to my chest and wrapped us in warm wet towels.

It took a minute or so to really get some cries out of the baby. Perfect heartbeat, just a calm baby. I promise that’s vernix and not a dying child!

A few minutes later I held our baby up and found out we had a GIRL!
It was very exciting

I stayed in the tub until my placenta detached and got out shortly after that.

We moved to the bed where I nursed our very hungry little girl for what seemed at least an hour. I finally gave her up so she could get a good looking over by the midwives.

Luke cut her cord

She got a weighing

3 hours after her birth we snapped one last picture with our midwife and headed home

Start to finish we were there for 12 hours. I don’t regret this natural induction, had my body not been ready it wouldn’t have happened. It was a pleasant experience, a calm experience, and a beautiful birth. I know many people think we are weird for having an out of hospital birth, but we love it. We are pampered, well cared for, and have a very calm and peaceful birth experience. Our midwife was WONDERFUL. She never pressured us into anything, and let us make the decisions for our birth. I am grateful for the personal attention she gave me through the end of Cora’s pregnancy and birth and throughout this pregnancy and birth

Katie and Madalyn

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:37:58 +0000

From Katie:

When I got in the warm water my contractions spaced out even more but were still strong and productive. It was nice to have long breaks between contractions. Whenever I felt a pressure wave coming I would get on my knees and lean onto the side of the pool. Leaning forward like this naturally felt like the most comfortable position during a contraction. Unlike my previous birth, I never felt dread or fear at the start of a contraction. Instead I only felt confident, strong and relaxed, just like my Hypnobabies CDs told me I would! I knew I was completely capable of relaxing through each contraction and allowing the pressure to dilate my cervix and bring my baby down. I never felt overwhelmed. Relaxing came so naturally. Certain phrases from the hypnosis tracks replayed in my mind. I felt a wave of relaxation wash over me every time I exhaled. The only way anyone could tell I was contracting was when I would lean over the side of the pool and close my eyes, and my breathing became deep and slow. As I got closer to being completely dilated my exhaling was louder and I made a deep “uh” noise from the back of my throat. This helped with my relaxing and I never felt tense. I never asked Heather to check my dilation. I didn’t want to get out of the pool and I felt like I already knew exactly what stage I was at intuitively. I could feel the baby moving down. When she got close I reached inside myself and felt her slimy head just a fingertip length away and whispered “Hi baby, hi baby”. That was an experience I had wished for with my last birth but didn’t have enough control to even think of doing then.

Clint had wanted to help catch her but I was holding his hand and I didn’t want him to go anywhere so he wasn’t able to get behind me to catch. His touch was such a comfort to me right at the end. All I wanted was Clint’s reassuring hand on my shoulder and then his hand in mine as I pushed.

The only really intense moments were when I was pushing her head out. That was the only time I felt overwhelmed but it only lasted a few seconds! Then pushing the rest of her body out was hard work but manageable. I was on my knees just like I had been through all of my contractions, so the midwives were behind me to catch my baby.

I feel so blessed to have had such a perfect birth experience. Everything turned out better than I could have imagined. I am so grateful to have experienced such a natural, un-intruded on, peaceful birth. I have watched the picture slide show I created from my mom’s photography multiple times a day since Madalyn’s birth because I just can’t get enough. I love remembering every moment! And just like with my first natural birth the transition has been smooth and fairly easy for me to handle. I feel elated, and happy and completely comfortable with my new role as mother of a newborn baby and the rest of my children as well.

Anonymous

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:37:14 +0000

I toured Feels Like Home Birth Suites and was very impressed with the environment and the knowledgeable staff. I had planned to deliver my baby at IHC in Provo with a local doctor but I felt I wasn’t getting the prenatal care that I had hoped to get. My visits were rushed, my questions were unanswered, and my preferences didn’t matter. This was my first baby so I had a lot of concerns and questions and I felt there had to be a better way, so that’s when I called Birthing Your Way. My husband and I were very impressed with the low cesarean, forcep and induction rates that are typical of a birthing center.

After a lot of thought we switched to this birth center and are so glad we did. I felt I got the best of care and attention from prenatal to delivery. These women went the extra, extra mile to see that I was prepared, healthy and informed. They encouraged me to take classes, recommended books and websites that were so helpful to my individual concerns. The care I received at Birthing Your Way was excellent. I delivered my beautiful baby boy at Feels Like Home Birth Suites and it was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it!