“Not only are bloggers suckers for the remarkable, so are the people who read blogs.” - Seth Godin

Early November 2014 I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.

The feelings were so mixed. I was so excited to become a mom, but I knew my husband wasn’t quite ready. But we worked through it and started planning for the big event coming in about 40 weeks.

My first pregnancy I had a lot of nausea for a few weeks, but then started getting more protein in the mornings which helped a lot! I loved everything about pregnancy. I loved feeling him move and couldn’t wait to become a mama.

Planning a Birth without a Midwife

I had many friends who had babies at home and I had attended a hospital, homebirth, and midwife center birth to support friends in their births. I knew a homebirth was always going to be the plan.

Between finances and a friend recently having a midwife late to her birth my husband and I chose to have an “unassisted birth” but it also wasn’t just us. As the months went by, I invited almost 10 people to my birth. From friends who I had attended their births, to friends who were interested in attending a birth, a photographer friend, and of course a doula. Near the end of pregnancy, a friend who was a traditionally trained midwife and I reconnected and I invited her to come as a doula.

Pregnancy & Prenatal

During my pregnancy, I saw a Naturopath monthly and was able to keep an eye on various things. I also stocked up on books. A favorite being The Unassisted Baby. It walked through all the things that could happen during birth and how to handle various situations. I recommend this book to everyone whether they are doing a home birth or a hospital birth. It’s always good to be educated for your own knowledge.

The First Wave

Thursday evening June 4th I started having consistent contractions. I started contacting everyone and they slowly filtered in. We walked the parking lot and track near our home, I bounced on the birth ball, rested, and watched a movie with them. At times things seemed to be picking up and then they would slow down.

Hindsight, I was definitely too distracted to let labor progress. I had people in my home part of Friday and they started leaving as the day progressed with no baby. Two stayed until Saturday morning (doula and midwife friend) and my contractions fully disappeared. I even had my chiropractor come and adjust me, we took a bumpy backroad… I used various herbs and remedies to get labor progressing but nothing worked.

A Solid Break

From about early afternoon through Sunday afternoon, I had very few contractions. I had an amazing night’s sleep. I let my body rest.

The Second Wave and a Baby

Sunday afternoon we had to run an errand and while out, I started having contractions again. I allowed my body to do its thing. I contacted just the doula and midwife friend and later that night they came back. My parents also came to be present. Things continued to progress and I was focused on being present and in the zone.

Birthing on the toilet was my favorite place and my water broke while there which was a nice bonus of less mess.

Once my water broke we moved into the living room where I had our air mattress prepared for birth. Time disappeared, I counted, breathed, and trusted my birth supports. Once I felt his head crowning, it gave me such a push of energy to bring him earth side.

He was so perfect. The rest was a bit of a blur (and my memories have faded a little bit). He nursed, we had chosen to burn the umbilical cord, but the placenta had still not come out. I lost quite a bit of blood and needed to be transferred to the hospital to get it removed.

I’ll spare some of those details, but my son stayed home and wet nursed for his first day of life as I left for the hospital to get the placenta removed followed by two pints of blood which took all day. I was so relieved when I got discharged that evening and was able to go home to my baby.

Recovery & Postpartum

The recovery from that birth was a bit intense because of the length of labor and the trauma of the placenta, blood loss, and transfusion. I had support from my mom who cared for me so well. Feeding me, helping me the first few nights, and making me shower and stand up straight despite not wanting to.

Take Aways from my First

After my first, I was very content with just having one child. I had gotten to experience homebirth, breastfed him for almost 4 years, and enjoyed being his mama.

I knew if I were to ever have another I would hire a midwife and the placenta would be more of a priority. I also probably wouldn’t invite a ton of people to my birth. But there weren’t any plans for another for quite a while.

Read my other two birth stories here –> Birth #2 & Birth #3