These are my positive home birth stories. We welcomed our second child Marcus James Rhodes on June 4th 2022. If you like positive home birth stories, I have some good ones for you to read.
My Positive Home Birth Story of Marcus James Rhodes
My water broke
It was about 4:30 in the morning. I went to the bathroom and my water broke. About 10 minutes later I decided to call the Midwife and let her know that my water had been broken and I may be giving birth soon. I informed my Midwife that the amniotic fluid was a greenish color so she then informed me that that means the baby had been starting to poop in the amniotic sac. She wasn’t concerned about that so she told me to just rest and keep her updated.
I went back to bed since it was about 5:00 in the morning to try to get some more sleep. At 1 day shy of 29 weeks pregnant, I didn’t have the best sleep. Between tossing and turning and frequent bathroom breaks, I wake up a lot. So, I wanted to get as much sleep as I possibly could.
Contractions eventually start
My contractions didn’t start for another couple hours after I talked to my midwife. Once they did, they weren’t too consistent. Though it’s been so long since I had him, he’s 20 months now so I can’t remember exactly how long my contractions were and how often they were coming. They started roughly 2 to 4 hours after my water broke. They stayed steady for a bit then slowed down as the day progressed and as the morning slowly went by they started coming sporadically.
I think it was about 10:00 that that my contractions started to pick up and progressively speed up. So I called and notified my Midwife that they were getting closer together and shorter so she started to head over to my house and she’s about an hour drive from where I live.
During this time I attempted to do the Bradley Method where you lay a certain way to completely relax your body in attempt to relieve the intensity of the contractions aka “surges”. Though I don’t think I practiced this enough so I didn’t have success with this method. I first heard about this method from Lisa Bass from Farmhouseonboone.com, her story HERE.
Her assistant got here first a little after 11:00 a.m. and started getting things ready and set up for when my midwife got here. Once my midwife got here around 11:15-11:20 she got everything situated and ready to go.
I needed to push
At this point Adaline was out in the living area with my parents and Nathan was in the bedroom with me for support somehow if I needed it.
I eventually I had the need to push and baby was in a good position so there wasn’t any need to have him turned as far as I remember. It went smoothly for a while for the most part. I just kept pushing but I had the hardest time making any progress at one point.
At one point she was telling me to really push, that I need to push and that I need to get this baby out now. She wasn’t saying why, I think not to make me worry, but I was trying so hard but I just still had the hardest time pushing that baby out. I’m not sure if I just haven’t figured out the best position to be in, because I’d sit up and squat but always end up laying down on my back.
She called for an Ambulance
Apparently, his heart rate was dropping, and she was starting to get a little concerned. So, with me having a hard time pushing the baby out, she ended up calling an ambulance to start heading our way just in case they needed it.
I remember hearing an ambulance going by, and it sounded like it was stopping at the house. Maybe that was the breaking point for me. I knew I did not want to have to get in that vehicle and spend a 20-minute ride in pain trying to push through several contractions and then go to a hospital. Thankfully, shortly after that, within seconds or a couple minutes, I was able to push him out and all was done. She checked my blood pressure, bleeding and everything and I was perfectly fine so they sent the ambulance away and thankfully I did not need to take a ride in an ambulance to the hospital. I am thankful they were there if I needed them but I am glad I didn’t.
Marcus James Rhodes was born at 12:30 in the afternoon on June 4th 2022. Wow, did he have a full head of dark hair. We were quite surprised with how much hair this little baby had compared to our first baby girl. She had no hair and when she finally got hair, she was blonde and that was after she turned 6 months old.
A little on the name
I’ve had Marcus on my list of boys names for years and we both liked the name and as far as the middle name we could not find one we both liked. We’ve been trying to use a relatives name for our child’s middle name and we were having a hard time finding one that we both liked and/or sounded good with the rest of the name. Both my parents and his parents used a relatives name in one part of theirs kids name, we wanted to keep going with that tradition. So we settled on James after Nathans middle name because it fit well and really was the only one that we could both agree on.
Deciding where to have my baby
After we moved to Maine and found out we were expecting, I no longer was able to use my midwife in Vermont. So when it was time to decide where to have my baby it was a no-brainer for me that I was going to have another home birth. I found a midwife doctor that was close to me and got it all set up. Once again, it took some convincing of my parents that me having a baby at home was fine and that they didn’t need to worry. Not to mention, we had moved into their house temporarily, so I would most likely be having the baby in their house. So when the time came for the baby to come it was a bit nerve wracking to have that happening in their house.
Why do I share my positive home birth stories?
I like to share my home birth stories to help encourage women that may be looking into having a home birth. Maybe someone that is expecting a baby and give them encouragement that not all births have to be at a hospital. That they can be easily taken care of in their home when necessary and be completely left alone until needed.
I love that I can eat as I please and rest as I feel the need. If my contractions happen to subside I can move on with my day instead of them checking me out of the hospital because it was a false alarm or something and having to get a ride back home. Once baby comes I can lay comfortably in my own bed and rest in peace.
Some woman like to read positive home birth stories to keep them positive when they need encouragement about having a baby. That the midwives are there if needed to help and always look ahead to prevent negative things that may happen.
I hope my story helps you in your journey to having your baby and gives you encouragement that your body is a wonderful creation that God designed perfectly to do this very normal thing. That if you do your research and come prepared to your birth, things will work out. I know not all women are able to have a home birth for medical reasons and that’s understandable.
More Positive Home Birth Stories
Read about the home birth of my first child HERE
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