Home Waterbirth of Keir Elias Marx

I had had a few days of on and off again Prodromal labour and I was getting really frustrated with it. I had never had that before so I kept thinking this must be it, but my contractions would never get any stronger or closer so hours I would know that once again labour was not imminent. On Monday October 20th, my due date, My midwife came by formy 40 week appointment and had checked me at my request(against my better judegement knowing full well that it means nothing). I was 2cm dilated and still very thick, I was so discouraged by this news. I figured I had at least another week to go. So when my contractions started at 11:30pm on my due date October 20th, I was like ugh not again. Chris however said that he thought this was the real thing, I guess I was reacting far more to these contractions then I had to the ones in the previous days. I started to think that yes maybe this was it. Contractions were about 10-15 minutes apart but they were definately alot stronger then they had in the days previous.

After lying in bed with them for about an hour, I said chris that we had to get up, there were things I wanted to get done before the baby arrived. So chris swept the floors and I folded and put away the laundry, I wanted to make sure my place was tidy before babe's arrival. After about 2 hours of Contractions lasting 10-15min apart my contractions seemed to just stop. I was sooo frustrated, so I sent chris to bed and tried to sleep myself. I think I drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour or so waking up hoping I would feel some strong contractions but I wasn't feeling very much at all. Then about 2am I started to feel these really intense and really painful contractions, I was like holy shit this is it. I got up and started timing them for a bit, they were anywhere from 5 to 8 min apart but were lasting a minute and half each and were really strong and painful. I called my doula Noreen to let her know that I was in labour. I said I would probably call her back in an hour or so and let her know how things were going.

At this point Rufus kept waking up, and chris was trying to deal with him and get him back to sleep to no avail. I was getting frustrated with this becasue I needed him to be there for me. So I called my mom and she came over to help with Rufus and get him to sleep so chris could concentrate on me and getting the birth pool set up. After calling my mom I called my midwife and let her know what was happening, and told her that I thought she could come over now. She asked if I thought I needed the second right away and I said I didn't think so, so she said she would come over and check me and decide then. After I got off the phone wtih my midwife I called my doula back and said I think you should come now, the contactions were getting harder and harder to deal with.

After my mom got there, while we were waiting for my midwife and my doula to arrive, Chris got out the birth pool to set it up and I suddenly realized that he hadn't plugged the air pump in so it wasn't charged. I was sooo frustrated and annoyed and then I started to realize that this was going to raise my blood pressure and that if that happened there was a chance I would loose my home birth. So I went into my room by myself and just let myself relax and calm down. I knew in my heart that this birth was meant to be and somehow it would all work out ok. So chris called his dad, who came by at 3 in the morning with his pump so I could get the birth tub blown up.

My midwife arrived around 3:15 and she checked me at 3:30, we had decided due my gbs+ status that if I was 5 or 6cm that we wouldn't bother with the IV because there was probably little chance I would get a second dose of antibiotics in before babe's arrival. Well when she checked I was only 3cm dilated so we decided to do the IV and get the antibiotics. At that point I figured it was going to be a long night.

My Doula arrived then and we got the IV antibiotics going, I had to sit on the couch while getting the iv and GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY it was soooo hard to sit while going through the contractions and I thought I was going to be ripped apart. Luckily Noreen was right there beside me becasue she helped me get through the contractions I had to go through during my Iv. I was also very lucky that my contractions were not one on top of each other, so I was able to get breaks in between. By the time we had gotten the IV set up and ready and done it was 4:30.

I said I had to go to the bathroom, So I went to go pee and things just didn't feel right, I was having so much pressure, my midwife decided that she should probably check me again, because she wanted to make sure that the second midwife was here on time for the delivery. So I went back and laid down on the couch and he her check me again, this time I was was a very stretchy six. We decided it was time to call the second midwife, better to have her sit around for a long time waiting if I was slow to progress then have her not arrive in time and have to call 911 becasue I didn't have two attendents present.

At that point I went into the birthing pool(which chris had finished filling) and it was really nice to sit in the water and have it caress my body. But then I experienced my first contraction in the pool and I realized that no matter how wonderful the water felt on my body there was no way I could sit for a contraction, no matter where it was. So I had to move over to my knees for each of my contractions.

All of a sudden I cried out that something was wrong, that I couldn't do this anymore, that I needed to push. Everyone assured me that nothing was wrong and that I could push whenever I needed to. Luckily the second midwife had just arrived so I was safe to deliver. I was up on my knees in the pool and leaning with my arms on the sides and I started pushing and GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY i can't remember feeling anything so intense in my life, It felt far more intense then I remember with either of the other two boys. I was pushing and pushing and all of a sudden I felt my water pop and then his head was out. Another big push and out came his shoulders and the rest of his body. I quickly flipped over and pulled him to my chest, announcing it was a boy as I did it. I was so much in love it was crazy how good I felt at that very moment. He was beautiful and amazing and my birth experience was so incredible I couldn't imagine ever feeling more powerful in my life.

Just as I was scooping him up into my arms, Ewan walked out of his bedroom and came into the livingroom, followed about 10 min later by Rufus. Both of them were so happy to have a new little brother.

Keir Elias Marx was born in water, in his own home at 5:23am after a few very short pushes and 6 hours of labour. he weighed 8lbs9oz and was 22 inches long.

Wow, what a triumph! Congrats!

Your water birth sounds great. I sorta wished I hadn't gone to the hospital and just stayed my happy butt in the tub instead, lol. I was so relaxed in there. And isn't it crazy how no matter how many positions you try, there's only one that feels good to you?? Congrats!!!