Ava Lilian's Birth
As a chiropractor, I believe in the body’s innate abilities. So when I became pregnant, I knew I wanted a caregiver that would support my beliefs for a natural childbirth. I was confident I wouldn’t find this in a hospital setting, but honestly had never considered a homebirth. I visited a local birthing center, but was not particularly thrilled with it either. It, too, seemed more medically-minded and I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of driving the 40+ minutes it took to get there in active labor.
I started researching my options on the internet and came across home-birthing & specifically, midwife Chris Duffy. In an email, she communicated that she, too, believed that the body was made to give birth, and at home I would have the freedom to labor any way that I wanted – in any position, using anything that I thought would help. She explained that her role was more to watch and make sure that the labor was safe and going well. I loved the thought that I was the one that was going to deliver my child, not a doctor or even a midwife… me. I was sold, that was the type of birth I wanted.
A few months later, on March 20, 2009 – just a day before her daddy’s birthday -- our newest addition to the family, Ava Lilian, joined us.
I began having contractions in the middle of the night, probably around midnight. I thought they might be Braxton Hicks contractions because I had been getting those more frequently. However, these were definitely stronger, focused more in my back, and began to get more regular. They were painful enough that I got out of bed so I wouldn’t wake up my husband Dave. Around 2:30 a.m., Dave woke up to check on me, and I told him what was going on. He asked if he needed to call Chris, but I told him that it was too early, and I wasn’t even sure if this was real labor. He suggested we try to get back to bed, but after laying down for a couple of minutes, I decided it was too painful.
We both got up again, and decided that we should start getting our apartment ready for the birth. We moved some furniture around to set up the birthing pool, made up the bed with clean sheets, did a little laundry, and I decided that I wanted to take a shower. Dave started timing my contractions for me, since it was becoming a little overwhelming for me to keep looking at my watch. They were lasting anywhere from 20 to 60 seconds, coming between 2 and 5 minutes apart.
After I had about 15 contractions in an hour, increasing in intensity, Dave asked again if he should call Chris. I still wasn’t entirely convinced I was in real labor, and felt bad bothering her in the middle of the night. Although the contractions hurt, I felt absolutely fine between them. I guess I was expecting it to hurt non-stop. So I felt a little silly bothering her so early, but he decided that he was going to call no matter what I said. After a couple of minutes on the phone, he came over and said that Chris was packing up her things and heading over. She suggested I take a bath to help, so I was in the water when she joined us about 5 a.m.
After awhile, I decided I wanted to walk around and see what was going on. Dave developed a system to fill up the birthing pool (I guess we were supposed to get a hose--oh well!) He used various buckets, the bathtub, kitchen sink, and two pots on the kitchen stove to heat up water and fill up the pool by hand. At about 10, he had the pool filled up and I got in. I was about 3 cm dilated. The water seemed to actually speed up my labor, which surprised me. When I got out a time or two, things seemed to slow down. Chris mentioned it had something to do with the temperature of the water not being too hot. Gradually things picked up, and a second midwife, Diana Nash, arrived. Between Chris, Diana, and Dave, I had a great team of support.
Shortly after 2 p.m., after a few contractions of feeling an increase in pressure and wanting to bear down, Chris asked if I wanted her to check to see how far along I was. She informed me that the cervix was gone and said I could try to push. I was actually surprised -- I didn’t realize how far along I was -- but was very thankful to be almost done! After about 35 minutes, Ava was born. She had the cord wrapped around her neck a couple of times, but Chris promptly removed it. Then Ava was brought to my chest, and after the cord stopped pulsating, Dave cut it. He then held our new daughter and sang “How Great is Our God” to her, while I delivered the placenta. Chris drew up an herbal bath for me and Ava joined me. It was precious seeing her tiny feet paddle in the water. She was just as content and happy as could be. Afterwards, Chris took her measurements. She weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz, and was 19.5” long. Perfect!
Diana left, and after completing some paperwork and other final checks, Chris departed as well. We climbed into bed, and enjoyed our first evening together with the most beautiful baby her dad or I had ever seen. While not easy, the experience was wonderful; we were so thankful to have had the birth at home. And the outcome – our little Ava – made it all worthwhile.