Sharing my third home birth story of my baby boy on the blog.  This is my third baby and our last. 😉 I wanted to share my home birth story in hopes that it would help anyone reading this who wants to do a home birth or natural birth.  I think a lot of times having a baby can be made out to be something that isn’t natural.  When really our body was created to do it.  I also know that home births are not for everyone and at the end of the day you just have to do what’s best for you and your baby.

I love home births because that’s where I feel most comfortable.  I know a lot of people feel better in a hospital.  As the phrase goes- you do you!  I had Finley and Gracie at home and it only felt right to have my third baby at home.

Ok, on to my third home birth story.

 

 

This pregnancy was so different than my last two.  I was super uncomfortable, and felt lots of pressure the whole time.  It makes sense now that I know how much my baby weighed!  A whopping 10 lbs. 7 oz. I felt like the whole pregnancy he was just sitting on my bladder.  If you would have told me I would have a 10 lb + baby I would have laughed!  Finley was 9.05 lbs. and Gracie was 7 lbs. 12 oz. so I thought if I had a boy he could be 9 something but not 10.  Little did I know!

So I had SJ on Monday night but I started the labor and birth process on Saturday.  I lost my mucous plug on Saturday and had some bloody show.  I didn’t start having contractions until Saturday early morning around 2 am.  They would come every 20-30 minutes.  Nothing crazy.  Then they stopped Sunday morning.  I would still have one every hour or so but it definitely wasn’t progressing.  I walked up and down my stairs throughout the day trying to get my body to progress.  But nothing really happened until later that night.  Around 8 pm I started to have contractions again but they were 20 minutes apart.  Some were 15 minutes apart.  My two sisters were over and we were just chatting it up on the couch timing them.

 

 

 

Then that night I woke up around 3 am and started to have contractions again every 20 minutes.  Some were closer.  It went on like this all night until the morning.  Then they died down in the morning again.  I was determined to get some things done before the baby came so I worked all morning until 1 pm.  I was having contractions throughout the morning and could tell that I was going to have the baby that day.  They still weren’t super close together.  Then around 2:30 pm they started to pick up.  They were happening every 10 minutes and then every 5 minutes pretty quickly.  I knew I was going to have my baby that night!

 

 

I called my family and told them.  My mom came over and my two sisters and then my other sister came later on.  Thankfully she made the birth!  This really was so cool because I wanted my sisters to all be there and they were able to make it.  My sister in law came over too and my midwife got to my house around 4:30 pm.  I was having contractions every 5 minutes.  But when I started to stand up and move around they would happen quicker.  More like every 3 minutes.  I knew I needed to keep walking in order to keep things progressing.  I started to bear crawl up my stairs.  I’ve heard many people say this can help keep things moving in labor.  They were coming on faster.  I was still able to talk to my family or midwife at this point in between contractions.  Then finally it was around 6:30-7 when things started to get more intense.  I wasn’t talking to anyone but just focused on getting through the contractions.  I would go to the bathroom and swaddle the toilet for a bit and then move back to being on my knees on the floor and my hands and elbows on the couch.  I was also standing for many of them and leaning against the counter.

For me my favorite position when getting through contractions is on my knees and my arms and elbows on the couch or a bouncy ball.  I know everyone is different but for me it always feels the best.  Not that it still feels good. Finally it got to the point where they were coming on really quick and I wasn’t getting much breaks.  They were also getting really intense.  More intense then with my other two babies.  It finally got to the point where I felt so much pressure and wanted to push.  My midwife said push if you feel like it.  So I started to push.  It felt like it did nothing though.  There was just so much pressure I thought how am I going to get this baby out?!  It was way more intense than with my other two.

 

 

When I pushed again my water broke.  It was crazy.  I had never had it happen like that.  It was like an explosion of water went everywhere.  My midwife later said that I had got her pretty good!  I continued to feel an immense amount of pressure the contractions were getting so strong.  I kept thinking to myself push with the contractions.  So when the next one came on I gave it all I had and pushed when it peaked.  They started to say they could see the head and boy could I feel it!  I knew I had to keep pushing with the contractions to help get this baby out.  The next contraction I gave it all I had again and the head came out.  By this time I knew I just needed to keep going with the pushes and the contractions.  I felt so tired though and again the pressure was so intense.  I was wailing at this point as I pushed.  We were all surprised after that my kids didn’t wake up from it.  I just kept thinking I have to get this baby out- the pain was intense.  I gave another huge push with the contraction and out came my baby!  I had SJ right on my living room floor.

 

 

My husband caught him and announced it was a boy!  We named him SJ- Stephen Judah.  We hadn’t found out the gender and it was so fun hearing him say boy.  In my heart I thought it was a boy all along.  Just so many things pointed to boy.  My whole family thought boy too.  But it could be the fact that a boy hasn’t been born to our family in 38 years- since my brother.  I had two girls before SJ and my brother has 5 girls.  I mean we love girls for sure but it was definitely time everyone thought for a boy.  It was pretty special seeing my dad meet him for the first time too since he’s named after him.  He came about an hour after he was born.  We asked him if he thought it was a boy or a girl and he said he didn’t know.  When I said it was a boy, he excitedly said YES!  My sisters and mom were all crying as he was being born.  It was just so sweet.  My sister in law is a naturopathic doctor and has had 5 kids herself naturally and 4 at home.  She always helps me through each labor, she’s amazing and I don’t know what I would do without her at my births.  Her and my hubs switch on and off rubbing my back and putting pressure on it.  This pregnancy I had so much back labor compared to the last two as well.  It felt better when someone would put pressure on my back as the contractions were happening.  Up until it got really intense I was still timing the contractions on my phone with the Contractions app.  Well I wasn’t timing it, my sister was.  I would just say it’s coming and she would start it.  This helped me to see how far apart my contractions were.  It also helped me continue to stand and move because I could tell my contractions would pick up when I did move and slow down when I sat down.

 

 

 

It was such sweet relief the moment he came out.  There are no words!  I felt like I had just climbed a mountain, or basically ran up the mountain.  I remember just saying I did it!  My midwife said I pushed for 9 minutes.  Felt like so much longer than 9 minutes! They handed me SJ and it was just the best feeling in the world.  I couldn’t believe how big he looked and that he came out of me.  When she weighed him and it said 10 lbs. 7 oz. I was in disbelief.  I just didn’t even know what to say!  My midwife said he could have weighed more even but he did pee right after he came out. How in the world did I just deliver a 10 + pound baby?!  It’s just amazing what the human body can do.  I did have a small tear but it wasn’t big enough to stitch up.  This happened with Gracie too.  Where I had a small tear but not big enough to stitch.  I just have to rest up and be careful to not do anything to over exert myself.  No stairs for a little bit!  I also bled way more than with my other two babies.  So much so that the midwife had to give me a shot of something to help stop the bleeding.  It totally helped ease it up.  10 lb babies don’t mess around!  I took a shower after giving birth in my shower and then crawled into bed with my new bundle.  That’s my favorite part.  Getting to take a shower in my own shower and sleep in my bed.  Feels so good.

I definitely feel so different with this baby compared to the other two as far as recovery.  The whole birth just felt a lot more intense.  I’ve been laying in bed the last several days just giving my body the rest it needs to heal.  I felt pretty swollen down under and sore all over.  Which makes sense after hearing how much he weighed.  They say that for every baby you have you should literally lay in bed after for that many days.  With Finley I tried moving around way earlier than I should and got mastitis.  I learned my lesson.  I know it’s only going to help my whole family if I rest up and heal.  My mom has been awesome helping me out with my girls and making me meals.  Also, my hubs has been a rockstar at doing everything for me.  We haven’t had to dig into our meal prep quite yet.  So thankful we did meal prep a ton for this baby.  I can tell it’s going to be clutch.

 

 

 

I still look like I’m 6 months pregnant, but really embracing my body and all that it’s accomplished.  I have stretch marks, a bulging belly and I have more love in my heart than I’ve ever had.  There’s no high I always say like having a baby gives you.  It doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with challenges but the reward is SO sweet.

Have you had a home birth?  Would love to hear about it, leave me a comment below.  Hope you enjoyed reading my third home birth story!

• Check out my meal prep video here if you want to see how I meal prepped for a month postpartum with healthy meals and what recipes we used.
• Check out my past birth stories here and here.
• Check out my Natural Pregnancy Must Haves here.
• Check out my First Trimester Must Haves here.