The Birth of Avonlea Wren.

A lot of family and friends have been asking to hear my home birth story. It was amazing so, of course I want to share and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to type up. I meant to do it two days after I gave birth but then we got home and life happened. I hope I can do it justice and remember all of the little details that made Avonlea's birth so wonderful. 

This was my 6th birth. Josiah (almost 9) was born in the hospital. I was induced 5 days overdue (stupid me for allowing that) and ended up meeting him after about 32 hours of labor. Surprisingly  I gave birth to Eden only 19 months later. I waited to go into natural labor which happened 10 days after my due date. Labor was in the hospital but was easier and a whole lot shorter, only being 6 hours long. With both of these births I had an IV pain medication called Nubain towards the end. 2 years later, my third pregnancy with Lincoln, I had placenta previous that did not correct and at 38 weeks (way too early in my opinion) they took him by c-section. He had some breathing difficulties the first couple days and for many reasons I was really sad that I was unable to have a vaginal birth. Almost two years later, I was preparing for my first VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean). I had to leave Ryan and the 3 older children behind and stay with my aunt near Tacoma. 10 days after my due date, I went into fast, hard labor with Lowen. My water broke on the way to the hospital. When I arrived I was begging for an epidural. Ryan arrived about an hour before Lowen was born. My labor was about 4 hours from start to finish. 18 months later, with Hosanna on the way, I went over to stay with my aunt again. At my 39 week appointment, they stripped my membranes and told me I was dilated to a 4 and shouldn't go home. A day and a half later, I woke up with weird contractions and had my aunt drive me to the hospital. After hours of no progress and back labor, I got my second epidural. Ryan and his dad were able to get there in plenty of time because Hosanna's labor took nearly 12 hours. In my first five births, I learned a lot about things I liked about my experiences and things I didn't like. And I started contacting midwives almost immediately after I had Hosanna because I was determined that that was what I was going to do with our next baby. Years ago, Ryan mentioned home birth to me as an option and I'm pretty sure I laughed at him and pretty much thought no way am I ever going to do that. But after having the c-section and then having to give birth over in Tacoma being my only hospital option, the idea of home birth became more and more attractive me to. Anyways, there's so much more I could say about that but here is Avonlea Wren's labor and birth story:

I was 5 days over due. The entire evening before I had been having contractions on and off. They weren't hard or very consistent but I could tell they were not going away. By the time I woke up for my midwives appointment that morning, I was beyond exhausted and discouraged that things were still feeling about the same. It was Ryan's day off from work. He stayed home with the other five children and I drove into Port Angeles to my appointment. I was still having contractions but nothing that distracted from my driving. They were here and there and all over the place but very short and not very painful at all. I was expecting to be sent back home anyways so I thought there was no reason at this point to leave the kids with someone else. 

I arrived at Loritha's (my midwife's) house at 2:00pm in tears as she met me in her living room. She gave me a hug and I told her all I had been feeling for the last 24 hours. Short, gentle contractions, sometimes every 3 minutes, sometimes every half an hour. I felt like I was in early labor but was not progressing. I think she saw the despair and fatigue on my face and knew something was going on and agreed to check my cervix. I was pretty encouraged to hear that I was dilated to a 5! She scraped my membranes and could feel the baby's head moving around in response to her touch. She was extremely low and my bag of waters was bulging. I was so excited to hear that something was actually happening. She told me that I should not go home. I should go walk or climb stairs or bounce on a ball... Anything to get those contractions coming harder and closer together.

Well silly me, all I could think about was all of the stops I was planning to do that day when I came into town. So I went to Goodwill (all the while having some pretty painful contractions). I skipped over Walmart because I was certain my water would break in the middle of it. I stopped by Safeway really quick and got laundry soap. I was really hungry so I went and grabbed a burger. By the time I made it to my grandparents house (where I was going to give birth) I was having some pretty good contractions going. I ate (biggest mistake of my life) and then started bouncing on this torpedo shaped birthing ball my midwife had loaned me as I watched television and visited with my grandparents. There was no rush in my head at this point. Around 5:00pm I started feeling my contractions coming closer together and I was beginning to have to breathe through some of them. I texted Loritha and asked her if I should call Ryan. YES. My grandpa was needing something to do I could tell and so I asked him if he would start setting up and filling up the birthing pool. I'm so thankful that I had him do that because I likely wouldn't have been able to get in it if I hadn't because it took quite a while to get it ready. 

Loritha and Ryan both showed up around 6:30pm. By this time I was rocking back and forth on my hands and knees during contractions. The pool was being filled. My kids lullaby worship CD was playing. I could tell I was progressing but not as quickly as I thought I should be. Some of my contractions were still very short. About half an hour later, Loritha told me that I should get up and walk the stairs in my grandparent's house. I started walking down a short flight of stairs to the basement and by the time I got down to the landing, I was clinging to Ryan and in a lot of pain. Those stairs were all it took to get things rolling really fast. I walked down the stairs and did a wide lunge up the stairs 3 times and was in full blown, active and quick labor. I was holding onto Ryan for dear life (poor guy) and trying to control my breathing and moaning. Loritha told me I should lay on my left side on the bed for 3 contractions and then she would let me get into the birthing pool. I laid on the bed through 2 really hard contractions. I had a really long (it felt like 10 minute) break and I think I fell asleep until the next hard contraction came. I moved and felt (what I thought was) a really hard painful kick. I yelled, "Ow!" and then I sat up and realized it wasn't a kick, it was my water breaking. I went to the bathroom one last time and then I was helped into the pool. The water felt nice but didn't help the contractions feel any better like I thought it would. They were coming really hard and close together. I was breathing way to fast and sort of squatting in the pool, holding on to the side. I remember Ryan holding my hand and encouraging me, worship music playing in the background. I remember Loritha and her assistant Tara calmly saying encouraging words to me and speaking scripture to me during contractions. I remember saying "I can't do this" a lot.  It's still a very surreal thing to think about. Probably around 8:50 I started pushing on my own. It was such a relief but it really didn't feel like my pushing was doing anything. All of the sudden Loritha told me her head was out. She told me to stop pushing but I didn't listen at all (sorry, Loritha). Her head was out and about half a second later, I pushed the rest of her body completely out and turned around to reached down into the water to grab my sweet babe. At 9:15 I was holding Avonlea in my arms, exhausted and amazed at what had just happened. She was just looking up at me calm as could be. I remember saying that she didn't look like anyone else and that I was happy that I didn't have to go through that again for another 2 years. Great first words, right? 

After I delivered the placenta, I was helped out of the tub and into the bed. All of my vitals were taken and I was given something to eat (thankfully because I was so weak from throwing up a lot during labor). Avonlea latched on and nursed perfectly right from the very start which was such a blessing. We laughed and talked with Tara and Loritha and over the next hour or so they checked on me and weighed and checked Avonlea over. Ryan's mom and my grandparents came in and out looking at the baby. I think we were all in shock of how quickly things ended up going and that she was actually here. At around midnight, Loritha and Tara left and my grandparents went to bed and Ryan and I just sat there, in awe of our beautiful sweet babe who had made her appearance only hours earlier. What a blessing it was to be able to have the freedom to let my body do the job that God created it to do in such a peaceful, natural way and in such a comfortable environment. I never in my wildest dreams think that I would give birth in anywhere other than a hospital or that I would go from having two epidural births and be able to do it all naturally. It was so empowering and amazing. I can do anything. That's pretty much how I feel now. 

So, for all of you out there contemplating home birth, I would highly recommend it if you are a low risk momma. My midwife and her assistant were absolutely wonderful. They were more involved and supportive and understanding than any doctor I've ever been to. The whole experience just made me feel like this was really how birth was supposed to be in the first place. Calm, comfortable, no medical interventions. Birth is a perfectly natural and normal function of a women's body, not an illness. I was able to first hand witness what my body was capable of. I'm so happy that I was able to experience home birth and Lord willing, if we have another little Watson baby, I will not think twice about birthing at home. 

Loritha and Tara, you both are amazing women of God with hearts of gold. You have a great passion for the whole birthing process and made every part of my home birth a joy. Thank you for your encouragement, your support, your knowledge and help in my time of need. We feel very privileged to have had you by our sides when Avonlea entered this world. 

 

And we are so blessed to have this 

sweet girl in our family... 

Avonlea Wren Watson...

my little water babe