I got pregnant with Emma when Gracie was 8 months old.  By this point I had finished my midwifery school and both apprenticeships and had been practicing on my own for almost a year.  I was quite busy with my own clients which made my pregnancy fly by.  I was not sick like with Grace but probably did not care for myself well either.

Somewhere around 35 weeks I contracted a urinary system infection which entered my kidney.  It went undetected and two weeks later sent me into labor at 37 weeks.  My contractions began and were strong from the start.  It was at 4:35 pm on a Wednesday evening so we chose to go ahead and go to church.  During the service, while singing songs, the contractions were getting more and more intense and I did not think I could sit through service.  The infection made them sting more than usual and I knew I would need to move around to keep myself under control so we came on home.  We had our friend take the other children home with her so we would not have to worry about them.  Around 10 pm, I called the one midwife and she arrived around 11 pm.  We had borrowed a Rubbermaid feeding trough to labor in, so we filled it with really hot water and I got in once I realized I was 5 cm.  The water truly did help even though the contractions were very painful.

At midnight I was 7cm and we called the other midwife to come.  I knew I was in for at least 3 hours with my normal plateau so we hunkered down.  The infection made me more tired and I was really worn out and in a lot of pain.  I remember the midwives praying without ceasing and specifically recall one prayer to give me some rest. 

I HATE lying down while laboring, yet, due to my exhaustion I laid down on my bed as close to being on my belly as I could handle.  I was able to sleep in between contractions and the Lord gave me the grace to handle the sting of the contractions while resting.  I stayed here for a little more than an hour.  Around 3 am I got up and started moving around praying that the Lord will have mercy upon me and not make me endure my typical 12 hours of labor (all of my labors except number 1 last almost exactly 12 hours from start to finish).  It had been 10 ½ and I did not know how much more I could handle.  My husband was incredible as always and just kept encouraging me while the midwives were a blessing too, quoting scripture, praying and encouraging me to keep moving and relaxing.

I got into the shower to help with the pains and when I got out at 4am, my water broke.  Within 15 minutes I was complete and sat on the birth stool to push.  Our daughter's heartbeat had been dropping for about 30 minutes at the end of each contraction letting us know we most likely had a cord situation.  While pushing, her heart rate dropped completely so I pushed her out in one push.

Emma was gray and completely life-less at birth.  My husband's heart sunk.  As a mortician, he has seen babies that look like Emma did.  He whispered his concern to me but I was surprisingly calm.  I felt myself saying to God that if He needed to take her it would be ok and I would understand that His plan was higher than mine.  But at the same time, I was walking through the steps for neonatal resuscitation (the midwife in me prevailed, I guess).  The midwives were so skilled and so loving.  Our Emma had no heartbeat and was not breathing, but after some ventilation breaths and chest compressions, she cleared the fluid that is so hard for little ones to clear as quickly as is necessary after birth.  In less than 40 seconds, our little Emma had a perfect heart beat and her lungs were breathing clearly.  She weighed just over 5 pounds and was 19 inches long.  The midwives handed her to me and I began to nurse her almost immediately after the scare.  I was so thankful we were at home where her little lungs were given a normal chance to inflate and breathe without having tubes forced down her throat and nose and tons of oxygen being forced unnecessarily into her lungs.  When we look at the physiology of all that goes into a newborn's first breath outside of the womb, it only makes sense that some will need a little help.  Some will need a few good ventilation breaths to help clear the fluid from their lungs-some may need some quicker breaths to help the lungs begin to function as they will from that point on.  It is not something for us to be fearful of; it is a part of life.  My Emma was given the best chances by us choosing to birth her at home in the safe, skilled, and loving hands of our midwives!

Homebirth is truly the safest and most wonderful way to birth!  I am not saying there is never a reason to choose a medical birth, but it should be there for those women who are really high risk and need the emergent care they will receive there.  I believe if more women would experience the joy of birthing at home, they, like me, would never deliver any other way!