Big Announcement This Week!

... and NO, I'm not pregnant! :)

But it's still exciting news! Stay tuned...

From knowing in my head to believing in my heart... my birth story!

Welcome to the maiden post of my blog, Fearless Birth. I have about a million things I'd like to blog about, but thought I'd start with my birth story. It think it offers some perspective into how God has changed my heart about giving birth. I, also, think it's a pretty wonderful story.

Everett's Unexpected Homebirth - March 5, 2009

As a doula (still in training), I have a ton of head-knowledge about birth, and I totally believed that birth is a normal, natural, healthy thing. But my Lilly was born in the hospital (in my pre-doula days) with all the bells and whistles. So I had doubts deep down about whether or not I could really do it. My plan this time was for an unmedicated hospital birth. Fortunately, it didn't turn out that way. Here's my story:

I was 39 weeks on Thursday, March 5. I woke up at 3:00am thinking my water might have broken. I was finally sure that's what it was at about 3:30. So I called my doula, Gina Phillips, to tell her my water had broken, and that we were going back to sleep to wait for my body to do it's thing. By 4:15, I was feeling crampy and uncomfortable... enough that I couldn't sleep. So Frank and I got up, e-mailed work, threw a few last minute things in our bags, and basically wasted time.

Then around 5:00, I noticed that my cramps were coming about every 4 minutes apart, lasting more than a minute, but I was going to wait to do anything until they had been that way for an hour. At 5:15, we called our doula and said things felt really intense, and that I thought I could use her help. We also called our friend Kim, who was going to watch Lilly, to come over.

At about 5:30, I decided I needed a change of scenery, since I couldn't find a comfy spot in our bedroom anymore. So I got up and walked into the living room and laid down on the couch just in time for another "cramp." It was then that I felt the baby's head come off my pubic bone (which is where he'd been resting for several weeks) and slide all the way down. It was the most dramatic thing I've ever felt in my life. Suddenly, my body was pushing and I couldn't make it stop. I was scared to death, but stayed calm. My husband was oblivious, and I didn't tell him what I'd felt because I couldn't even explain it to myself in my own head. I crawled over to my birth ball and stayed there for several minutes.

Kim came at 5:45, and I couldn't speak to greet her. My doula came in at about 6:00 and found me on the floor making "pushy sounds". She helped me get up and walk to the bathroom. Up to then, I hadn't had any bloody show, but boy, that had changed drastically! I was freaking out, telling her I was pushing and couldn't stop. I think she and my husband both just thought I'd lost control and was starting to panic, so she tried to get me to reach and see if I could feel the baby's head. I couldn't tell what I was feeling, so she offered to look, just to reassure me that he was not falling out. When she looked, she could see his sweet little head right there! She said, very calmly, "We have two options. I could call 911 and a paramedic could deliver your baby here. Or I could call my friend, who is a midwife, who lives 10 minutes from here, and she could deliver your baby here. Either way, you are about to have a homebirth." Thankfully, in that moment I firmly said, "call the midwife!" That was about 6:10. For the next 13 minutes, my doula had me on my back, blowing through the intense urge to push, trying to buy some time for the midwife, Ann Crowell, to arrive. She came in at 6:23 and immediately got in position to catch my little one. I flipped to all fours, then down onto my side (which was way more comfortable for me.) She coached my pushing beautifully (strong push here... gentle push here... breathe here....) At 6:40 am, my sweet Everett James was born into my arms in the comfort of my own bed. He was 9 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long... and I had NO TEARING!!! It was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.

The next 2 hours were so amazing... nobody took my baby away, nobody rubbed goop in his eyes, nobody asked anything absurd of us. It was beautiful. We got into a wonderful herbal tea bath, and we felt so healthy and wonderful.

God gave me, not just the blessing of a healthy baby boy, but the gift of true belief... in His perfect plan, in birth, in my baby, and in myself. We thank God for this overwhelming gift. All the glory belongs to Him!