Baby Heather - home waterbirth - August 2004

Heather Elizabeth is our second child; she was born on Friday August 27, 2004 at 1:50 PM.

We had planned a homebirth from the moment we knew I was expecting. I don’t think anything else honestly crossed our minds even – we knew that home was where we wanted to welcome our child.

Sometime in the last couple of months, I started researching water birth, and came to the conclusion that I wanted the option of having my baby in the water, and that if I had any amount of back labour again, I definitely wanted to labour in the water. We borrowed an inflatable kiddie pool and waterbed hook-up kit and figured out where best to put these in our living room.

After having had our first baby at 38 weeks, I was mentally prepared to have this baby before its due date – but 38 weeks came and went. Then 39 weeks came and went. I was having bouts of false labour – intense Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing that lasted for more than a few hours.

At 40 weeks – on my baby’s “due date”, we went out in the morning to pick up a box of fruit, and a bit of running around too. We got back to the apartment sometime after 11 am. Brad cooked up some pasta, beginning to prepare for our lunch, and I had put Owen down for a nap. It was closing in on noon.

I was sitting in front of our computer, chatting with a couple of friends when I first felt the contractions. It hurt. Not just simple “intense” like I’d been feeling before, but out-right pain. A couple more contractions like that, and I was telling “T” (our Doula) that this hurt – we talked between contractions for a little while, and she asked if she should come over. Hesitant to call her over after having several false starts, I told her to ask me again in a half-hour. She went to shower. When she came back – I was ready to have her come over. That was around 12:20.

When “T” arrived, Brad had inflated the kiddie pool, and was in the process of filling it up with water, and trying to put pressure on my lower back as I leaned across an exercise ball during contractions. She took over the back pressure while Brad checked on the pool – and she showed me that she’d brought back the smiley-face balls she had had with her during Owen’s birth!

Not long after that, the pool was filled enough for me to get in - so I waited for a bit of a break, stripped down, and got into the pool, leaning on the couch on my hands and knees.
Somewhere around there - our doula asked if she should call 911, but was told "NO" in no uncertain terms - there was a midwife on the way, and I was managing okay (contrary to the moaning and groaning and carrying on I was doing in the pool!). The phone rang then - the midwife who was on her way had been in a car accident!! But another midwife was on her way!
It wasn't long after that that what felt like multiple contractions on top of one another started - luckily, that didn't last long, and I could feel the baby coming way down. Brad was standing in the pool behind me, pushing on my back and tailbone.
My water broke in a gush - clear as clear could be! Brad didn't notice anything because I was in the water, but there was NO missing it for me.
A couple of contractions later I was screaming - loud - NO NO NO. Our doula asked me "No what" - I told her the baby was coming now, coming out.
Our doula was telling Brad to look and see if he could see the baby's head, but because of our positions, he couldn't tell. I think it was 2 contractions later that I could feel her head coming out - somehow I flipped from my hands and knees to sitting - Brad could see the back of her head then. I told him to hold the baby's head, but then put my hands back onto her as the next contraction came on and her head came out. I had her head in my hands as her shoulders came out next, then somehow caught her under the shoulders as she flew out with the next contraction.
I brought her up out of the water, and looked to see if our baby was a boy or a girl. I *think* I told Brad and Our doula that we had a baby girl, but I'm not sure. That was 1:50 pm. Not two full hours after the first contraction hit me!
Heather latched on and started to suckle almost immediately, so we stayed in the water for a little while - someone contacted our midwife and told her that the baby was here, breathing, nursing and starting to get some colour, and I called my mom too.
With some help I got out of the pool and onto our couch; and was lounging there, covered in lots of towels and a blanket, when the midwife (not ours) arrived about 2:15 pm.
Heather's cord was cut around 3 PM, placenta delivered not too long after that. She has been nursing like a dream, had lots of wet diapers and is working on clearing out the meconium. Her big brother has been kissing and loving on her, he is fascinated with her little nose.