My Home Birth Story | a 37 hour beautiful journey

In late January I gave birth to a beautiful, alert, very healthy baby girl! She’s is our world, and Maxx and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I can’t believe that she’s already 5 months old now. She’s grown so much, and her personality is spectacular. Baby J is funny, super energetic, intelligent, and incredibly happy. Like her mommy, she’s always smiling 🙂

I read countless positive birth stories when I was pregnant, and they helped remove the fear I had around birth. So often we hear negative birth stories from our family members, or see it negatively portrayed in the media. However, going into it with a positive mindset and feeling empowered is priceless, and will greatly color your experience.

I’m excited to finally share the story of my home birth with you. Watch the video below for the full story, and keep scrolling for more tidbits and insight. Everyone’s experience with natural home birth is different, and I hope mine will be inspiring and empowering whether you’re having a baby or not.

Check out my vegan pregnancy playlist on YouTube for more videos!

CAN ANYONE HAVE A HOME BIRTH?

Home birth is not necessarily safe for everyone. Some pregnancies are considered high risk and home birth is not an option. Thankfully we have hospitals, hospital midwives, and OBGYNs to help deliver babies under these circumstances. Women deserve the best care possible under all circumstances. A good midwife will be able to help you determine whether or not a home birth is safe for you. There are options for having a natural birth in a hospital too.

DID I HAVE A DOULA?

I decided not to hire a doula for the birth. Would one have made things go faster? We’ll never know. I did however have a backup doula on call––the midwife’s assistant. She was coming to the birth to assist our midwife anyway, but if I needed her sooner she would have been there to give me support. I do recommend that all women seriously consider having a doula present for their birth. Do your research and think about what’s right for you and your family.

WHAT IF YOU ENDED UP IN THE HOSPITAL?

Plenty of intended home birthing women end up in the hospital. Apparently the number one reason is because of exhaustion (that’s according to my midwife). You can change your mind and decide to transfer to the hospital at any time if you want, even if there is no emergency reason. Maybe you want an epidural. This is where the support of a doula can be very useful, because she can help you find other ways of relieving pain in labor like massage, getting into a warm bath, showering, etc.

To me hospitals are for emergency which is always a possibility during childbirth. Have your hospital plan drawn out too in case you must go. Your midwife and doula will work with you creating your emergency hospital birth plan. A cesarean section is always a possibility so I had certain requests written out and printed in case I needed one. For example, I made sure to make a request in my birth plan that in the event of an emergency cesarean I wanted to have my vagina swabbed so that my good bacteria could be rubbed on the baby to inoculate her.

WERE DATES, WALKING, AND RASPBERRY TEA (AND ALL THAT OTHER PREP) HELPFUL?

Who knows! None of these things hurt, that’s for sure. I had a 37 hour labor, and all of those things promised to speed labor. Actually, the science on dates is that they help bring on spontaneous labor. Walking…well, I walked at least 2 miles every day the entirety of my 2nd and 3rd trimester. I was hiking and walking up until the day I went into labor. I still had a crazy long labor (maybe there’s some mental stuff there too…I believe almost everything is mental), but what walking certainly gave me was stamina. I needed all the stamina I could get especially since I couldn’t keep anything down. Walking is also great for your pregnancy health overall. It helps with stress, helps keep your heart healthy, helps with swelling  (I had none), helps with circulation, helps with digestion, and along with a healthy diet helps lower your risk of gestational diabetes. So in the end I say it was helpful 🙂

WAS PERINEAL MASSAGE HELPFUL?

I didn’t tear so I think it was helpful. Though it is very uncomfortable. Yikes! My midwife also recommended daily sitz baths  to help soften the perineal tissue. You could also do a full body soak, which is extra relaxing and yummy. Take advantage of all the baths you can before baby is born!!! My midwife also recommended having sex often to bring on a timely labor and to help stretch the vagina. That’s something else you want to enjoy before baby is born, because afterwards…ha!

WHAT WAS THE MOST HELPFUL THING YOU DID TO PREPARE?

All of my prep was helpful, but the thing I relied on the most during this very long and uncomfortable labor was my hypnobirthing and breathing practice. Also the affirmations that I repeated every single day before going into labor. Mindset is everything. And breath is everything. Look up a local hypnobirthing course, or do one online. I did the online Calm Birth School program, and practiced my breathing, meditation, affirmations, and visualizations religiously every day for the last 3-4 months of pregnancy. I needed that.

FAVORITE BIRTH PREP RESOURCES?

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering book by Sarah Buckley for science backed information about birthing and birthing interventions

Free Birth Podcast for inspiration from women who birthed their babies at home without any professional help. I wasn’t going to do that, but hearing about other women doing it really made me feel like I could birth at home safely

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth book for birth stories and wisdom

Calm Birth School Online Hypnobirthing course

Watching birthing videos on Instagram from accounts like @badassmotherbirther and @empoweredbirthproject

Evidence Based Birth website for science based information about birthing practices.

The Business of Being Born movie by Ricki Lake

Check out my vegan pregnancy playlist on YouTube for more videos!