Selah Joy's Home Birth

Oh, the joys (and pains) of labor... Our beautiful bundle of Joy, Selah Joy, is a natural born procrastinator just like her momma. We were sure she would be our early Christmas present. That is the way I referenced Christmas to the younger kids. "When is it going to be Christmas, Mom?" "After the baby's born", I would reply. We excitedly planned on what to give our new baby for Christmas. Paul was supposed to run out and get a Precious Moments First Christmas ornament (a tradition for each baby) as soon as we knew the gender...

Most of my babies were 9 days overdue and Grace was the longest at 12 days over. That would put this baby's arrival date on Christmas Eve. Even at 9 to 12 days over, I still had to take castor oil with each one to get the labor started. I was intentionally avoiding that horrible tasting stuff and was wanting to experience a "natural" start to labor. I could also specifically remember every painful detail of Nathan's birth, so it was mentally easier to let labor start on it own instead of deciding that "this is the day I want one of the most painful experiences of my life." I described the thought of labor to Paul as if I'd had already had a leg cut off without painkiller, knowing what it feels like, and trying to prepare to go through it with the other leg.

Well, Christmas Eve came and went, which made for a frustrating Christmas morning for me. I was uncomfortable and was supposed to be holding my Christmas present in my arms. Christmas Day passed without any warm-up contractions, and because Sunday (the day after Christmas) would put me at 14 days over, I finally gave in to the castor oil. I downed 2 oz. of it at 7am on Sunday. By 11, I was having warm-ups! Caleb stayed home from church with me "just in case". By 2:30, I was having irritating contrations 3-5 minutes apart, and I knew baby was coming today! Yay! About 20 minutes later, my water broke and we called Bernice, the midwife, to let her know. She came around 4:30 and the contractions were getting more painful and harder to walk or move through. I went from sitting on my birthing ball, to pacing the room, to sitting in my borrowed birthing pool (which I didn't intend to give birth in, just relax during labor). I wanted to keep moving to make things happen faster and get it over with. It still took a long time. Around 8, I got to the REALLY painful ones and I knew it probably wouldn't be long. For some reason, when they get more painful, they seem to come a bit farther apart. Instead of being 2 minutes apart, like they were all afternoon and evening, they slowed to 5 minutes. After trying to cope with them by laying on the bed (where I intended to give birth), I made it to the bathroom and the pool with warm water looked so tempting, I got in. Two miserable contractions later, I was ready to push! Paul and my sister were in the bathroom with me, and I just remember that when I said I had to push, it seemed like everyone left to tell others. I thought, "I'm gonna have this baby in the water and no one is going to be here to get it out of the water." Since I didn't intend to give birth in the water, I didn't ask the questions like, "How long can the baby's head be under the water?" I fought the urge to push until everyone came rushing back in. Within just a few minutes, we finally met our beautiful baby girl!

One of the benefits of having a home birth is that it becomes a family affair. The kids were in and out of my bedroom (where I spent most of my time in labor). The girls were compassionately rubbing my back and shoulders. All the kids got to see the natural progression of pain during the labor. As they came in during the more painful contractions, Paul would explain that I couldn't talk because of how much it hurt. They were zoned into watching a movie downstairs when Selah was being born, but were called up right afterward and saw her as I was still holding her in the pool. What an incredible thing to see the birth as a miracle of God and not a act of medical science. It seems to make the new baby a natural addition to the family. Even Nathan was able to put the pieces together and realize that this was the same baby that was in mommy's tummy just a little while before.

The homebirth weigh-in.

Signing the Birth Certificate. We'll have to take it to the courthouse later with a notorized letter from the midwife stating that "yes, we did have a baby on this day..."

Nathan and his "new baby sister!!"