Baby Judah - Birth Story

This is going to be as quick as possible.

We have a baby!! I felt like he would never be born, and yes our dear baby did come out a boy. He was born on Saturday morning (August 4th) at 10:16am all natural in our home. His weight at birth was 9 lbs 9 oz.

I went into labor on Friday afternoon, but started having contractions on Friday morning. I remember mentioning to my friend I thought maybe there was something to them, but didnt really think about it too much. Around 4pm, I was having regular contractions, and thought this might be it. Andy took Eli to sesame street on Friday night, and I went out with my sisters and my mom. While we were our for dinner I continued to have contractions, and my sister told me that I was in denial, and for sure I was in labor. Yes I was in denial and in labor. I called our midwife around 9pm, to let her know what was happening and asked her if she thought it was the real deal. Lets remember here, I had been having contractions for the last 2 weeks off and on, so the tease of them made me doubt it was possible that we were in fact having a baby. She said she thought this could be it. I should also mention I didn't end up going back to see her to have her strip my membranes, or take any herbal mixture. We decided to wait and see what happens. Im glad I did, and I trusted my body to do what it needed to do!

My mom decided to take Eli home with her on Friday night in case this was the real deal, and boy am I glad she did. Originally we had discussed just having someone come and hang out with him while I was in labor. I couldn't imagine how traumatized he would've been had he hung out at home with either my mom or my MIL.

Around 11pm, I went to bed and kept waking up every half hour with a contraction. They had slowed down at this point, and again I was in denial. At 3:30am I finally went downstairs and watched Say Yes to the Dress, and my contractions were about a minute long and every 3-4 minutes, depending on the contraction. At 5am, I couldnt focus by myself anymore so I went and woke Andy. I took a bath and he sat in the bathroom with me, while I labored and cried as I was feeling pretty emotional. We had been in contact with our doula, and gave her the heads up.

Finally at 7am, we called her to tell her we needed her to come over, and also got in contact with our photographer. Both arrived shortly, and I continued to labor, but I was in excruciating pain! Nothing could've prepared me for the contractions.

By 7:30-8:00amish I had a few contractions that were long, and barely any time in between. Our doula said that if it happened again we should contact Cathy and let her know, because we could be getting close. Andy and our doula started filling the tub, and I finally was able to get in it. It felt great. Cathy arrived around 8:30-9ish (its all a blur) and I remember looking at the clock thinking how much longer can I do this for? I told her I couldn't do it any longer.

Cathy started setting all of her stuff up, which was a lot, and as I continued to labor Cathy came over and encouraged me. Just having her there made me feel better. She mentioned that I sounded like I was pushy, and I agreed that yes I was. She told me how to breath and continue on with the contractions. She then called the back up midwife to come.

I started pushing, and screaming, yes screaming my head off at the pain. I felt so out of control, and like it needed to be over. But Cathy continued to coach me and encourage me. The baby's heart rate was doing really well, and at one point I remember reaching down in the water and feeling his head and his hair swaying in the water. That was almost a taste of encouragement!

At that point, I continued to push but he wouldn't budge. Cathy had me get out of the tub and lay on my back to push, and he still wouldn't move, so we then turned on all fours to push. His shoulder was stuck which is called shoulder dystocia, and she basically had to reach in and pull him out. Can you say ouch?? He was born at 10:16am, however things got a little scary at that point.

Although his heart rate was really good, he wasn't breathing on his own. Cathy put the mask on him and breathed for him, and after 4 minutes he finally started breathing on his own. At this point, an ambulance had already been called and they were on their way. We decided to transfer just to make sure everything was fine. We arrived at the Stollery Hospital and a huge team greeted us to check him over, he was doing good at this point and there were no concerns.

All in all, Im so glad we had a home birth, and the shoulder dystocia is something that would've happened home or hospital! Cathy handled it so well, and Im so blessed that she took and continues to take such good care of us.

Ill write more soon, but I have a baby who needs to be fed, which BTW someone is nursing like a champ and is willing to latch in any position he can get! Im so blessed by this!!

Here are a few pictures!!