Lucy's Birth

Raleigh Home Birth

Any birth professional knows that the week of the full moon is often a busy one. September this year was no exception. I had attended Christine’s birth the night of September 8th, and less than a day and a half later I attended Christina’s birth.

    Christina was having a planned home birth. She had an extremely fast labor with her first. Due to this (among other reasons) she felt a home birth was the best choice for this baby. Christina had been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and had expressed concern that she wouldn’t know the difference between a real contraction and a Braxton hicks contraction come time. Well she did :-)

    On Wednesday, September 10th around 10:30am Christina sent me a text to let me know she was having contractions that were 6 to 8 minutes apart and lasting 20 to 30 seconds. She was pretty sure it was go time. I asked Christina if she had called the midwife, Nancy. She said she had contacted her and that Nancy was finishing up at another birth. I got ready and headed to her house.

    I arrived at Christina’s house around noon. Her husband, Chris, let me in. Christina was in the living room working through contractions. She was swaying and moaning and doing great. Christina was complaining of having back labor so I applied counter pressure and heat to her back. Her daughter, Emma, was very excited. Chris was trying to keep Emma busy so Christina could focus on her labor. Around 12:30 one of the midwives, Jewel, arrived. At this point Christina was really having to work through her contractions. They were getting much more intense. We had moved to the kitchen. She was leaning on the counter and swaying and squatting through each contraction. Jewel went about setting things up in the kitchen for the birth. Chris put the dogs outside. We turned down some of the lights and closed the curtains to make the room a little more relaxing. Not long after Jewel arrived Christina began to feel the urge to push. She squatted through a few contractions. She then moved to the foam mattress that was set up on the kitchen floor. She had a few more contractions while side lying while Jewel took her vitals.

    Around 1:00pm, Nancy arrived. Jewel was letting Nancy know what had been going on so far. Jewel was in the middle of saying that Christina’s water had not broken, when Christina pushed and it broke. Nancy put on her gloves and got on the floor near Christina. Emma was watching everything that was going on very intently. Chris was sitting at Christina’s head and holding her hand. Christina was doing an amazing job staying calm. She was doing an amazing job handling each contraction. During the next two contractions she pushed, and then the baby came out very fast. The baby was “sunny side up” or occiput posterior. It definitely explained all the back labor Christina was having. It was so incredible that she was able to push the baby out so fast, even though she was OP. The baby was immediately placed on Christina’s chest.
   
    Lucy was born at 1:09pm. Christina was an absolute rock star. She was such a beautiful laboring woman. She looked so amazing and powerful during the whole process. Christina, Chris, and Emma were so in love with Lucy from the moment she arrived. Emma just wanted to hold and love on Lucy. She kept calling her, “my baby”. You could tell she was so fascinated by her little sister. Christina just radiated joy and love when she looked at Lucy. Chris couldn’t stop looking at her beautiful face. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to be at Lucy’s birth. Christina rocked it. Her strength and beauty during labor and birth was amazing and empowering, and I have no doubt that one day Lucy will grow up to be just as amazing of a woman!