Harper Ashley

This Birth story begins a few days before active labor. I had been in and out of prodromal and early labor for weeks. One time even landing me in St. Joes OB-ED triage for fluids and steroids. Finally at 37 weeks my contractions disappeared (UGH!!). At 39 weeks they started back up 2-3 minutes apart, not painful but strong. I called my midwife who informed me they were in the middle of a baby storm and my dreams of a home birth with her were going to need to transition to either a different midwife or a birth center birth. Luckily that alone pissed me off enough that contractions slowed that night. The next morning they were on/off but still strong when they would show up. I asked my midwife to perform a sweep. She was confident it would send me into labor and the next day she was unavailable. Due to my home birth transfer with Lorelei (and unmentioned plans to name my baby after my midwife) we agreed to hold out until the next night and she would come to my house to perform the sweep.

Friday August 5th, my Midwife performed a sweep at about 3:30pm. After she left we decided to leave to go on a walk. Contractions were irregular but strong. I assumed this was from the sweep and tried to ignore them. At about 8pm I said that we needed to head home and get the kids to bed. Once arriving home I knew I was in labor. The contractions had shifted from strong to strong and uncomfortable with radiating pain into my hip bones and thighs. I was also feeling more pressure in my back too. I texted my doula and told her things were starting and I would call when I needed her. I sent Shane to the store to grab snacks and drinks for our birth team while I set up the space and did some cleaning. After we got all of that done, I went to crawl into bed. I only could stand laying down for about 45 minutes before the contractions became close together and overwhelmingly painful. I snuck out of bed and called my doula and my birth photographer (Who I call my sister!) Once my doula arrived we made the decision to call my midwife. She arrived quickly and my sister walked in shortly after that. Almost immediately my contractions spaced out and I was near tears that I had just called a false alarm. My midwife must be a mindreader because almost seconds after I had the thought, she encouraged me everything was normal and this was very normal behavior for a laboring person. We soon did vitals and a check to find me 6cm (1cm more than when she left me earlier in the day). After several more hours and lots of contractions that were all over the place, we opted for another check. I was 7cm. Slow progress. I agreed to have my waters broken so we could move things along. I don’t know why or what happened but that was a very overwhelming sensation and I began to sob. My midwife kicked everyone out of the room and stayed with me to console me. She gave me some space to collect myself and I quickly joined everyone. Contractions grew much more painful and we were on our way- so I thought… I did some miles circuit and sat on the toilet. I walked around and used a squatty potty to do lunges. Finally I was given clearance to get into the tub. I did not find relief in the tub. I couldn’t get comfortable and really felt out of control. Almost immediately after finding my grounding in the water, my contractions turned into pushy sensations- but with a pinchy feeling in the front. Upon a cervial check I was 8cm. That check devastated me. After about 30 minutes (And what I thought was 2 hours…) I requested another check. I was 8.5cm. I begged my midwife to transfer me. Knowing how close I was to meeting my baby and how much I really wanted to have a home birth, She suggested we get out of the tub and find some positions that helped take the urge to push away. Nothing helped- I wanted and NEEDED to push but had a cervical lip. I begged again to be transferred. My midwife offered to manually move my cervix with 3 contractions before transferring me. I agreed. After the first contraction with manual retraction, my cervix was gone and I was able follow my bodies urges. In between trying to catch my breath and waiting for the next contraction- my midwife let me know I moved my baby quite a bit and we were going to have our homebirth! I informed her at this moment that we had named our baby Harper Ashley after her. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room! Two more pushes later, Harper’s head was born but there was quite a bit of turtling and her head began turning purple. My midwife quickly flipped me hands and knees. I quickly let her know I knew what was going on so we could just focus on getting baby unstuck. Luckily for us- maternal instincts knew this was going to happen and I had briefed Shane and Bentley on what a home birth Shoulder Dystocia looked like. After 1 more push in Hands and Knees at 11:20am on August 6th, Harper joined us earthside! I was a joyous moment for us all! A victorious home birth and my first baby born at home to be alive and term!!