Fast Homebirths

July 10, 2010

In which our hero relates the tale of the most recent birth, as well as another that I hadn’t told yet.  At least, not here.  These two were both fast.  They also happen to be the only two births so far to take place in our clients’ homes.  And the only two underwater births so far.  So they go well together.

So the less-recent birth was a first-time mama who kept talking about her sister’s fast labor with 20 minutes of pushing.  We were nervous that she would compare herself to her sister and get frustrated or disappointed if she followed the much more common pattern of longish labors for first babies.  We needn’t have worried, though, as she actually had a quicker total labor than her sister!

So our client called us mid-morning reporting contractions all night.  She hadn’t gotten much sleep because she was so excited.  We could tell she was in early labor because she could talk through contractions without much effort.  We visited her, did a cervical check (she was 4cm), and told her to try to get some sleep before things got going.  We went home, did a few prenatals with other clients, and got a call at 4pm: she was awake and still able to talk through her contractions.  A half hour later, her husband called to say her water had broken, and now contractions were hard and close together.  We excused ourselves from our client and jumped in the car.  When we arrived, my preceptor checked her (5cm) and she got in the shower while her husband set up the birth tub in the kitchen.  When it was full, she was happy to get in.  She labored for a while, slung like a hammock in the water: she held onto one of the handles or her husband with her hands, and I held a few pressure points on her feet.  She later said no part of her was touching the bottom of the pool.  She labored like this, with her ears underwater to avoid sound, and sometimes between contractions, she’d relax so much that her whole face was submerged except her nose and mouth.

An hour after we arrived, our client’s husband, looking more and more concerned, asked if she could push yet.  My preceptor says that average dilation is 1 cm an hour from 5-10, which would mean this client could have 4 hours still before it was time to push.  My response (in my head) was “Don’t ask that!  You’ll get her hopes up!” and thankfully my preceptor was much more tactful than my inner monologue.  But when she checked, she was complete!  Our client switched to hands-and-knees, squeezed my hands, and after only 10-15 minutes (I can’t remember exactly) of pushing, birthed her daughter into her husband’s hands.  They held her underwater for about a minute before bringing her up and marveling at her.

The second midwife showed up just in time for the 5-minute APGARs.

The most recent birth was also fast, but this was a fourth birth for this mama, so we expected it.  She called to say her water broke in a meeting, and we decided she should stop by on the way home, just to make sure the baby wasn’t going to fall out in the car.  We then all headed up to their place: our client, her husband and their 3 kids in one car; 2 midwives and myself in the other.  These clients labored well and mostly by themselves.  She got in the tub, we chatted with her kids and mother in the other room.  She got pushy, and she pushed.  There was an anterior lip, and my preceptor asked her to try changing positions, to recline a little to reduce the pressure on the cervix.  And then there was a baby.  I looked up, and there were 9 or 10 people in the room.

I’m a little surprised I wrote so little about this last birth, but it was so straightforward, and largely private.  So there aren’t many details.  But it was lovely.

Tags: Birth Stories

Author Bio: Jasper Moon, CPM LMT (they/ them)

Perinatal care specialist. Parent of two. Hosted three fetuses: my big kid, a surrogacy in the middle, and my little kid. Vegan; drinks a lot of tea. Board game (and general) geek. Goat hugger extraordinaire.

Read more about Jasper here.