Silas' Homebirth Story

You may want to grab some popcorn and get cozy because I didn't leave any details out! There are pictures at the end so hang with me! :)                 

Friday, October 5th was homecoming for the Perryton Rangers football team and Justin and I took our last date (unknowingly) as a married couple without kids to the game that night. We came home and watched tv until about 1:00 am. Terrible decision! 4:30am of October 6th gets here and my water breaks. I was 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I wanted to be sure it was really my water so I laid back down for a while and timed my contractions. They were about 30-45 seconds long about about 2 minutes apart but definitely feeling different than the Braxton Hicks contractions that I had gotten so used to. I laid in bed and shook for a good 10-15 minutes (I think from the hormones getting ready for birth). After I decided I was in real labor, I got up and spent some time on my birth ball and called the midwife. She lives 2 hours away so she said she would head over soon. I let Justin sleep until about 6:00am because I wanted to make sure he had SOME rest for the journey we had ahead. I went into our room and laid down next to him and said "babe, guess what? we're gonna have a baby today!" and I think he was awake instantly. We spent the next few hours hanging around the house, eating & talking while I worked through my contractions. Leah, my midwife, arrived at some point and got all of her supplies in. I spent a lot of time alone during contractions which was not at all what I expected but was really what I needed at the time. Justin made me some oatmeal so I ate that and a banana. I was feeling good. The contractions weren't too difficult for me to handle & Leah assumed that I was in early labor still. About 11:00am the contractions started getting much more intense so I told Leah I was ready to set up the birth tub. She needed to check me to make sure I was at least 5 cm dilated and when she went to check we were all super surprised to find I was at a 9! Leah was amazed that I wasn't yelling and screaming at that point and I was just very relieved. It was baby time!! Or so we thought... That was when my fairly easy labor turned very difficult. Leah & Justin got an area ready for me to birth on in the living room next to our electric fireplace while I stayed in the back of the house working. I was much more vocal than I ever imagined I would be. I had been in labor about 6 hours at that point and Leah guessed that I had only about an hour left since my labor was pretty fast and furious for a first time mom. My contractions became more and more painful as each one went by. Leah checked me and found that there was part of my cervix that wouldn't dilate but my body had already started pushing. I had an excruciating 3 1/2 hours of pushing and trying to get the last 1/4cm lip of cervix to move out of the way. At one point I started bawling from the pain and our dog Izzy started crying with me. It was a sweet moment despite the pain I was in. Leah worked with my contractions to manually push the lip out of the way. At one point, I'll be honest, I thought to myself  "I'm having a traumatic birth. I can't do this" I was exhausted and hurting and after watching all those peaceful home birth videos, I was not imagining my birth to be this way! I had made a painting with scriptures and birth affirmations and when Justin saw that I was struggling so much, he pulled it out and had me read it. He was so supportive and I know I couldn't have done it without him by my side. His support was imperative to my success in having the birth that I wanted.  After my cervix was fully dilated, I could finally start pushing with my contractions. When I started crowning the first thing I heard was how much hair my baby had! After several tough contractions and feeling the "ring of fire," I finally got his head out but instead of waiting for the next contraction to get his body out, my body wanted to keep pushing. & Instead of a shoulder coming out next, he poked out a little elbow!! Big surprise! That's what caused the lip in my cervix and caused the terrible pain I had been feeling. I did have a small tear in my perineum but chose later not to get stitches. I was on my hands and knees when I delivered him and Justin got to catch our baby boy as he finally arrived. It is so special that he delivered our son!! Once Justin slipped him under me and into my arms, my whole world was filled with the joy of our new baby. I had been so preoccupied with dealing with the pain that I hadn't had a chance to think about the fact that I was about to have a baby in my arms! He came out crying and absolutely perfect in every way. The umbilical cord was very short so I could only hold him up to about my belly button until his cord stopped pulsing and we clamped and cut it. After talking later with our childbirth instructor, she thinks that he had his elbow up for leverage because of his short cord- makes sense! Hope our future kids have longer cords! The emotion that swept over me is one I never want to forget. I couldn't do anything but cry and take in all of our new baby. I delivered the biggest placenta I've ever seen about 20 minutes later and we spent the next hour cuddled up as a new family on the couch and taking our first shot at breastfeeding, which went very well! I got cleaned up and Leah cleaned up the mess in the living room then we moved to the bedroom to take his measurements. Silas David Cole was born on October 6 (my grandmas birthday- so special!) at 2:52pm and weighed 8lbs 6oz. He was 21 inches long with a 14cm head. My big boy!! Looking back, I'm SO thankful to have had the birth experience that I had. The labor and dealing with the pain was a journey that I took with my baby and my husband and our family foundation was built with this loving, honest support.  I learned so much about myself through this journey, too. I know that I can accomplish ANYTHING I set my mind to and I feel so proud that I pushed through to the end (no pun intended;)) I have a new confidence and respect for myself now. It was truly one of the best days of my life (along side my wedding day) and I can't WAIT to get to experience giving birth all over again. We will definitely continue having home births because that is what works great for us! I couldn't imagine my birth experience being any different. Being new parents has been tough but so fulfilling at the same time. I love our son with all my heart and I'm so privileged to start this new family along side my wonderful husband. 

(There are a few graphic images.. Just be forewarned) 

So glad that Justin caught these photos. I will cherish them for the rest of my life! 

Meeting my baby boy for the first time

My perfect baby boy!

      

 The four of us altogether for the first time. So blessed to have my amazing family.

My big, healthy placenta

Silas getting his measurements taken

 Daddy weighing the baby. 

 Getting his umbilical cord tied

 Daddy giving Silas kisses for the first time

Cuddling in bed after we all got cleaned up

 My parents meeting the baby- happy Grammy & Papa!

 Nana meeting Silas!

 Cousin Malina & Aunt Kelsey meeting the baby! 

 Silas and I took a herbal bath the next day. It was really wonderful.

 Daddy and Silas after his first bath

This was such an intimate, wonderful experience for my new family. I'm so happy to have the photos and story to remember it for the rest of my life. 

A sneak peek of his newborn pictures taken by my mom at

Tanya's Creative Images

www.tanyascreativeimages.com
www.facebook.com/tanyascreativeimages