My Waterbirth: Positive Homebirth Story

Check out my other birth story of having a natural birth in a hospital using the Bradley method!

My Homebirth Story

Three days past my “due date”, I woke up in the morning with early labor contractions. They were 10-15 minutes apart and very mild but I could still tell that they were different then than the Braxton hicks I had been having. I told my husband to go to work (he works from home) and be prepared to stop in the afternoon if needed. I drove to my chiropractor to get adjusted one last time before birth.

Later that afternoon, the contractions were getting a little bit stronger and I definitely knew this was real labor. My husband stopped working and we went to Walmart to pickup a few things we needed before the baby came (mainly newborn diapers haha).

I was having contractions in Walmart, but they were still very manageable for me.

Around 8:00pm the contractions were still 8-9 minutes apart but they were getting stronger. I texted my midwife to let her know and she told me to get some rest and call her when they were 5 minutes apart.

My daughter could feel our excited energy that night, and for whatever reason, she did not fall asleep until 11:30. My husband laid in her room until she fell asleep, and I was working through my contractions in our bedroom. They were getting really strong and I was having to moan through each one. They were only 8 minutes apart, but I knew from my first birth that my body doesn’t follow the typical path of “consistent” contractions.

We texted our midwife (who lives two hours away) and she started her drive to come to us. The midwife assistant (who was 20 minutes away) as well as our doula and birth photographer all headed our way. My husband was quickly trying to get the birth pool set up while I was on the phone with our midwife. The pool takes a long time to fill up….it took about two hours. I labored on the couch that whole time, really anxiously looking forward to the water being ready for me.

Our midwife arrived around 1:40am, and we were all very glad she made it (she wasn’t sure if she would make it before the baby came based on how I sounded over the phone). Around 2:15am I got in the birth pool and it was absolutely glorious. The water allowed me to fully relax and helped take some of the pressure off.

Shorty after 2:30, my body took over and started pushing by itself. This is called the Fetal Ejection Reflex and it usually happens when you’re not having cervical checks done or coached pushing. I’ve had the FER happen with both of my births now, and honestly it is my least favorite part. It makes me feel very out of control, and it’s pretty painful. I don’t describe labor as painful because contractions are not painful to me. But the FER is pretty……gnarly and intense for me (kuddos to the amazing women who can breathe through that feeling instead of scream through it like me ) Luckily, it only lasted five minutes though!

We actually thought the baby might be born En Caul because my water didn’t break until immediately before he was born. After just five minutes of pushing, Rowan was born! We didn’t notice if he was a girl or a boy at first, but after a few minutes we looked and confirmed what I knew all along – that he was indeed a little boy.

My toddler woke up twenty minutes after he was born (which was PERFECT) and she came downstairs to meet him. I had done a lot of work to prepare her for the birth, but it ended up being perfect that she slept through it and got to meet him right after. She was sleepy but also really excited to meet him and be apart of everything. I think it really helped her transition to being a big sister go more smoothly for her to be involved!

Thank you for reading my homebirth story! If you’re interested in more topics about natural birth, conscious parenting, eating traditional foods, or herbs and natural remedies feel free to check out my blog or YouTube Channel!

Watch my homebirth story video on my channel!