Granger Joseph’s Home Birth Story

Probably one of the longest birth stories ever, for one of the shortest births ever…

On Tuesday, December 7, our family had a normal night. I had gone to see our midwife, Geraldine after work to have a blood test run for a possible condition that develops late in pregnancy. Other than that, I was not feeling contractions or any other signs indicating labor was coming. We picked up dinner, had our normal evening routine with Griffin, and Greg and I spent the night working in the basement and crossing things off the to do list.

At 1:15 a.m., on December 8, just a couple hours after I went to sleep, I woke to use the bathroom. As I lifted my leg to get out from under the covers, I felt a little bit of liquid run down my leg. It was a strange feeling, because I was sure I had not just peed. The moment I stood up out of the bed, my water gushed to the floor, and I realized we were about to be in for the real deal. However, I was not having any contractions at that point, so it seemed like it could be a while before anything started happening.

After a quick call to Geraldine, I went back to bed. In just 15 minutes, contractions began. They were mild at first, but already only five minutes apart. At that point, Geraldine suggested we page the labor tub company to come set up, and asked that we keep in touch as contractions became more intense. I called my mom to come over, and Greg started bustling around the house to organize and get ready for the home birth. I had to go to the bathroom over and over and over.

Things got intense quickly. After a very short time, I could tell I was in active labor. The contractions were getting difficult to manage, and I could not cope in any position except sitting in hot bath water. Just like my first labor with Griffin, my body reacted to the labor hormones with intense shivering and cold. I was trying to conserve hot water so we would have enough to heat the labor tub, so after a short time in the bath, I got out to try and labor on the bed for a while. At some point during all this, Geraldine decided to head over to our house.

I could not cope out of water. Just a few contractions on the bed had me convinced that I would not be able to have the natural birth I had planned. My mood went south fast, and I began to get angry with Greg about everything. My patience was non existent as I listened to the labor tub getting set up – all my focus was on getting in that big jetted tub to get comfortable. I couldn’t even get my mind focused enough away from that thought to utilize the hypno-birthing techniques we had learned and practiced.

Finally, I decided to get back into our bathtub for some relief. It worked. The water made an immense difference in my ability to deal with the contractions, and it felt good to be warm. I started to use the hypno-birthing methods and found that they made the contractions less intense and by far more bearable. Greg was in and out of the bathroom – spending time helping me and also doing things around the house.  At some point my mom showed up. At some point Geraldine showed up. Griffin slept amid all the commotion.

I was in labor la-la land, but still in a VERY bad mood. I was doubting myself more and more as things progressed, and wishing for some way out of the pain. I did not let Geraldine check my progress because I did not want to move or really even be touched. With each contraction, Greg helped me find my place of relaxation and focus. He kept telling Geraldine that I was doing much better during the contractions than I was between them. That was pissing me off, because I felt like I was not coping at all. They both kept saying how well I was doing with the pain. I remember swaying back and forth in the tub just letting my body move with the waves of each contraction and breathing as deep as I could. Greg later said at that point, some of the contractions were so long, and I was so deeply focused that he couldn’t tell when a contraction was ending or beginning.

Shortly, I had an urge to push and went with it. It was a huge surprise, because I did not know what that urge felt like. With my first labor I had gotten the epidural before any urge to push had come. Pushing felt good, and gave me such a sense of happiness because I knew the end was close. I was still in our bathroom, but Geraldine thought the labor tub would be ready before I was actually going to deliver the baby. She was surprised that I was already to pushing, and left the room to call her birth assistant.

Within two minutes, I pushed again really really hard. It felt great, and I could feel that something was happening, but I didn’t know what. I was motivated to get him out. All of a sudden Greg starts yelling ‘OH MY GOD. Geraldine, get in here! THE HEAD IS OUT!’ Those words freaked me out and inspired me. As Geraldine ran in, and asked me to lift my bottom out of the water (apparently the water was not deep enough, and part of the baby’s nose was exposed to air, so she was worried he would take a breath while his mouth was still under), I pushed again with the same contraction and Granger was born. She caught him and lifted him right onto my chest. Just like that, he was here. I was in shock – in fact, I was hyperventilating and needed a few moments to get myself collected. Granger was perfectly healthy and didn’t even cry. He made a speedy, but totally cool and calm entry.  My water broke at 1:15 a.m., and he was delivered at 4:11 a.m. Less than 3 hours of labor was a shock and a gift. He was 2 weeks early.

Greg cut the cord, and after a little time sitting in the tub to recover, we were moved to the bedroom.  Most of what happened after is a haze to me. I was lost somewhere in euphoria, immense relief, shock and exhaustion. It took a few hours for the shock to completely wear off. I was just so not mentally prepared to have had the baby 2 weeks early or that quickly. The midwives cleaned up, examined Granger, examined me and hung out for a little while. Greg and Granger fell asleep together in bed. Just before the birth team was going to leave, we had a mini emergency – I had gotten up to go to the bathroom (with help) and had hemorrhaged and passed out on the bathroom floor. This was around the same time that Griffin woke up – thank goodness my mom was there to distract him. The midwives knew exactly what to do and took great care to make sure I was ok and to stop the bleeding. After a couple hours, I was fine, but ordered not to leave the bed for at least 24 hours.

Once I was stable, we let Griffin come in to meet Granger. The beautiful moment of the brothers meeting was captured on video and photo. Griffin was so happy and awed by the whole thing. It was really special for all of us, and Griffin instinctively knew to ‘shhhssh’ the baby when holding him, and to speak quietly. I was overwhelmed with love.

Everything else was smooth. Granger zonked out and didn’t even nurse for about 10 hours. He slowly started waking up to eat later in the day, and began to fall into the typical newborn patterns of feeding every 1.5-2 hours. He had trouble latching at first, but within a day or so, had gotten the hang of nursing.

I am so grateful that we were able to have the home birth that we wanted. Having the baby at home was so awesome, and I could not have asked for a better team of people to care for us.

Granger is a complete blessing. I feel like we are so full of God’s love and blessings, with two healthy sons and a happy home.

Comments

[cameron clark]

Nice, Ashley. I'm so glad you got a home birth. Nice job...I am glad you didn't have to go to the hospital for the hemorrhage. I'm Glad Greg survived it too...the husbands take a little abuse eh? Ah well, we're in la la land! I know I wouldn't change anything about my two home births. Harper came quick too... it was shocking...