Kage’s Home Water Birth

by Heather, USA

I choose a home water birth because birth is a natural part of life, not a medical event. The more I read about hospital births the more I was absolutely sure that is NOT what I wanted to bring my baby in to even years before I ever got pregnant. My body was made to bring life into this world and all I needed to do was trust it and it would be able to do everything on its own and safely.

And my birth was Beautiful. I don’t know if words will ever quite do it justice but I will try…

I was so excited when I went into labor at 2am on July 3rd. “This was it” I thought, “I will be holding you very soon. Now to just get through labor and birth…”. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about the pain because it was my first birth. MJ (my husband) was my source of strength and support and helped me realize I could do it.

I labored most of the day in our bedroom on a huge yoga ball listening to Native American music with nature sounds. It was so calming and relaxing and allowed me to be in a Zen like trance. The pain wasn’t pain anymore and I was able to focus all the energy on my body opening. I just kept thinking and saying “open, open, open, open” and picturing a lotus flower every time a contraction came on.

By around 9pm I was 6cm dilated. To help speed things up MJ and my midwife convinced me to walk from our 3rd floor apartment to the pool down the street to labor in for awhile. What felt like a hundred years and 3 contractions later we finally got to the pool. The cool water was so inviting to my huge, heavy, contracting belly. While in my trance (otherwise known as “laborland”) I just stared at the stars. They were so hypnotic. Like I was dangling at the edge of the universe and everything else around me was a blur.

I heard the conversations around me but I didn’t understand them. “OH, soooo this is ‘laborland’ ” I thought. I don’t really know how long we stayed at the swimming pool, but when we finally made it back to the apartment I kept asking April (my midwife) “can I have my hot pool yet?!” She said I had to wait until I was 7cm and when she checked me around midnight I was 8cm dilated. Then finally April spoke the words I had been waiting so long to hear, “MJ, its time to fill the pool.”

An hour later I was able to step into the pool and I just melted. The hot water was so relieving on my tired body. It was like a warm protective blanket being wrapped all around me. I took the position of squatting in the water with the top half of my body hanging over the edge of the tub. That position helps open my pelvis and would allow me to be working with gravity to help the baby to descend better.

I got the famous 20-30 minute break between the Transition and Pushing phase and the hot water allowed me to finally get sleep for some time. When I was awaken by contractions, I felt this uncontrollable urge to push. I asked April, “My body wants to push! Can I push?!” she checked me and I was fully dilated and said “Ok Heather, I want you to try to give me 3 pushes with each contraction”. “This is it” I thought, “here you come!”. MJ held my hand tight and when I looked up at him, he had tears of joy running down his face. He was my most loving and confident support while I was pushing. I don’t know what I would have done with out him.

After what felt like 5 minutes (but really was 30 minutes) of pushing the head was out. April told me “One last push Heather and you will be holding your baby!”. And with that last push the baby was out! April pushed the baby underneath my legs and I lifted baby to my chest. I looked down to see and “Its a boy!!” I exclaimed looking at MJ who was smiling tears of joy. I looked at my beautiful baby boy for the first time and our eyes locked and our souls became entwined forever. “Welcome to the beautiful world Kage. I love you.”

Kage John

Born: 6lbs 14oz at 4:32am