With 8 pregnancies behind me, you’d think maybe I would have this whole thing pretty much figured out. Not so! Granted, I was planning a home birth for the first time and so that was untried territory for me. Still, I didn’t really expect any other surprises – but got a few at the end anyway!
Not only was I overdue for the first time in my life (40 weeks and 2 days), but I had my shortest labor yet (3 hours) and our new baby girl weighed 9 pounds (that’s big for a Sweden!).
Here’s how it all happened.
Just before midnight on Wednesday, January 26th I was hit by a sharp pain so intense that I was jerked away from deep sleep. When a couple of mild contractions came after, I thought to myself “More Braxton-Hicks!” I get them constantly in the final weeks. Turns out, my labor had started.
I assumed there would be many hours ahead of me; my last two labors had been 5 and 6 hours respectively. So I got up and started doing little things around the house as quietly as I could. One hour later, at 1:30 a.m., I was bending over the countertops; it was that bad. So I woke my husband and called the midwife, sounding quite pitiful over the phone, I’m sure!
At this point, I was especially grateful for the fact that we didn’t have to go out in 20 degree temperatures for a long, grueling ride in a cramped vehicle. This is one of THE nicest things about home birth! Nor did we have to wake up any children and send them to their grandparents’ house. At this hour, all seven of them were sound asleep; I had closed their doors and turned on fans for “white noise” to cover up any racket I might make…
Jeremiah’s obviously a veteran at this point; he knows the patterns and the tells. After assessing the situation, he quickly set up a twin mattress and cover.
Just after 2 am, I had three horrible contractions very close together and realized I was transitioning. The chills, the shakiness, the kind-of-ill feeling in your stomach – yep, they were all there. Jeremiah seriously thought he was going to have to be my midwife this time around. But she arrived along with assistant about 10 minutes before my daughter came. Whew!
As I knelt next to my bed, the angels of mercy were buzzing with preparations. One of the mental tricks I use to stay on top of the pain is telling myself it’s necessary to get the baby out so I can finally look upon our newborn child. Will it be a boy or a girl? God will reveal His secret soon!
But there was a slight hitch when her head got temporarily stuck. A position change suggested by the midwife fixed it right away, and our baby was born at 3:01 am. She was a bit purple in the face from that momentary snag, but the rest of her body was beautifully pink. After a few lusty cries her facial coloring improved dramatically. The midwife surmised that she had her little hand tucked near her face and that’s what caused her not to slip out so easily. In fact, there was a little pink mark on her cheek that I think was caused by the pressure of her hand.
The names we had picked out (Genevieve or Bridget or Alice) just didn’t seem to fit. After many hours, we both settled on Mary Kate. It came out of nowhere, but we love that it’s a double name, a nod to our Southern roots. Her patron is St. Katherine Drexel, who spent her inheritance in doing good for the underprivileged, especially American Indians and impoverished blacks in the South.
Mary Kate weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long, my biggest so far.
Look at her fat little face!
It was so fun to watch the children waking up that morning, wondering into my bedroom and discovering a new baby in there. My parents and in-laws were also taken aback by our calls that morning; no, I wasn’t in labor – the baby had already come!
Having a supportive family was an important part of this birth. My mother took all the children to her house that first day; they slept over and returned the next morning. So we were able to have a full 1-day “babymoon” with peace and quiet and lots of rest. Then came the food and the help with housework and so on. Our parish provides meals for a week or more through fellow mothers in the area. We are incredibly blessed in this regard!
Here’s Mary Kate with big sister, Susanna:
Congratulations she is adorable!!!
Thanks, Kayla!! What did you have? ~Anne
We had a boy! Daniel Lee- 7lb 11oz (my smallest baby!) and 21 inches long. I went to the hospital because I was concerned that he wasn’t moving as much as normal so they hooked me up to the monitors and he instantly started kicking them. A weight was lifted off of my shoulders! I was showing irregular contractions ranging from 2-7 minutes and was 4 cm dilated when I showed up and then dilated another 2 cm in an hour! After having weeks of prodromal labor I didn’t realize that this time it was for real. I stopped progressing at 6-7 cm (which was okay with me because my midwife was working in a town about 30 minutes away and she wasn’t going to be at the hospital until later in the day). She finally showed up after about 5 hours of back labor and we decided that she was going to go ahead and break my water for me to get things moving along. My labor pains spread to my thighs after my water was broke, they were some of the most intense pains I have ever had! I totally understand why people opt for an epidural or other pain medication because I would not have been able to do hours and hours of labor like that! Once I was fully dilated he wouldn’t come any lower than about -1 station and we tried every trick and position to get him into better position to drop down. Finally I got on my knees and elbows and he rotated and was crowning all in one contraction! I rolled back over onto my back where I was more comfortable and my contractions completely stopped for about 10 minutes. I had another contraction and Daniel was born at 7:47 pm! He is my smallest baby and the most difficult to have! We are beyond blessed and his two older brothers are totally in love with him. He will be one week old tomorrow and is nursing like a champ!
Kayla – I love his name! Congrats to you as well and thank you for taking time to share your story. So many challenges you had to face, and so it must be the best feeling in the world to be holding and feeding your new son now with all that behind you. I know what you mean about the epidural; had that with my 2nd and the relief was sooooo nice! It was a long labor and I was exhausted and demoralized, not being prepared at all for the pain and intensity of active labor. ~Anne
Precious! Way to go on your home birth!
Oh my gosh, that must have been the shock of their lives to come out in the morning and find a new baby already there!! Hahaha, what a WONDERFUL story and I’m so glad everything went well! Congrats to all of you!!
Thanks so much, Carolyn! ~Anne
Congratulations!
Congratulations Anne! She’s beautiful and you look incredible. So, how do you feel about home birth? Would you do it again? I was so happy with mine I kicked myself for not doing it before!
Thank you, Maria! This is definitely the route I’ll go if there’s another baby! ~Anne
I was just wondering how you were doing yesterday evening and woke up to see your blog post this morning! Congratulations to you and your family! She is a beautiful baby!
Well done! I had a home birth, too, and hope to do it again. Congratulations, she’s beautiful!
Congratulations Anne and the Sweden family! This was such a beautiful story and I have really enjoyed following your site and watching your family grow over the years! I still remember when Eric was born (well his birth story). Babies grow so fast. You, my dear, are a rockstar and an inspiration!
XOXO – Hello Ashley Suzanne
Ashley, so good to hear from you! And I didn’t realize your blog name/address had changed, so I’ll go check and follow your midwifery journey now! Your friend, Anne
Yes! It went live a week or so I go! I threw away everything I had and started fresh on a new hosting site. The old site didn’t have analytics or any real way to track so I started a new site with zero following!
Congratulations on your newest addition and your home birth!
Just the post I need to read today for inspiration. Great story!! Congrats to you Mama!