Sophie's Birth Story
Birth Report
Parent’s Names Patti and Andy Skinner
Baby’s name and birthday Sophia Charles Skinner June 11, 2013
This baby was your first baby and your first home birth.
Address 7182 Crescent Dr. Pentwater MI.
Why did you choose to have your baby at home?
I chose to have a home birth because of the trust that I had in the capabilities of my body.
Describe your labor and birth.
On the morning of my due date my husband had left for work and I was sitting looking at everything crossed off of my to do list and wondering what I would do that day. I stood up to go to the bathroom and get ready and my water started breaking. I was pretty sure that I didn’t pee myself but it also wasn’t a gush all at once. It was just before ten in the morning and I knew it could be a while before contractions started. Since my water was more trickling I put on a depend and carried on with what I had decided to do; go to the farmer’s market and take a walk on the beach. I waited to tell anyone reveling in my last hours before becoming a mom. I sat on a bench at the beach and sent my husband a text telling him to get all of his work done because he wouldn’t be going in the next day. Then I went home and baked a pie with the rhubarb I had bought at the farmer’s market. My contractions started at 12:30 and remained steady and increased in intensity until 4:30 when I asked my husband to come home. The next few hours were the most intense. I threw up a couple of times and started pacing around the dinning room table and putting my head down on the counter for each contraction. Patrice got here by 8 p.m. when my contractions were consistently 4 minutes apart. Then I had more confidence and ability to manage my contractions. This went on throughout the night my husband and I were able to rest in bed between contractions. My husband thought that we would have the baby on my due date, but midnight came and went and that didn’t happen. Barb came in at one point trying to encourage things to move along and suggested I change positions every three contractions, which did help things progress. Then I spent some time sitting on the toilet and thought I was ready to start pushing. Those first pushes were very weak and tentative, I was holding back and afraid of how hard I actually needed to push. Then I moved to my bed and real pushing began. My body took over and I realized how hard I was capable of pushing and that there was no stopping it. I was so focused and intent on meeting my baby that I was not thinking about the pain. Her head was stuck for a while and we realized that her hand was up by her face slowing her exit down. Her heart rate was also going down with each contraction but they never got closer than four minutes so it had time to rebound. At one point Patrice thought I might tear because they wanted to get her out because of the heart rate drops. (Luckily I didn’t end up tearing.) Once the majority of her head was out they asked me twice if I wanted to see and this was the only time I screamed, “No.” My husband did look and then looked back at me to tell me I was doing a good job, then the next time he looked back she was out completely! The head took hours to ease out but then in one whoosh our baby was born. She had an unusual umbilical cord, which was handled very professionally by the midwife team. We were immediately so enamored with our daughter nothing else mattered.
What was your favorite part of your baby’s birth?
When Sophie came out and my husband and I got to meet her for the first time, we had been so curious about this tiny person that was growing in my belly. I would have been surprised either way but I was so surprised that she was a girl I had to ask Barb to confirm it for me.
What would you do differently if you had another baby?
I would try not to make it a sleepover; I’m going to have a shorter labor next time!
How can we improve our services?
Our birth was handled so professionally, but also with love and support we couldn’t be happier with our birth experience.
