Full Circle Midwifery

December 2024

When Zac and I found out we were expecting baby number 4 we knew we wanted a different
birth experience. We listened to our friend’s testimonies, we researched, and most of all we
prayed over what direction we should take when it came to our labor and delivery. It took us
until week 30 of my pregnancy to officially switch to a home birth. By this time, we knew we
were having another sweet baby girl and had been in the care of obstetrician for the entirety of
the pregnancy.
We decided to reach out to Patrice and her team at Full Circle Midwifery to see if they would be
willing to attend on our birth in December. We were delighted when she agreed and after
meeting with her for the initial visit we felt even more peace with our decision to have a home
birth. I also asked our dear family friend Joy Looy of Ministering Hands Doula Services to join
us in hopes she would be an encouragement to Zac and I during the labor and delivery
process.
I was due the middle part of December, but I had convinced myself that I would go past my
due date and have baby girl around Christmas. I had gone past my due date with my two
previous daughters, so I thought this time would be no different. When I arrived at my last
midwife appointment before my due date I expressed my concern over not wanting to ruin
everyone’s holiday if we were to have our baby girl on Christmas day. Melinda encouraged me
to not focus on “Christmas” and to redirect that energy to believing baby girl would be coming
sooner than I had preached at myself the entire pregnancy.
Although, I hadn’t had any signs of labor I kept the mindset she would arrive sooner than I
expected as my due date began drawing close. On Sunday December 15th (my due date), I
still didn’t feel any closer to labor. Overall I felt exhausted from the woes of the third trimester,
but I still inwardly felt that I wouldn’t be having baby girl until later in the week. That night, I had
a difficult time finding a comfortable position to sleep in due to my heartburn and decided to
stay up to read for awhile. When I finally was able to fall asleep, it was around 12:30am. My
slumber was short lived because at around 1:15am we could here footsteps coming down the
stairs and soon all three of our older girls were snuggled in bed with us. Our two year old
curled up next to my big belly and we were both drifting back off to sleep when I felt a popping
sensation near my pelvis. I checked to see if my water had broken, but it hadn’t. I did
immediately start feeling contractions. I laid in bed for 20 minutes allowing a couple waves of
contractions to come and go before waking Zac up. The contractions were about 10 minutes
apart and lasting about 30 seconds. We decided to call Joy around 2:30am to see if she
thought I was in active labor because things were progressing slower than they had in the past.
Joy encouraged me to take a warm bath and see if the contractions continued or dissipated.
Once I was in the bath tub the contractions slowed down, but were still getting stronger. When
I would get out of the tub the contractions would pick back up again and were getting harder
to talk through. Around 4:30am, we decided to call my parents to pick-up the older three girls.
After my parents picked up the girls, we called Patrice to give her an update and called Joy.
They both decided to start heading our way and arrived around 6am. From the point everyone
arrived things seemed to progress quiet and steadily. I tried my best to stay up and moving
around trying different positions for each contraction. I did a couple contractions lunging on
our staircase, I then went to my ball for a contraction or two, I sat through a contraction on the
toilet, and I utilized the changing table in our bedroom which seemed to increase the intensity
of my contractions. I would lean over the changing table and let gravity work it’s magic. With
Zac and Joy pressing on both sides of my back I felt immense relief with each wave of
contractions. The midwives were quiet and gentle with the way they approached me to check
baby’s heart rate and to see how I was progressing. I had a couple strong contractions while
holding onto the changing table and remember thinking “Why is this taking so long?”. My
previous labors had been precipitous (two hours for one and about two and a half for the
other). In my head time had seemed to stop. Joy encouraged me to lay on my side on our bed
for a few contractions. I actually fell into a strange lucid sleep, which was a bizarre out-of-body
experience. I remember feeling my body opening up more during this time of rest. When Joy
woke me up and told me I should try another position we moved to the couch in our living
room and I leaned over it. The contractions were very strong and intense at this point, but her
head was still sitting higher in my pelvis. I was starting to feel tired and discouraged. I decided
to have Patrice check me and was filled with joy when she confirmed I was fully dilated and
could start pushing. I leaned against the couch and tried my best to push, but couldn’t feel
counter pressure. I was struggling to find a rhythm to pushing. I then asked Patrice to break my
waters, which helped immensely with moving things along. She helped to gently apply
pressure to my bottom and I finally reached the point of having primal grunts as my body
started to help push baby out. After a few of these hefty grunts I finally felt the relief of her head
being born and then Zac was able to catch her warm squishy little body with Patrice’s help. It
was a dream come true that Zac was able to catch Evangeline June as she entered this world
on December 16th (only one day past my due date!). I was overjoyed to have her in my arms
and was immediately flooded with oxytocin. As soon as I brought her to my breast she began
to nurse and we waited together on the birthing stool for the placenta to come out. After I
birthed the placenta, the midwife team helped clean-up everything and got us all cozy in bed.
They even brought me breakfast in bed! We watched as they weighed and measured Eva. She
weighed in at 8lbs 9oz and 21” long. When people ask me about our home birth experience I
always say “It was a dream!”. Truly, we couldn’t have asked for a better support team than we
had. We felt immensely loved, heard and cared for during the end of my pregnancy and my
labor/delivery. We look forward to having more home births in the future!