Full Circle Midwifery

Our Home Birth Story:

When we found out we were pregnant last fall, one of our first questions was, “Do we want to plan a home birth again?”

(For those unaware, our birth with Reese was a planned home birth that ultimately ended with a transfer to the hospital due to an unforeseen complication—one that we later discovered was likely due to me being abused when I was very young. The complication caused active labor to be about 40 hours, and required me to have an epidural to be able to birth Reese. Overall, it was scary and not at all what we planned, but we were trusting and just grateful to all be safe and healthy. After Reese was born, we were told that the complication was likely resolved while giving birth, and it would likely not be an issue in any future pregnancies).

After consulting my doctors, our midwives, and spending much time in prayer and discussing our priorities, Tyler and I felt the Lord call us to try and have a home birth again, so that’s what we decided to do.

At around 10/10:30pm on Father’s Day, I finally went into active labor. When we realized it was not false labor, we settled down to where we had everything set up for our home birth. A calming praise & worship playlist that I made was playing, the same one I made back when I was pregnant with Reese. The room was dark, aside from our fireplace and candlelights glowing. Tyler held my hand and prayed out loud during every contraction. The midwives — Patrice, Lauren, and Melinda — arrived around 2:30am and were so supportive, attentive, and caring. Despite going through the pains of labor, I always felt safe, secure, and taken care of. Everything was perfect. We were being held in God’s hands for sure.

This may sound silly to some, but while working so hard through each contraction, I tried to center on two thoughts that I had a couple days before birth:

The first was a Bible verse that God placed in my mind just a few days before I went into labor: “The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” So I kept praying that I, too, am not here to be served, but to serve — especially by serving my family; I also am called to give and sacrifice my personal wants and comforts of this life, even if it means enduring pain for my daughter to be birthed the way God is calling me.

The second thought was from having just watched a new Fr. Mike Schmitz video about offering up our pain when God doesn’t take it away from us. And so I tried to pray: God, use this—use this to further Your will—use this to help my family get to Heaven—use this to save ‘this specific person’ or to help ‘that certain person,’ etc. It made my pain and the intense, hard work hold even more purpose than it already held, and I know that God will use it all and won’t let a single second of what was offered up to Him go to waste.

I progressed very quickly compared to our first birth. From start to finish this time was only about 6 hours — quite a difference from 40! (I also pushed for less than an hour, which was great).

Not long after the midwives arrived, I was ready to push, even though my water had not yet broke. (Interestingly, even when Rae’s head was born, the amniotic sac was still intact — basically, she could be seen inside the bag of water, which is quite rare and we think is pretty neat). As the rest of Rae was quickly born at 3:59am, my water finally did break, and she was placed right on me so we could do skin to skin. Tyler and I just stared at Rae while she calmly stared at us. We praised God, and I was in shock that we actually did it. The midwives continued to take such good care of us, getting us comfortable, settled in, and everything cleaned up. It was such a securing feeling, and provided a peaceful transition to this new chapter of us now having another beautiful daughter.

Giving birth completely naturally and at home was such an empowering experience. As Tyler and the midwives can attest, I wasn’t sure I could do it. After a contraction would finish, I kept saying that I didn’t think I could do it…I didn’t know if I had it in me. But they all believed in me, reassured me, and cheered me on the entire time. Even as I write this, I tear up thinking about how weak I felt, but how strong I truly was in GOD and His strength. It was the Lord who carried me through, just as He always does.

Thank you to Tyler for supporting me the past 9.5 months, praying for me during every contraction, holding me, comforting me, and believing in me, even when I didn’t.

Thank you to Patrice, Lauren, and Melinda at Full Circle Midwifery for cheering me on, supporting us in so many ways, and taking such good care of us all. From early pregnancy last fall, to post-birth appointments in our home this week, we’ve received nothing but loving support and care the whole time.

And thank you to our beautiful support system. Your love has been felt by all four of us, whether prayers, check-ins, meals, flowers, gifts, or even just a “congratulations.” We are SO very blessed, and we love you all.