June Anna
Born at home
February 13th, 2007
7 lbs  3oz

Proud parents Esther and Jeremy
 

Esther 's Story

     The one thing about pregnancy and childbirth I had not anticipated at all was the dogma you are faced with. I decided for midwifery care after having a few fierce encounters with an overworked and underwhelmed medical doctor in the first half of my pregnancy, still living in Toronto at that time. Being German, the thought of having a midwife was nothing extraordinary for me; my sister and many of my German friends had midwives for most their births. Surprised I had to find out that people here reacted with either great admiration or skepticism to my decision, which left me confused. Right after moving to Alberta I went to an ASAC info night and talked about my concerns. What I wanted at that point was midwifery care but in a hospital, something I knew from Germany. Barbara Scriver was at the meeting and talking with her made me realize it was really up to me to decide what I wanted, and not illusions of safety. Thinking this over for a while, I started feeling strong enough to try a homebirth, and even safer at home. I found my midwife Geri Lehner over the internet and we got along very well right away. The further I went in my pregnancy, the less tolerance I had for people patronizing me, both in ‘conventional’ and ‘alternative’ circles. However, expressing this to Geri, she always left me the option to decide for myself, something incredibly valuable given the flood of conflicting information you are confronted with once you are pregnant!

     So, how was it then?

     My original due date was estimated for February 19th. On Friday, February 9th my water broke. I called Geri and she told me to prepare for the baby to arrive very soon. Luckily we had her pool already set up, and the water heated. What happened was… nothing. We waited. The weekend came and went, still no baby. I took vitamin C and Echinacea as prophylaxis and monitored my temperature for potential infections, but luckily no sign of that. I kept thinking I would have been induced by now had we planned a hospital birth. Crazy! On Monday night then (Feb 12/13), after taking a hot bath despite the broken water, I woke up from a strong contraction at 1:30. I didn’t think much about it, informed my husband Jeremy, and then tried to get back to sleep. A half hour later, another contraction hit. I could not get a good position to sleep anymore so I just got up, trying to figure out whether or not this was the ‘real thing’. At 2:30 I had the third contraction. Then, suddenly, at 2:45 they started being about 4-5 minutes apart. By that time I still hadn’t realized this was real and I wanted to wait with my call until I was absolutely sure. Also, I did not want to call Geri ‘in the middle of the night’, and 4 am sounded a bit more civil to me than 3 am… Silly me! Jeremy got up at 3, organized things around the house. Then I told him to time contractions with me. I didn’t even think about Geri anymore when Jeremy suggested calling her at 3:52. I was only briefly able to talk to Geri; she told me to get in the pool and that she would come over soon. The pool was the best thing that happened to me at that point! It was so warm and soothing; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t gone in there earlier! The pain was absolutely manageable here. Then contractions became stronger and at some point made me sick, so I had to leave the water, go to the bathroom and throw up. Although it was a great relief afterwards, the trip from pool to bathroom almost killed me. It was SO much worse outside!

     I then started to be exhausted and slept in between contractions until Geri came at 5:30. She was very calm, dimmed the lights, arranged her tools, I barely noticed her while I was dozing. At some point she came to check my cervix and to my biggest surprise she said: “Well, if you feel like it, start pushing any time!”. I couldn’t believe what I just heard: This was it already? I suddenly got a great burst of energy, almost immediately feeling the urge to push. Geri went on to call Cathy Harness, the other midwife, who arrived a while afterwards. I barely noticed anything at that point. My screaming was a bit high-pitched and Geri and Cathy both told me to make lower moans. That worked very well right away, strengthening the power in my pelvis. Jeremy was in the pool with me, pressing my hips and rubbing my back. I was still able to sleep in-between contractions. After a while they became stronger, but for my taste, this pushing phase took too long for some reason believing it should only take 1 hour max. Wasn’t it way over that?? I started being anxious. What if I have to transport now?? I can barely even move my leg, how will I get out of this pool, get dressed, go to a hospital? Unbelievable …
After 2 hours of pushing inside the pool, the midwives suggested I try the birth stool. In slight despair I thought “This is the last try, if this fails, we have to go to the hospital… And I can’t even get out of this pool!” I agreed after some protest and tried to lift my leg over the rim. It was SO hard! And then I had a contraction with one leg inside and one outside the pool. I thought: “If the baby comes now, it can’t get out!!”. Then somehow I wiggled myself out of the water with Geri’s help. What an ordeal! The birth stool was extremely uncomfortable; I constantly felt I was going to topple over and fall to my face. I could not keep my upper body straight. During my pushing everyone kept saying I was doing a great job. I did not believe anything, since I felt no progress whatsoever. My conspiracy theory went like this: “They are just telling me this to prepare me for the ride to the hospital, so I won’t blame myself too much afterwards!” It wasn’t until Geri told me to touch the baby’s head that I finally believed I WAS doing great! Once I touched the little warm and soft head I instantly felt invigorated. “I am doing this for real!” A few more pushes and the baby was crowning. I couldn’t believe it. Geri and Cathy both told me to pant and hold back, but there was no stopping for me. I wanted this baby out and didn’t care about tears at that point. A few more pushes and the head was out, then everything went very fast. I remember the great relief when the whole body flopped out. Suddenly the pressure was gone.
Jeremy caught June Anna, born on February 13 at 8:33 am (19 inches, 7 lbs & 1 oz). She came to us in only 7 hours after my first contraction and 5 ½ hours of intense labor.

     Geri  handled her briefly [[untangled June from her cord] and then [Jeremy] gave her to me . I said: “She is a girl!!”, not knowing if anyone knew already. It was amazing to hold her for the first time. So tiny and perfect, pink and all curled up! My placenta was delivered about 6 minutes after the birth, face up. As Geri had expected it had been attached to the front of my uterus. I don’t know for how long June was lying on my belly, Jeremy’s arm around us. He then cut her cord; the midwives wrapped her up and somehow managed to move us over to the bedroom.
This part was probably the best of the entire home birth experience. We just had to lie down and relax in our bedroom, all cozy and cuddled up. June started nursing soon, looking into this world with what seemed like surprise and curiosity. Cathy gave me a tummy massage for some afterpains, sutured my tears and then left. Geri stayed for hours longer, we did June’s first exam, first paperwork, foot & placenta prints, all in a mellow and elated mood. Having had this wonderful experience thanks to our preparation and amazing support from Geri, Jeremy and I are the proudest parents in this world!

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