Olivia’s 5th Birth: 1st Free Birth & Pregnancyfeatured

This was my 5th homebirth but my 1st free birth and pregnancy (my last 2 births were unassisted and i only received minimal prenatal care. ) A free pregnancy and birth just felt right this time around. I felt confident in my knowledge & in my body. I am trained as a traditional midwife/ birthkeeper so birth does not scare me and I understand physiological birth. With this pregnancy I didn’t measure or listen to the baby’s HR but i was confident in my body and i felt very in tuned with my baby in the womb. I made my own blend of prenatal tea (nettles, red raspberry leaf, alfalfa, spearmint, dandelion leaf & blackberry leaf) & took supplements ( fish oil, chlorella, moringa ) in addition to eating a high protein diet with lots of local grass fed beef and fresh vegetables from the garden. I live a fairly active lifestyle that includes spontaneous 3 mile hikes up the mountain while baby wearing to the local hot springs, hauling buckets of water to the garden and chasing my kids up & down the arroyo. My due date was less than a week away; i had just had my baby shower a few days ago and i really thought that this baby would gestate a bit longer. However she had other plans and i lost my mucus plug the day before she was born. I still didnt think much of it though because sometimes you lose your mucus plug for weeks before you actually go into labor. By the second day i started to get more intense contractions but nothing too consistent. That day a bunch of friends messaged me to see how i was doing and our water delivery guy randomly stopped by to see if we had to get our cistern filled. I suspected that i would not go into full labor until the kids were asleep or until the sun set so i went about in my day prepping for the birth. I cleaned all the bathrooms and made a big pot of chicken soup, baked bread & even a spicy ginger molasses cake. I felt ready. I took one last trip up the hill to watch the sunset with the family and sure enough as the sky grew darker my contractions started to pick up in intensity and in consistency. I initially labored upstairs alone until M came back to the house and i moved downstairs to labor in the living room. The kids were started to realize something was happening and asked me why i was making those noises. I responded by telling them that the baby was coming tonight! They were all excited but my vocalizations were a bit much for my 6 yr old who at one point asked why i had to make those noises. My 4 year old would come and kiss me in between contractions and ask if the baby was hurting my belly. I think my 7 yr old was the most aware and excited; she put on an apron and told us she was ready to help and clean. My 2 yr old oblivious to it all was happy just watching movies and eating snacks. He just recently started pointing to my big belly and saying “baby in there”. Contractions were coming in strong and hard so i decided it would probably be best if we get the tub ready. This time around i decided to just use my bathtub no birthpool. I just wanted to keep things super simple this time around after scrambling to set up the pool for my previous births. It was 8:30 pm when i got into the tub. I initially was still very vocal with my contractions but soon found that if i just focused on my breathing my contractions were not so intense. I realized later this was basically hypnobirthing. I was in a trance for active labor; riding the waves of contractions. I made no noise and just focused solely on breathwork while reminding myself that i was going to meet my baby soon. The kids would periodically peek in and then run back to the others and say “ nope no baby yet”. After one particularly intense contraction where i actually vocalized and screamed i felt the urge to push and quickly got into a squatting position. After one pushy contraction i felt my waters break and i got on all fours for the following pushes / contractions. After a couple contractions i felt her crown and her head was born and quickly after her body was out. M & i both caught her and he assisted me to lift her up. The kids quickly ran into the bathroom to meet their new sibling. I hastily asked if it was another boy to which M responded that it was a funny looking boy if it was a boy. It was a long awaited girl. The placenta was born pretty soon after with no complications. We decided to leave the cord attached for a few hours and then burn the cord. We made it up the stairs and into bed where i nursed and admired my new baby girl. Daphne Don’Olsen born at home on September 28,2021 at 10:15 pm