My husband and I were stationed at Travis Air Force
Base in Fairfield, CA when I found out I was expecting again. Our son, Joshua
was 15 months old and I was very excited that he would soon have a little buddy
to play with. I was eager to try a home-birth after my first birth experience
which ended in a caesarean. A couple friends of mine referred me to a great
midwife. She was very friendly and had years of experience. I liked her right
away and she made me feel very comfortable. Something that I truly enjoyed
throughout the years of using her (total of 4 pregnancies) is she has a passion
for educating her clients. She encourages ladies to borrow her books and DVD’S
on various topics such as; natural birth, water birth, breastfeeding, vaccines,
VBAC, and risks of epidurals. She also focuses more on nutrition and supplements
as ways to avoid many problems that can arise during pregnancy.
My pregnancy went very well. I went to the
chiropractor regularly and practiced good posture (this is difficult for me, I
love to slouch) to avoid having another breached baby. My only complaint in
this pregnancy was that I felt the baby extremely low and lots of pressure
during the last few weeks.
On September 18th I woke up at 5:00 am with
contractions. My husband woke up at 6:00 am for work and found me in the
kitchen preparing dinner. I thought if I was going in labor at least I could
have dinner made ahead of time. I felt my contractions getting more intense so
my husband stayed home from work. My sister in law came around 9:00 am to pick
up Joshua. I remember her saying how excited she was and that we would probably
have dinner together that night with the new baby. I thought that this was
absolutely impossible after having endured my first labor which was 26 hours
long.
I called my midwife around 10:00 am to inform her that
I believed I was in early labor. I continued getting my home in order and
prepared for a homebirth. Around 12:00 pm I felt labor really picking up and
let my midwife know. She said she would be heading over soon. At 1:00 pm my
water broke and labor was more intense. My midwife said she was on her way and
told us to fill our water birth tub. My midwife who lived over an hour away
arrived at 2:00 pm. She checked me and said I was 8 cm dilated and that I could
get into the water. I got into the tub and instantly felt relief from the pain.
My midwife’s assistant arrived around 2:30 pm. I began to have a desire to push
and my midwife said that I was fully dilated and encouraged me to push. I knew
I was able to deal with contractions from my first labor but I was very nervous
about the pushing stage since it was new to me. I remember it felt like I was
pushing for a long time. The midwives
and my husband were being very supportive the whole time trying to make me feel
more comfortable. Once my midwife said the baby’s head was almost out I felt
greatly encouraged and I knew I could do it. With one last push my baby was
born and immediately placed into my arms. It turned out my sister-in-law was
right and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner together.
Joel Thomas Jimenez was born into the world September
18th at 4:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 2 ½ oz. and 19 ¾ inches long. He
was such a calm sweet baby. I’ve heard from several women that their baby’s temperament
coincided with how easy or difficult their labor went. This has been true for
me, so far Joel has been my easiest labor and easiest baby. My recovery went very well, it was so much
easier than having a caesarean. I’m truly grateful to the Lord that I was able
to have a natural home-birth.
