Kieran's Home Birth

My estimated due date was December 2nd. I fully expected Kieran to come late, and did everything I could to prepare myself emotionally for that eventuality. After all, Joel was 7 days late and Xander was 12 days late. I knew it was practically inevitable. But despite all my mental prep, it was still really rough, especially the last five days or so.

On Thursday morning (41 weeks + 4 days), my midwife Karla had me come for a non-stress test. At this stage of lateness, they start to get concerned about the placenta shutting down. The NST was okay, but not great. Kieran's heart didn't have any decelerations, which was good, but he didn't have great accelerations in response to stimuli, which is less good. At that point, Karla gave me a concoction of castor oil, juice, almond butter, and lemon verbena.

I had taken castor oil with Joel, and I had been pretty reluctant to try it again. Online forums are rife with warnings about the risks. But there comes a desperation, and with my midwife's encouragement, I went ahead and gave it a try.

About three hours later, I began having contractions. They were not super intense, but they quickly grew regular and stayed that way through the afternoon. I began to be hopeful! We had dinner, went to the store, inflated the birth tub, and around 8pm took the boys over to my parents for the night.

However, my contractions were not progressing. Karla checked me that evening, and I was only dilated to 3cm. It was devastating to have made so little progress after contracting all day. The problem was that Kieran was still posterior and his head wasn't engaged in my cervix. Karla gave me some exercises to do that would encourage him to turn around. I worked at them through the evening and into the small hours of the morning, and my contractions did grow more intense...until I fell asleep. When I woke up early the next morning, labor had stopped entirely. It was sooooo discouraging!

So now Friday the 14th had arrived (41+5), and I felt like we were back at square one. James and I went to Karla's house at 10am. She checked me again, and to our surprise and relief she announced that I was dilated to 7cm and 70% effaced! But Kieran's head still wasn't engaged. Karla gave me another dose of the castor oil concoction and sent me home to work on moving this baby around.

At about 11am, contractions started up again, as intense as they'd left off the night before. I moved between exercises, working to get Kieran to turn around. My mom brought the kids home for a bit, so we hung out before putting Xander down for a nap, then put a show on for Joel. The intensity of my contractions increased, but the interval stayed irregular, between 6-9 minutes apart.

Just before 2pm, Karla texted to see how things were going. When I told her what was happening, she asked if I was ready for her to come over. I told her I wanted to wait until my contractions were closer together. She warned me not to wait too long.

Then all the sudden, my contractions jumped to 3 minutes apart. After a few of these in a row, I decided that maybe things were moving faster than I'd thought. I texted Karla at 2:20pm and told her yes, I did want her to come over. She headed our way. I called my mom and asked her to come pick up the boys. So in the midst of stronger and stronger contractions, James and I packed up the boys and their overnight things. My mom and Karla arrived within minutes of each other. We said goodbye to the children, and my mom left with them around 2:45pm. It was a bit chaotic there for a bit!

Once they were gone, Karla checked me. I was dilated to 9cm and pretty close to complete. Ahh! So I called the photographer. I think I gave her a mini heart attack when I told her I was already at 9cm. Fortunately she made it over in time! (Unlike Karla's assistant, who arrived about 5 minutes after Kieran did.)

I labored for a little while longer before I got in the birth pool.We had the tub set up next to our Christmas tree. With the lights down low and "Ever After" playing quietly in the background, it felt like it was going to be peaceful and amazing.

But I only got to labor in the tub for about 20 minutes. Karla was monitoring Kieran's heart during contractions, and she grew concerned about the drop in his heart rate. Ultimately she asked me to get out of the tub so that she could control things better. Getting out of the tub was not very fun. We moved me to the floor; I ended up in this weird half-squat position. After another contraction, Karla told me that we needed to get the baby out, now.

There's nothing like the urgency of a midwife in a moment like that. On my next contraction, she told me to push and to keep pushing. In the background, I could hear Karla asking James to call 911, in case we needed help getting the baby to breathe. Now feeling frightened for Kieran, I kept pushing, certain that I was tearing as I did so.

On my third big push, his head was delivered. His body followed easily, and then to all our relief, he let out an enormous cry! James was able to hang up with 911 as we welcomed little Kieran into the world at 3:55pm.

I remember feeling immediately euphoric after the birth of my other children. Unfortunately it took a few minutes to get to that point this time--I'm pretty sure that Kieran bruised my tailbone with his little posterior self. It made it really hard to get into a comfortable position so that I could hold him. Ultimately James and Karla cobbled together some cushions for me to recline on there on the floor so that I could finally hold my baby. (Part of the adventure of birthing at home!) What a joy he was to hold at last!!

Not too long after birth, I called my parents and had them bring the boys over to meet their new little brother. They were all pretty delighted.

After my parents took the boys back to their house for the night, there was much settling in. Karla got Kieran's measurements: 8lbs 2oz, 20 inches long, and 14.5 head circumference. (And no tearing for me, huzzah!)

Karla finished examining Kieran and filling out paperwork. She and her assistant got all the birth supplies cleaned up, got me cleaned up, made sure Kieran was nursing well, started the laundry, then departed, leaving James and I at home with our snuggly little boy.

All in all it was a wonderful birth experience. Giving birth at home is awesome. It's empowering, it's peaceful, and it's sooooo nice to be able to sleep in my own bed afterward. James is the best partner; he was there every step of the way encouraging, comforting, and supporting me. This was our third delivery together, and he knew just what to do - applying pressure to my back, setting up things I would need, and caring for me and the baby afterward. I am more in love with James than ever, and we are both so in love with our sweet Kieran.