Huxley's Home Birth Story

At 5:27am on May 11th 2018, I woke up to my water breaking. It was a sensation I'd never experienced with the other two (until pushing). My stomach dropped a bit, both from excitement and nervousness that today would be the day we would meet our mystery baby! I hurried out to the living room where my sweet husband, Sam, was sleeping (I'm a bed-hog at the end of pregnancy) and excitedly woke him to tell him today would be the day and he should call off work.

(My last "bump" picture the night before Huck was born)

We didn't really know how long things would take. Contractions hadn't begun so we both attempted to rest before our other two kiddos woke.

At 9:00am contractions were beginning to come sporadically, maybe every 20 minutes or so. At this point my water had been less leaking out and more gushing out and I was definitely experiencing the pain of not having any water cushion while contracting. Sam took the kids over to a friend's house and we tried to rest and prepare the best we could. Around 2p I was feeling frustrated with the contractions that hurt but weren't seeming to do anything. Tired, I decided to lie down and see if I could nap a bit. I fell asleep but was woken every 10-15 min by contractions. I had heard from a few friends that sometimes 3rd babies throw you for a loop and take a little more effort (my last two labors were fast and furious and unexpected).

At 3p I texted my midwife to see what I could do to speed things along. I was nervous that my water had broken so early and there seemed to be no end in sight. She suggested I walk up and down the stairs for awhile. Wow, did that work! My contractions started rolling in every 2 minutes, so Sam started filling the birth pool! Our kiddos were home napping at this point, and it looked like the timing was going to be just right. We had a sweet family friend over helping boil water for the pool and to watch over our other kids, and our midwife was on her way.

(I had previously asked Sam to document my labor- but as you can tell I was less than thrilled to have my picture taken in active labor)

At 4p I got into the pool just as my midwife was arriving. Her steady presence was a gift. She sat and drank coffee and reminded me to breathe and monitored the baby's heart rate. Our bedroom window was cracked a bit to let in some fresh, early May, Spring air. It was an environment I couldn't have been more thankful for at such an intimate and intense moment. My contractions were feeling relentless and never ending which I knew meant the time was drawing near to push. Our babe had himself in an odd position so pushing was a more difficult than I remember it being with my other two, he got stuck a bit, but at 4:45pm I was holding our brand new baby (boy!) on my chest, in awe, yet again, of this new life in my arms!

(Total bliss. Total relief. Praise the Lord!)

Huck was my littlest babe to date, weighing only 7lbs 10 oz and 19.5 in long. Our midwife (who by the way also goes to our church) Hung around for a bit doing a few checks on Huck, helping clean up, and enjoying some food. Huck and I mostly snuggled for the rest of the evening, getting to know each other and establishing a nursing relationship and fully welcoming being taken care of by loved ones around us. I was smitten and glowing and just so thankful.

(Look at that precious little face!)

What an amazing and beautiful day it was. Happy birth-day sweet boy.

Read Grace's birth story Here
Read Finley's birth story Here