These pages are provided for those who are interested in or are planning a homebirth.
They may contain some graphical information not suitable to all readers.
Monday morning, December 2nd I awoke and went to the bathroom to discover my mucous plug. I was only 37 weeks pregnant and as my last baby was 2 weeks 'overdue' I fully expected to carry this baby into the New Year! I grabbed some of my childbirth books and read that it could be 24 hours or 2 or 3 weeks after you lose your plug before labor begins. I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions that were pretty strong and regular for the past couple weeks, which is typical for me. I generally have prodomal labor beginning at around 35 weeks.
Wednesday I had an appointment scheduled with Judy, our homebirth midwife. I asked her to check to see if these strong contractions had been doing anything. She found that I was dilated 5 cm. and was 95% effaced. The baby was at +1. I continued having contractions while she was here and as she lives almost 2 hours away, she decided to stay the night and see if anything happened. By Wednesday evening, the contractions were strong enough and close enough that I decided to get in the hot tub for some relief. The kids had gone to Awana (Bible Club) and it was time for Mike to go pick them up. I thought he would come back and I'd have the baby, but by the time they returned home, everything had petered out. I was feeling really tired, so we went to bed about 11:00.
Elizabeth asks her baby sister to "come out and play " with her
Thursday, the contractions picked up where they left off and I felt so much pressure. I thought it was a water bulge and I told Judy that if I could get that bulge out of the way, I was sure her head would come down on my cervix and we could get the show on the road. Judy checked me again and said that I was at a "good 7+, was very stretchy and fully effaced". I did, in fact, have a water bulge and she, having faith in my birthing experience and instincts, agreed to break my water. My amniotic sac was very strong and thick and it took some work with the amnio hook to snag it. I attributed that to all the Vitamin C I had taken for a bout of bronchitis, and all the calcium magnesium supplements I had taken to get through the BH Contractions! ; )
I continued laboring for some time, then everything petered out again. Finally, I told Judy that I didn't think anything was
going to happen, so she packed everything in the car and headed for the birth clinic which is between here and her house, so she'd be a little closer if I needed her.
I was very discouraged at that point. I felt like we had tried everything 'we' knew to do. I had used the vector technique from "Back Labor No More" and it had not been effective as it had with my last birth. We had tried accupressure, aromatherapy, homeopathics, visualization and everything else we could think of. Now my water was broken and I had a window of opportunity before infection or risk set in, so I was facing the clock as well. I hadn't slept well Wednesday night, so I was really tired and felt like I just needed to sleep, so that's what I did.
