Home birth

After reading a lot of other's people's blog in the blog party (link here), I got inspired to write about the birth of my daughter.

It isn't bad - it all went VERY well. The best part was I had MLO at home with a midwife. The story goes:

I was two weeks overdue and went to a doctor to have an ultrasound done to check on the baby. MLO seemed fine, but there was almost no amniotic fluid (I had sprung a small leak).

They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and said I was already having very small contractions (I couldn't even feel them). The best news was the baby's heart beat was fine and she didn't seem to be in any distress.

Nevertheless the doctor was worried and said I needed to go to the hospital right away and induce the baby with drugs.

I told her I didn't want to take any drugs and made a deal with her that if by the next morning I hadn't had the baby I would go to the hospital. The doctor reluctantly agreed.

So I called the midwife (admittedly a little freaked out) and she came over to my house. I still didn't feel any contractions or anything and the midwife gave me a laxative to clear me out and some herbs.

Around midnight I started with minor contractions (at least I could feel them). For those who don't know, the first baby is supposed to take the longest to be born, labor can last hours (if not over a day).

Well, to make a long story short - MLO was born at 5am. Perfectly healthy, not a single thing wrong with her. The labor, though a lot of work and very tiring, went smoothly. I required one stitch (which my midwife could do because she was also a registered nurse) and then MLO and I got to enjoy each other.

The only funny thing of note, is that the midwife was almost late for the birth. She thought I had a bunch more hours (since I hadn't been in labor for that long) and came by only after my hubby convinced her to at least check on me.

This is a plug for home birth. It was the most comfortable thing in the world, not a single problem. I didn't have to check in anywhere or check out. I was in my own bed with MLO and we were waited on hand and foot by my hubby, my mom and my sister.

Also everyone got to be there (I lost all modesty and didn't care) and see MLO arrive into this world for which they were very happy.

My only advice was pick your midwife well. I interviewed many of them and one thing I definitely recommend is that the midwife have a medical background (like the one I picked was a registered nurse, she is Leslie Stewart at Home Birth Service) so they really do know what they are talking about.