Angela’s Home Birth Story

I’m pregnant!

Brandon and I found out I was pregnant with our first child just shortly after we got married. We were SO thrilled! We did our research on everything because we wanted the best for myself and for our baby. I wanted an all natural, medication-free birth. I wanted to experience it all.

I started seeing an OB-GYN that was in my network of health care providers from my insurance. Boy, was that a NIGHTMARE. I always felt like a number to them. I never got to see a doctor, it was always a nurse practitioner. And the front desk lady’s were always different when we went in. Very unprofessional.

The morning that I took a pregnancy test and got a big fat “positive”, I immediately called my doctor’s office to schedule a same day appointment. We went in and they confirmed I was indeed pregnant. They handed me a bag full of goodies. It had a booklet about the hospitals they used, policies, what to expect while pregnant etc. It also had formula information and a whole bottle of it as a sample. They assumed that I wasn’t going to do my research. I refused to be another statistic. Something just didn’t feel right.

We began doing our research.

I searched everything possible to get the birth that *I* wanted. Then I found a website about home births and mid-wives. I mentioned it to Brandon and he found a few reputable mid-wives that were near us. We scheduled an interview with Stephanie Soderblum. She was our first and last interview. We immediately knew she would be perfect for us. She believed in me and she trusted my body to do what it needed to do. My family and friends on the other hand thought I was completely crazy. But I didn’t let that bother me at all. I never once doubted myself. As I got closer to full term, our family began to seriously question my decision on having a home birth. All the negativity was driving me crazy, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. My mind was made up and I was going to have my perfect birth that I wanted.

During the rest of my pregnancy we really enjoyed our monthly appointments with Stephanie. We were never rushed and all of our concerns and questions were always answered. I felt like we were going to hang out with a friend whenever I had a prenatal appointment. We got to listen to our baby’s heartbeat for as long as we wanted. If we couldn’t find the heart beat right away, there wasn’t a “well, at your next appointment you’ll be able to hear it”. She was very patient with us, especially being new parents.

Our Hypnobabies Class

I was looking up ways online to alleviate some of the discomfort during childbirth and I came across Hypnobabies. I was completely intrigued by this method and wanted to know more about it. I read birth stories that inspired me, then I looked up a Hypnobabies class closest to where we live. The closest one was about an hour away, but that didn’t matter to me because I knew this is something I wanted. We took a 6 week course and we didn’t want it to end! It just so happened that our Hypnobabies Instructor, Noelia was also my Mid-wife’s Apprentice and she would be at my birth. I was so excited to have her there!

It’s time!

I was 41 weeks pregnant and I thought I was going to be pregnant forever at that point. On Saturday, September 26th at 1:00am I woke up from a pressure wave (aka contraction). It was bearable and I was still able to get some sleep. My waves were 10 – 15 minutes apart throughout the night. I went to the bathroom at 8:30am when I woke up and I noticed some bloody show. I called my Mid-wife, Stephanie and Doula, Sandra to let them know about my progress. Throughout the day I continued to have more bloody show. My water did not break yet so I figured I had more time. My pressure waves started picking up in the afternoon. They were 5 minutes apart by 2pm. Sandra & Noelia came over around 5pm. Noelia listened to the baby’s heartbeat and checked my blood pressure. Everything was looking great! I called my parents and told them to pack up the car and get on the road, the show was about to begin! =) (They arrived around 10pm)

Pressure Waves

My pressure waves were two minutes apart by midnight. I tried to get some sleep, but I kept waking up during every wave. At 2am, I went into my birthing tub. I labored in the tub for 3 hours while listening to my Hypnobabies. It helped me relax and stay calm. At 5am I wanted to get out of the tub so I went into my bedroom and dried off. Stephanie asked me if I wanted to check for dilation. Keep in mind, I never checked for dilation at any of our appointments so we had no idea. I figured, why not? So Stephanie checked and I was 8 centimeters dilated!! We were both shocked! I was right on track! YAY! My water still didn’t break yet so I had her break my water for me. Wow, did that feel weird! Haha!

Push it baby!

I went back into the tub and right away I felt the urge to push. I pushed for an hour and a half in the tub. Sandra, my Doula massaged me through each pressure wave, which helped alleviate a lot of the discomfort. Noelia checked the tub temperature and it wasn’t warm enough for Elora to be born in.

I got out of the water and tried the birthing stool. At this point, I could really feel Elora’s head in my birth canal. I was a bit uncomfortable on the stool so they asked if I wanted to go into our bedroom. I went in and tried pushing on all fours on our bed. Each time I would push she would come out a little bit, but then go back in.

I got on my back and at this point I needed to push with everything I had. Elora’s head was stuck underneath my pelvic bone and I needed a BIG long push to get her through. I had Stephanie, Noelia, Sandra, My Mom & Brandon cheering me on. I heard Brandon say “I can see her head!” Stephanie asked if I wanted to feel her head and at first I said “no it’s okay” and she insisted that I feel her so that I knew how close I was to meeting my baby girl.

It was amazing! I could feel her full head of hair! Then they told me to give one big push and hold it for as long as I could. I heard Brandon say “C’mon babe! You are almost there!” And that’s when all of my strength and power kicked in! I pushed with everything I had and Stephanie caught her and put her on my chest. I was crying yet panting trying to catch my breath.

Elora looked around while she was on my chest and didn’t cry at first. It took her a couple minutes and she had the strongest voice! After thirty hours of labor and two hours of pushing… Elora Renee Padilla was born on Sunday, September 27th 2009 at 7:48am. She actually pooped on the way out!

Stephanie called her an “over acheiver” hehe=) After about 15 minutes, I then delivered my placenta. What a relief! After that I felt great! Noelia took my placenta to get encapsulated into pills. We waited until the cord stopped pulsating then Brandon did the honor of cutting it.

Check baby 123…

Noelia measured Elora and she was 23 inches long. She was really 22 inches after her cone head went down =) But WOW she is a tall baby! Then Stephanie weighed her on the scale. We all guessed what we thought she would be before putting her on. TEN POUNDS & ONE OUNCE!

I did it! I am a warrior.

No one guessed 10 pounds! She was healthy and thriving, that’s all that mattered to me. Stephanie did the newborn check and she was perfect! So when I hear people say “the doctor said the baby is too big and I’ll have to have a c-section” I say, “I gave birth to my Daughter at home, all natural and she was 10 lbs, 1 oz. you can do it!!”

Now what?!

The craziest part was when Stephanie, Noelia and Sandra were getting ready to leave, now we had a baby! Now what do we do?? haha! They don’t come with instruction manuals, but we were ready for any challenges we were about to face. You can only read so many books to prepare yourself for parenthood. We are doing our best and enjoying every moment with our beautiful daughter =)

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