I’m excited to get to bring you the positive home birth story of my first baby, miss Avalene May.
She was born on May 7th, 2020, and we’re thrilled that she’s here!
Just as a heads up, this story uses Hypnobabies language- for example, including “waves” instead of “contractions”, and “birthing time” instead of “labor”.
Hypnobabies gave me my birth training and all the tools I’d need for an all-natural, empowering, wonderful pregnancy and birth. You can read more about it here: My Hypnobabies review.
I wish every momma gets to experience a birth that is as calm and positive as mine was. Enjoy this birth story!
This website contains affiliate links- meaning that if you follow a link to something I recommend, I might receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. More info here.
If you haven’t already read it, you can catch up on my entire pregnancy story here.
My empowering home birth story
On my guess date, May 5th, I started having practice waves that were stronger and closer together than they had ever been before.
Usually, I’d barely notice when my belly got hard… but these seemed different, with a more defined start and finish!
I even thought about timing a few, but they died down and I got a good night‘s sleep.
At my appointment the next morning my midwife said everything looked great. I was having waves off and on, and at the end of our appointment, she said she could tell I was having some sensations, which made both of us excited!
We scheduled my next week’s checkup but guessed that we’d be having a postpartum checkup instead. =)
Our last walk the day before baby’s birthday!
I went for a walk with my husband that day. Light waves were still coming every once in a while and I got some stuff done around the house. That evening, we decided to just relax and watch a movie.
Halfway through the movie though, we decided to go get some sleep, since my husband could tell that I wasn’t really concentrating on what we were watching (it was The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). I was even having waves that I would have to stop and breathe through.
We went to bed at 8 and that’s when things really started!
My birthing time starts
This is the only part I would have done differently, because things got intense very quickly but I was completely in denial that it was really happening (I was waiting to see my bloody show or for my water to break, and that didn’t happen for quite a while!).
So I waited a while before starting my Hypnobabies tracks. Starting them much earlier would have helped me to get my mindset in the right place for greater comfort and relaxation. Still, my tracks and training worked so well for me!
Related: My Hypnobabies review
Waves started coming in strong, 2-3 minutes apart, and 15-45 seconds long. They quickly started coming closer together, with waves every 45 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.
This was confusing because we had been told to call our midwife to have her come over when waves were consistently about a minute long and 5-7 minutes apart, but they were much closer than that from the very beginning!
Hubs ended up texting the midwife at around 11pm. She said to call her back when waves were consistently one minute long, which made me feel like I wasn’t really making progress- but my body was hard at work!
My waves progressively started getting longer, and we timed them off and on.
I have to admit- I would sometimes wait til a few seconds after a wave would end to let my husband know he could stop the timer… But I only fibbed because I wanted the midwife to come sooner. 😉
The next few hours passed quickly. I was deeply inside myself and concentrating on relaxing and surrendering to each wave.
My husband was an amazing supporter but eventually, he decided to try to get some sleep… that didn’t happen- I woke him up right away by throwing up!
The next stage!
I threw up a few times but my waves were still manageable so I didn’t think I was in transformation- we didn’t even text my midwife about it! My husband got a bath ready for me and I went to the bathroom, and suddenly lost some of my mucus plug.
Waves were about a minute long at this point.
I got in the bath and suddenly felt my waves change from squeezes in, to powerful downward squeezes!
Right away I couldn’t keep from pushing.
I started pushing a few times with each wave and it felt so good!
My husband (finally!) texted the midwife. He told her that waves were about a minute and I was pushing and she said “oh sounds like I should get over there??” She arrived about half an hour later at around 3:30 in the morning.
I remember being so glad to see her- it meant this was real, it was happening!
She checked me and I expected some discomfort, but felt nothing- all she said was “Oh, there’s the baby’s head!”
She later told me that she skipped some things like checking my blood pressure because as soon as she saw me and heard the grunts I was making, she knew we’d have a baby coming soon!
I moved to the living room and leaned on my birthing ball.
Her backup assistant arrived about half an hour after the midwife- actually it was the backup’s backup, because my midwife called her primary assistant first to let her know I was close, and was told to call someone else because she lived an hour away and probably wouldn’t get there in time!
The lady who ended up coming to help out was a doula who I had met once before, and she was a great person to have around even though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
Both ladies did an amazing job at supporting me, getting us drinks, and telling me things like “good push!” with every wave as I leaned on my husband.
The calf massage and warm olive oil compress felt especially good. This whole time, I felt like I was so loud pushing, but they said I was very calm, graceful, and controlled.
Soon they said they could see the head, and I asked if baby had my husband’s dark hair- they said yes and for some reason that made me so happy and so excited to meet my baby!
Smiling really does make everything feel better during birth.
After the head and shoulders, the rest of her came out in one huge powerful push. It was such a crazy feeling!
She was born at 4:32am, after 1.5 hours of pushing and 8.5 total hours of birthing.
Meeting our baby girl
They cleaned her off and passed her to me through my legs, and I got a peek at her gender before my husband was able to announce it, oops!
We both had a feeling it was a girl anyway.
The placenta came on its own about 15 minutes later, and after cutting the cord my midwives let us bond with our baby girl for a few hours as the sun came up. We sipped bone broth, stared at our baby, and settled on a name.
Working on the placenta
Eventually we moved to bed, and got Avalene weighed and measured- 8lbs 10oz, 20 inches!
I only had two minuscule tears that I would never have noticed if I hadn’t been told about them. After our support team left, we took a well-deserved nap as a brand-new family of three.
Closing thoughts on my home birth story
Looking back at it, her birth was probably the most empowering -and hardest- thing I’ve ever experienced.
The memories of the hard times during birth have faded, but I know there were times when I told my husband that I didn’t think I could do it. (I had a lot of pressure in my back which made things feel even more intense!)
I tensed up during a few of my waves, worried that it would get too intense, but it never did! For the vast majority of the time, I remained relaxed and comfortable.
Afterward, my midwife even told me that she was amazed by how much I was like the Amish women she usually attends, which was a huge compliment because they treat childbirth like it’s the easiest and most natural thing ever!
I think, deep inside, I knew that I could do it and that I was powerful and capable.
I’m so thankful to Hypnobabies for helping with that. It helped me rewire my thoughts so that I could trust my body to give birth gently and safely.
If you’re expecting, I’d highly recommend using Hypnobabies for your childbirth curriculum! You can read more about it in my Hypnobabies review.
Overall, birth was an incredible experience and it made me feel like I can do anything… And we’re just so happy that little Avalene May is in our lives!
I’m already excited for my next pregnancy and the chance to have another adventure like this one!
These days, there are far too many negative birth stories, traumatic experiences, and unnecessary interventions in childbirth.
I hope this positive home birth story helps other pregnant mommas out there to trust their bodies and trust the process.
You can do it!
I’d be very grateful if you want to share this story!
