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Evan’s Birth Story
 It took a while for me to get pregnant with my second son; 6 long months and one early miscarriage. So when I became pregnant I was ecstatic. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have a homebirth. My first son’s birth was a wonderful hospital birth experience but I knew that it would have been better at home. When I met with my midwife I knew right away that she was the midwife I wanted at the birth. She had an air of peace and kindness and I really felt at ease around her.
Pregnancy was a lot different this time around, my body seemed to rebel against it. I had a few bouts of pre-term labor and a kidney stone around 26 weeks. My midwife was wonderful and helped me through. She gave me a whole list of things to do to help me stay pregnant until my due date. We scheduled my prenatal visits close together so she could keep an eye on me. I was determined to stay pregnant until at least 37 weeks so my son could be born at home.
My due date came and went, and I felt really overdue because I was sure I would have given birth by then. My midwife helped me to stay positive and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. On my due date I had some bloody show in the morning and knew that labor was coming soon. I went to bed on the night of my due date with no signs of labor. I woke up around 3:00 am with a few mild contractions. Then again at 5:00 am with contractions which were a bit stronger. I wanted to rest for as long as possible so I went back to sleep. I had a dream that my house was flooding and I was standing in the living room watching the water rise up higher and higher. When the water level reached my face I began to panic and woke up with a very intense contraction. I knew I was done sleeping.
I sat on the couch for about an hour breathing through contractions. They were about five minutes apart and fairly strong but I was handling them well. I wanted to let my husband and son sleep. Around 7:00 am I had two very intense contractions back to back and started to get nervous so I called for my husband to get up. I asked him to fill the pool, and he said “Are you sure?” I had so many pre-term labor episodes and he didn’t want to get excited if this was not the real thing. I had another contraction before I could answer and I was squatting down on the floor, so he ran to fill the pool up.
It was about 8:00 am now and I called my midwife and told her I thought I was in labor, I’m not sure why I said that because I KNEW I was in labor, and I knew it was going fast. She said she was on her way to the chiropractor but to call her back when I needed her. I called her back about fifteen minutes later to ask her to come over right after the chiropractor. Then the contractions started coming faster and stronger so I told my husband to ask her to come NOW.
The contractions were coming about two to three minutes apart and the tub was finally full so I got in. I was hoping the water would slow my labor down, but it didn’t slow it down too much. At some point my older son woke up and my mom came to get him. My sister also arrived. I had a little bit to eat. I lost all concept of time. I just knew I needed to stay in the tub until my midwife came because my husband wasn’t much of a baby catcher.
My midwife arrived and her apprentice followed shortly after. I got out of the tub and walked around then ended up back in the tub. I was having such an intense electricity-like pain in my sacrum and it was scaring me. Contractions would start then peak immediately and I was having a hard time staying on top of them. I had no idea what I wanted. I asked to be checked and my midwife said “you’re working really hard, are you sure you want to be checked?” and I said “no”. I felt nauseous so I went into the bathroom. In the bathroom I felt really scared and thought “I must be coming into transition”. I’m a labor Doula and could not shut my mind off; I was analyzing myself through labor. It was annoying. So I came out and asked to be checked. I was 6 centimeters and I remember being so happy that I was more than half way through.
I got back into the tub. My husband was applying counter pressure to my sacrum because the pain was still intense. The contractions weren’t bothering me so much; it was the shooting feeling in my lower back that was hurting. At some point I was on the bed, alternating positions to make sure my son was not posterior. Then I gave up and figured I’d just deal with the back pain because I needed to be back in that tub ASAP! Shortly after I got back in I felt myself pushing at the peak of each contraction. I asked if it was okay and my midwife said it was. She checked me and found I had a small lip of cervix, she asked if I wanted her to hold it back, I said “no” then a few seconds later said “yes”. I had no idea what I wanted, but I did know that I wanted the baby out really soon because I was getting tired. So she held back the lip during the next contraction or two and I did not feel a thing.
I started pushing around 12:30 pm. I was still in the tub. I alternated between hands and knees and sitting. I kept reaching in to feel his head and could tell I was making real progress. It was so exciting! I’d push, and then reach in and see where he was. It became sort of a game, then he crowned and the game was over. Crowning was intense. I felt like he was not fitting and I was scared. I remember saying “this isn’t working, he isn’t fitting; I don’t want to do this anymore”, like I could just call the labor off or reschedule it! I was trying to hold his head in so he would come out slow. Then, for reasons I cannot understand, I decided I needed to get out the tub immediately. So I jumped up and said “I need to get out”. Everyone helped me out and I was making my way to the bed when another contraction started. I stopped, grabbed the end of the bed, and squatted. I heard everyone cheering “Look at his head” and I announced “he’s out, his head is out”, followed by “HELP”. The midwife helped ease him out.
He slid right out onto the towel in front of me, and I dropped back and rested. He was born at 1:11 pm, my entire labor was about 6 hours long.
My son was covered in vernix, there was so much of it and he was so tiny. I sat there in shock and awe until my midwife said “pick him up”, for some reason I didn’t even think of that. I picked him up and hugged him and kissed him, he needed some stimulation to cry. My midwife asked if we had a name and I said “Evan Reese”. The placenta followed shortly after and I told my midwife it was ok to cut the cord now. After the cord was cut, Evan became a little dusky but pinked up immediately with minimal oxygen. We all got up onto the bed and checked him out, he was adorable. Even though he was born a day after 40 weeks, he was tiny – weighing in at 6lbs 4 ozs. I loved him right away.
 Giving birth at home with a homebirth midwife was such a wonderful experience. It doesn’t even compare to my hospital birth. It was great to be able to just hop into bed and rest with Evan after the birth. Everyone took care of the cleanup for us. They took such great care of us. There was no hurry to to do anything. It was so peaceful and loving, just how a birth should be.
Evan was born with a severe heart defect. Congenital Heart Defects are the most common form of birth defects. It's important for parents to know the signs of a heart problem in order to get their baby the appropriate medical care. Unfortunately, heart defects can be missed, even on the best ultrasound during pregnancy and even by the doctors. Please click this link to to see a video montage of Evan's story of his diagnosis, surgery, & recovery. Evan's Amazing Story
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