After Lynn and Robin got settled in with all of their equipment Lynn checked me--I was 4-5 cm, 75% effaced, +1 to +2 station. My contractions were coming regularly at this point, but weren't incredibly intense. I wanted to start working on setting up the Aquadoula, but my blood pressure was a tiny bit higher than Lynn wanted (she wouldn't tell me what it was precisely), so I had to sit on my rocking chair reading the instructions and trying to explain it to Steve...let's just say he's not the one who puts together the kid's toys on Christmas Eve. :-) He's very handy around the house with repair/redecorating tasks, but anything requiring following a series of "put this part here and that part there" type instructions is just not his forte. Finally Robin pitched in to help him, and the tub was set up by 2:15 am and was starting to be filled.
It was at this time that I learned that Steve--despite having been a homeowner for over 15 years--did not know that hot water tanks have a thermostat that you can adjust. I told him to turn it all the way up, and he didn't know you could do that. He said he would look for the thermostat though. Around 3:30 I found out he never had found it, so I trekked down to the basement to turn it up myself. So much for my statement to my father in law a few weeks prior that I would not be giving birth in the basement because I wouldn't be laboring in the basement! :)

Walking, walking, walking
Okay, so we didn't walk nearly as much in this labor as we did in my first two. But Lynn wanted me to walk to encourage labor, so around 2:45 a.m. Steve and I set out around the block. Steve seemed to want to wander around the neighborhood, I couldn't quite get him to understand that just sticking to our block was fine. It took us 15 minutes to do one lap, and we had to stop in to the house to get gloves & hats. It was COLD out at that time of morning! We did one more lap after that. My first contraction during that lap apparently Steve got a death wish--he spotted something on the ground that interested him, so he started to walk away from me to see what it was. I had to call him at least 3 times before he finally got the hint that he was NOT allowed to do that. :-) Labor definitely had picked up by that point--I was moaning softly through contractions, something I had never done before-I had labored silently for the girls. We decided to call Dotty and have her come over.

I was feeling burning pain in my hips during contractions. Lynn suggested the double-hip squeeze for that, and it was very effective. However, it is very tiring to do, so Lynn, Robin, Dotty and Steve were rotating and generally two would apply pressure together--one on each hip. During one contraction Steve was videotaping and apparently that death wish returned--he joked that with people around me with their hands on me and with my moaning it looked like a Pentecostal prayer meeting. I could barely control wanting to laugh, which of course made the contraction worse so I admonished him not to make me laugh. Everyone else was trying not to laugh, as soon as the contraction ended everyone burst into laughter. That was at 4:20 a.m.

Sometime shortly after we moved from the living room up to the bedroom so I could get in the Aquadoula. It still wasn't totally full--every time the hot water ran out we had to wait about 1/2 hr for the tank to heat up. We decided to heat some water in large pots on the stove--so Steve got to boil water. :) Lynn checked my progress before I got into the tub, and I was 7 cm, 80% effaced, but the baby had moved up some. When I got into the tub the hip pain dissipated entirely, only to be replaced by very intense rectal pressure, which I interpreted as the baby moving down.

I was very aware of being in transition at that point. I felt nauseous, so asked Steve to bring a small wastebasket close to the tub "just in case." After the next contraction "just in case" was there, and I was emptying the contents of my stomach. So much for the apple juice Lynn wanted me to drink, I'm not a big apple juice fan anyway and had to force myself to drink it. I commented after that about not having a "traditional" transition in my first two labors, and not being happy to experience it this time around.

Time to push!
After involuntarily emptying the other end of my digestive system, the rectal pressure disappeared...for a few contractions. During one contraction I felt a TINY urge to push in the very middle. After the contraction was over I told everyone about that. The next contraction I definitely needed to push. Lynn checked me in the tub, and the baby was right there. I pushed through two contractions and the head was out. Lynn checked for a cord and it was wrapped around his neck--she slipped it off. Then Jason was born on the next contraction with "telephone hand"-his hand along side his head. After seeing that he was a boy, I asked what time it was--5:22 a.m. He was 7 lbs 8 oz, 19.5 inches long, APGARs of 7 & 9.

The cord was short, so I couldn't hold Jason facing me. Lynn called Steve to cut the cord and passed Jason to Robin--he seemed to be a bit mucousy and was a bit blue. Robin worked with him while I got out of the tub to deliver the placenta. When I got onto my bed Lynn checked my uterus and it wasn't contracting down. She had to do some uterine massage that honestly was more painful than any of my contractions had been. I passed a large amount of clots that I assumed just from feeling it pass was the placenta, but it wasn't. I was bleeding more than Lynn liked (I have a history of a lot of bleeding after birth--needed Pitocin for it a few hours after Katie was born). Lynn had Robin give me a shot of Phenergin. I then delivered the placenta, but was still bleeding heavily and wasn't contracting much.

I was feeling tired which kind of concerned me--I wasn't sure if it was from excess blood loss or just the normal effect of staying up all night in intense physical activity. I kept saying how I was tired and just wanted to fall asleep and how I felt bad that I wasn't more interested in holding Jason. I was saying this because I didn't want to suddenly pass out and have everyone be surprised. Lynn discovered at that point that I had a fibroid on top of my uterus about the size of an egg. It seems to be on the outside, but that can only be determined with ultrasound. Lynn had Robin give me a shot of Methergin, and finally my uterus contracted and became hard like it was supposed to. Lynn estimated that I lost about 750 ml of blood, I lost about 1000 ml after Katie was born without such active efforts to stop the bleeding (that blood loss was estimated after the delivery was finished a few hours before I got the Pitocin), but I guess with being out of the hospital Lynn needed to act more proactively since emergency support wasn't quite so close if it became needed.

It's a BROTHER!
After everything was cleaned up (no tearing or skid marks or anything...yay!) Robin helped me to the bathroom--they like the mom to urinate before they leave. I'm not sure what time it was when the women left, but I know I got a brief nap before Jessica woke up at around 6:30 am. Jessica was SO excited to meet her new brother. She snuggled into bed with Steve and Jason and I. Around 8:15 Katie woke up and was quite upset to be alone--Steve and I had only started sleeping in our own bedroom a few days before the birth and until that morning Jessica had been with Katie each morning when she woke up. So the poor child is standing outside her bedroom crying while Steve videotapes her, encouraging her to come to our bedroom to meet her brother. I called to him to pick her up and comfort her--"but I can't do that and get video of her first look at Jason." Umm, sweety, do we really want her first view of him to be when she is feeling so alone? LOL.

A few hours later Steve began making calls to announce the birth. He made certain to call our church so that it would be in the bulletin on Sunday morning. When our pastor found out we had our baby, he attempted to call me to offer congratulations-except that we really hadn't told a lot of people that we were planning a home birth. So he called several hospitals before one of the secretaries told him that she thought Steve was at home when he called. So he called the house, and was rather surprised to find out that I was there too!

Thoughts after the birth
A few days after Jason was born I told Steve that if it weren't for dealing with the pregnancy and then the resultant children, I could easily home-birth 15 children. It wasn't that it was a "fun" recreational type experience. But it was a very fulfilling and moving experience. It was much better than my hospital births. I'm certainly far from being a "natural" type of person-I don't buy organic produce, wear Birkenstocks, eschew processed foods or synthetic fabrics-but home birth was a fantastic experience for me. A home birth is not for everyone-some couples are just not comfortable with the idea, and thus could not relax and enjoy it. For them a hospital or birth center birth is the right choice. I was in that category for my first two births-I was simply uncomfortable with the idea during my first pregnancy; and during my second, while I liked the idea, I did not feel comfortable with birthing in the particular house that I lived in. Others have health complications that make home birth an unwise choice. However it is sad that in America homebirth is viewed as abnormal and unsafe. Only 1% of births in America occur at home. Midwifery care is slowly gaining acceptance. Ten percent of births in America are attended by midwives in a hospital or birth center. We have a long way to go though--America is 23rd in maternal/infant morbidity and mortality. The country that ranks 1st-Holland-boasts a 40% homebirth rate and 60% overall midwife-attended rate.

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