Christian UC: Unassisted Childbirth

The Unassisted Birth of Samuel

This past week the baby a dropped a lot, and it was funny because I could actually feel him 'punching' my thighs!

I went into labor at 1am on Sunday morning, Nov 7th. Walked back and forth between the bedroom and the bathroom, because it was too uncomfortable to lay in bed when the contractions came. Not to mention, I could hardly get out of bed to walk or move once they started, so it was best for me to stay out of bed all together. When a contraction would come I would hold the door frames between the master bedroom and bathroom and move up and down between squatting and standing (and that felt really good to me).

At about 5:30am I decided to get into the tub. I didn't notice my contractions being a tightening on my belly, but it was more of a forceful pressure coming downward. When contractions would come I would brace myself with a hand gripping each side of the garden tub, elongating my body and grunting through. I had a bit of bloody discharge in the water, and my husband wanted to change the water a couple of times. The last time he changed the water in the tub, (about 8:30am)I reluctantly got out of the tub and started to walk, but needed to call to him so I could hug his neck and squat. That's when things really started moving. I felt like I was having a bowel movement so I went to the stool and sat down. Then, I heard a pop, and noticed that my water broke... after that it didn't take very long!

I knew the baby was coming down, and I hollered telling him to hurry up with the tub, I didn't want my baby to be born in the toilet! So he helped me back into the tub and my next contraction brought him out a lot quicker than I was prepared for. In my mind I was thinking, I'm gonna tear, I'm gonna tear, and I called out, "slow down baby, take your time", but evidently he was ready. I tried to hold back a bit, but he just came on out! After the head emerged, we called Amber (my sis-in-law) in to see the rest of the birth. I couldn't believe that it happened so quickly, and he was huge!

When Dh pulled him up out of the water, he was covered with something very creamy but a tanish color. The texture reminded me of vernix, but we wondered if it might of mixed with meconium. Amber said she saw him spit up as he came out, and several seconds after birth, he made his first little squeal. I sat there with him in the tub for about 1 hour wiping the creamy tan vernix or meconium off him gently with a washcloth, nursing and enjoying that fact that he was finally here.

He was born at 9am, and we called in my parents (who are living with us) and introduced then to him before they left to go to church.

I'm so glad that we had UC with our baby. My husband was wonderful, he was so attentive, caring and supportive. I had to laugh later, because Amber was able to tell my mother what stage I was probably in by the noises I was making.

Our sweet baby boy is here, his 22 month old big sister, Lucy, loves him and is gentle with him, patting his head and saying "babee". Every so often she'll come up and kiss his head very softly while noisily saying "muh!". :-)

I think he did have a hypoglycemia, I had been watching my blood sugar (gestational diabetes). I had regulated it very well, but had researched it a good bit to know what we should do if he had a problem. From what I read, we just needed to be sure to nurse him every 1 to 2 hours for the first couple days of life then his blood sugar would have regulated itself for life outside the womb.

One of the symptoms was irregular breathing, which he did have. I kept him close to me constantly so he could learn my breathing, and he was a fantastic nurser. He didn't really sleep for longer than 15 minutes until his fourth day of life. Which is what we had prayed for all along. I was very tired, but so thankful! :-) . His breathing is perfect now, and he's started taking some three hour naps during the day and night. Praise the Lord for our son, and for His provisions!

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