Accidental home birth?

For all you in-a-nutshell readers, here you go.

Labor from beginning to end was one and a half hours.

My water broke in our master bathroom. Next contraction her head emerged.

The following contraction, she was completely delivered. Brent caught the baby.

If you’d like a play by play, please read on:

So, this was me just 6 hours before, on my due date with my then youngest hugging my belly, helping me forget for a moment all my worries and fears surrounding this pregnancy.

She must have known.

Contractions begin about 5:00. Though, I couldn’t consistently track them. I messaged Brent that I believe real labor has begun (he was in the basement with the girls).

About 5:30, he fed the girls dinner while I continued dealing with contractions, sitting on my exercise ball in the living room.

Around 5:45, Tina, my friend and doula, calls and I mention I’m having chronic, but inconsistent, contractions. You know, whateves.

Soon after, roughly 6:00, Brent calls for reinforcements. Tina and his parents were needed STAT. “Is Tina coming?!” I ask exasperated. “She’s on her way!” He replies.

From 6:10-6:35 the contractions intensify and send me running back and forth to the bathroom. As baby moves down, so does everything else.

My last trip to the bathroom, I sat down on the toilet and my water broke.

That at was NOT pee.

I raised my voice and yelled for Brent.

Then, I felt it. The burn. The ring of fire.

I stand up and reluctantly reach down…it’s the top of her head.

OH MY GOSH.

I screamed for Brent. Like this guttural, other-worldly sound left my body.

I heard his quick footsteps racing down the hallway.

He steps into the bathroom, and I point down, “this is her head!” I shockingly say.

He takes a step out and calls the paramedics.

The next contraction comes – I just try to hold on. I reach down again, even more reluctantly…I touch her face. I can feel my fingertips brush against her lips and nose.

Now, I’m really freaking out.

Brent steps back in and I panic repeat,”what do I do!?”

Another contraction begins and it sends me to the floor and I announce with great fervor “the baby is coming!”

I flip on to my back just before I push, Brent leaps over, tosses the phone on the toilet seat, kneels down and out she comes.

He catches, quickly wraps her in towels, and cleans her face.

He hands her to me.

Brent tells dispatch that baby is here.

He is then instructed to clamp the cord. We look at each other – we don’t exactly have a clamp stash in our home.

The next thing I know, Brent steps out and comes back with a shoelace and ties a bow on the cord as a makeshift clamp.

He filled me in later that while trying to find a shoelace. I was later informed he would chuck a shoe across the room if he couldn’t get the lace out fast enough. There were quite a number of shoes flying around the bedroom.

Our oldest was the runner – she ran for towels, put our dog in the backyard, and waved in EMS. I would say this was a successful end to our homeschool day. Life skills. Check.

They arrive – and they’re a lively bunch too. The two main medics delivered their own children.

Since we weren’t at a hospital, we’re fresh out of anything needed for cord cutting. So, the medics offer a scalpel. Brent cut our baby’s cord with a pre-sterilized, plastic wrapped scalpel.

Following this, our girls scurried back so they could see that everything was okay. They peered into the bathroom, where I am sitting in all the fluids, and I looked at them and said, “everything is okay. Mommy is okay.”

The paramedics then asked if we wanted some pictures. Of course!

Soon after, I’m transferred to the stretcher. Where I sit by the front door awaiting travel to the ambulance.

As I wait, my in-laws arrive. Clasping her hands together, my mother-in-law smiles and says, “ok, I’m here!”

I look at her, and my girls say, “mommy had the baby!”

“What?!” She said wide-eyed.

I point to the hallway. She turns to see Brent holding the baby. She lets out, “oh!” And her hand clutches her chest in a surprised, dramatic fashion and begins falling into our coat rack. *paramedics lunge*

My doula, Tina, finally arrives with a skip in her step. She looks at me, “you’ve got to be shittin’ me! She couldn’t wait until I got here?!” My hands go up in a posture of ‘I don’t know.’

This whole experience was crazy. None of this was planned. I had so many worries:

I worried my new label, advanced maternal age, would taint the way my doctor would deal with my labor and delivery. Tina commented, “you showed advanced maternal age who’s boss!”

A couple of weeks before, I was informed my girls wouldn’t be able to meet their sister in the hospital. I was so upset. It’s one of my favorite things. But, due to rising and difficult cases of RSV and flu, not even siblings were allowed in the hospital. But, this experience allowed them to meet her.

I stressed about postpartum hemorrhaging, which was a previous delivery complication. But, I had absolutely no problems.

I questioned whether I could make another natural, unmedicated delivery. Instead, I was gifted with a quick, but intense, labor and speedy delivery.

And, my husband was able to deliver (well, catch) our newest edition.

God met all of my fears and anxieties head on in these moments. And, I couldn’t be more grateful, humbled, or blessed when I look back and remember.