Erin and Kinleigh Rose
January 27, 2015
The experience was truly something I will never forget and was so awesome and beautiful. Afterwards, as Craig and sat in our bed resting, gazing down at our precious newborn baby girl, we said to one another, “Hey. We just delivered our baby right over there.” and pointed over to the space in our room where the birthing pool was set up. Such a surreal time in our lives for sure. I am still pinching myself.
Denial followed by reality….today is THE day!
I began feeling very uncomfortable that evening/early morning before but didn’t think anything of it as I had been super uncomfortable that last week any way. Par for the course of the last stretch of pregnancy. That morning I sent Craig off to work and I woke up, showered (through what I now know was actually contractions), got all ready and worked myself (I work from home) for a few hours.
I was working right up until I couldn’t really talk on the phone any longer without having to stop mid sentence LOL! So I let my team know I would be out for the remainder of the day and then texted the midwife and doula to notify them of my symptoms and confirm things. They advised me to keep them posted as things changed. Well, things changed very rapidly, minute by minute really. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details of the changes etc. but I progressed rapidly and they were surprised since this was my first baby and typically first timers apparently usually take all day to labor; so they thought they had a lot more time for me.
I contacted Craig and said he may want to make his way home, but I asked him to go by the store first to pick up a few things. I was still kind of in denial or shock that this was “IT”! Or maybe I was just thinking I had more time, I’m not sure. I am just an easy-going person so it wasn’t a big deal to me and we needed a few things.
Contractions….just walk it out!
Our doula, Paige, arrived first as our midwife, Beth, had a full day of appointments that she ended up having to cancel, but she was in the middle of one when she realized she would need to cut it short and get to our house. Paige, was so great though. She got there before Craig got home and her voice calmed me through each contraction as I was just walking them out and pacing the upstairs floor from room to room. It hurt more to sit or lie down. She reminded me to relax my face, my shoulders and body and that would allow my cervix to be open and not tense up so that I didn’t delay the process. The contractions were close together and in the middle of them I would just pray to myself knowing that the feeling would soon pass and all would be over. Reminding myself that I have the power of the Holy Spirit within me to conquer all things, even this! Focusing on the pressure of the contraction itself would not have benefited anything whatsoever and it would have actually delayed labor. Focusing on my Savior was key! I would say out loud, “Relax, relax your face, open your cervix, just relax, be calm.” Speaking these things to my body out loud really helped. I then began having an intense sensation to push but I was not dilated enough for that yet, so again Paige just reminded me in a calming voice to not push just yet and to relax, and again I focused on God and prayed to myself through those urges and instructed my body through spoken words to remain relaxed and for my cervix to continue to open up so baby girl could make her arrival.
Craig is the best man I have ever known!
Craig made it home and he began encouraging me, praying over me, and then preparing the birthing pool with hot water for me. He was amazing! There were several times where he said afterwards when we were talking about the experience, he just didn’t know what to really do or say always, or where to stand or sit or be. I honestly can’t imagine what it would feel like to be in his shoes and not knowing what to do really. He did such a great job at supporting me throughout the process though, more than he realizes, helping me to focus at just the right times when he knew my mind was wandering and becoming focused on the pressure instead of God’s power through the Holy Spirit to get me through. He’d just grab my attention and encourage me to remain focused and I could feel his prayers over me constantly. He knelt beside the birthing pool at one point, holding my hand, we bowed our heads together and prayed. While the words were fast, they were strong and powerful and so beautiful. I could not have done it without his loving support and help!
It’s a process, surrender to the process and to your body!
The whole time during labor before I got into the pool and while I was in the pool I was subconsciously reminding myself that delivering this sweet baby is a process and I would tell my mind to surrender to this process and surrender to my body because my body knows exactly what to do and when to do things and I don’t have to resist the process but embrance it in all it’s glory. Praises to our God who is able to do more than we can even fathom. His creation is so amazing!!!! My water broke while laying in the birthing pool. Praise God because I had prayed that it wouldn’t happen in the bed and ruin it and make a huge mess or somewhere else. Once I was dilated enough to push I pushed while in a squatting position (which Beth recommended to try, I am so glad she did) for most of the duration of the labor all the way up until she was born. It was like a workout that I had done so many times before, and I am so thankful I had worked out so much to prepare for this moment. They were all impressed that my legs were strong enough to endure this, I was pushing for an hour in this position and my legs remained strong the entire time. The first time getting into that position upon the Beth’s suggestion, I instantly felt the baby’s head and the pressure that it placed on me and knew she’d be here soon!!!! I’d push and then rest on my knees with my arms up on the side of the pool, holding Craig’s hand the entire time. There was no pressure placed on me by any one as to how long I needed to be pushing, how hard, what position even, only reccomendations and encouragement along the way. “Erin, you’re doing so great! Keep it up Erin you are really doing wonderful!” are some of the words I recall them all saying to me. Such a blessing! They monitored the baby’s heart rate after each contraction and pushing session to ensure all was well. It was calm and peaceful really. They kept me hydrated. They all kept me encouraged. There were some moments of silence where it seemed all eyes and all attention were on me, and they were, just waiting until the time had come to assist in some way more, that’s all they could do. But in those moments I prayed to myself and claimed in the name of Christ that our baby girl would be delivered very soon without issue.
“We did it!!!"
At 2:53 PM on January 27th Kinleigh Rose was delivered, perfect and healthy, beautifully and naturally in the water in the comfort of our new home!!!!!!
Beth assisted as I “caught” the baby as she came out and she was instantly placed in my arms of course. I was able to sit back in the pool with her right there on me and just hold her and look into her sweet eyes. Craig was right there still holding my hand. I kept saying, through tears of joy, “We did it! We did it! We did it! She’s here! Oh my goodness she’s here!” It was the most surreal and amazing moment of my entire life. After a few minutes of just sitting in the pool and holding her, and some pictures were taken, I was ready to get out of that water for sure. So I said, “Okay I’m ready to get out what do I do?” They assisted helping me up and out and directly over to the bed to lie down with Kinleigh and have some bonding time. They allowed Craig and I to just bask in the moment with one another and our precious new daughter. The umbilical cord would eventually be cut but not before we had some time and the placenta was out. Allowing the cord to stay connected until the blood stops pumping is vital. The cord is still providing essentials to the baby after the baby is born and until it’s stopped pulsating it should not be cut. Those sweet moments will not be forgotten! So surreal and beautiful! I remember saying, "Oh no, we didn't even check to make sure she was actually a SHE!!!" LOL! I was skeptical of the ultrasounds we had so ya know I had to see for myself. We all cracked up!
After her arrival…..
We then made our way into our bathroom where they had drawn a bath in our actual tub for Kinleigh and I with some beautiful flowers that Paige and Beth arranged. It was such a sweet moment and placing Kinleigh in the water and seeing her precious face just loving the water was so awesome and so beautiful! We got some really great pictures and it was something I will cherish forever. I then handed Kinleigh to Craig and my midwife helped me out of the tub and I got to take a glorious shower! After birthing in a pool and all that goes with delivering a baby (blood and other things I will not be mentioning here) I was more than happy to grab a quick few moments to myself in the glorious shower. Afterwards my midwife Beth helped me out with the awesome mesh panties and pad lol! Warning…TMI coming up……There is blood that just pours out of you after you give birth, completely normal, but you kind of need some help when trying to dry yourself off and keep that from not getting all over the bathroom floor at the same time. Yes, you somehow become immodest in the midst of having a baby and Beth said something I will never forget when I was thanking her for helping me with this, she said, not these exact words but something along the line of “It’s just what we do, I’d want someone to help me in this way too, so it’s just what ladies do for one another and I am happy to do so.” What a blessing! I am so thankful for her and Paige for their help. Yes it is their job and yes we paid them to do so, but not everyone is called to do this, and I am sure not every midwife would be helpful with so many personal things in this manner, maybe they are but either way I am forever thankful.
After my shower I was cracking them up because I had to put my lotion on before lying down to rest. My skin dries out so easily that I just have to, it’s a must, even after giving birth. Then we just rested as they finished writing their report of the labor and delivery and checking out the placenta and then they did the baby exam. Craig made us all some yummy tacos and I swear I ate mine in 2 seconds flat. It was the best thing I had ever tasted in that moment. I ate another one again in thirty minutes I think. You are SO hungry after giving birth oh my word. They helped me with nursing and gave me baby and mother instructions for afterwards and they packed up and prepared to leave. I remember thinking, oh no they are going to leave, then what?!
Then what……
Then what…..then we just rested as a brand new family of three. We continued to say, “Hey. We just had a baby right there.” and “Hey. This is our daughter!” Having a baby is surreal at least for me it was and is, being a first time mom makes it more surreal maybe I don’t know. It’s amazing and yet hard to believe that this precious little life that grew inside of you for the past 9 months is now alive outside of you and yours to care for and that you delivered her! And even more surreal I think is that we delivered her in our home! How amazing!
Home birth is not for everyone and not every circumstance would allow for it, but I am so so thankful that I did my due diligence and research and decided on a home birth for us. It was the best decision for us and our family. I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you are healthy and active and willing to follow the guidelines and recommendations of the midwives and you have the proper mental mindset you too can have an amazing homebirth. I attest my proper mental mindset to the power of the Holy Spirit within me. I firmly believe that some people work things up in our minds for them to be awful so therefore their experience is awful or painful or hard. But in the same token I believe that if you claim and believe that you will have an amazing experience with childbirth, that you will have little to no pain and that all will be well then it will be. The power of the spoken word is huge and the power of our minds is as well. I give a huge credit to a book my sister-in-law recommended for me to read called Super Natural Childbirth by Jackie Mize. It was instrumental to assisting me claim victory over my pregnancy and the birthing process. It gave me scriptures to read out loud and pray over and also gave lots of beautiful testimonies of other women (some delivered at home and some in hospitals) who also believe in more and claimed victory over their birthing experiences and delivered with ease which is exactly how I felt mine went as well. A beautiful home delivery with ease and power of God in every step of the process. An experience I wish for every mother to have and share. I pray that my story may touch the life of someone and that she too can claim victory over her pregnancy and labor and delivery as well and share her beautiful story. Birth is beautiful. I only hope that more positive stories are shared and more women change their outlook on the process to be positive and joyful rather than awful and painful. I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit more women are able to have the birthing experience that they truly desire and one that their bodies are already fully equipped to handle. Claim it. Believe it. Experience it. Through Christ all things are possible!
The experience was truly something I will never forget and was so awesome and beautiful. Afterwards, as Craig and sat in our bed resting, gazing down at our precious newborn baby girl, we said to one another, “Hey. We just delivered our baby right over there.” and pointed over to the space in our room where the birthing pool was set up. Such a surreal time in our lives for sure. I am still pinching myself.
Denial followed by reality….today is THE day!
I began feeling very uncomfortable that evening/early morning before but didn’t think anything of it as I had been super uncomfortable that last week any way. Par for the course of the last stretch of pregnancy. That morning I sent Craig off to work and I woke up, showered (through what I now know was actually contractions), got all ready and worked myself (I work from home) for a few hours.
I was working right up until I couldn’t really talk on the phone any longer without having to stop mid sentence LOL! So I let my team know I would be out for the remainder of the day and then texted the midwife and doula to notify them of my symptoms and confirm things. They advised me to keep them posted as things changed. Well, things changed very rapidly, minute by minute really. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details of the changes etc. but I progressed rapidly and they were surprised since this was my first baby and typically first timers apparently usually take all day to labor; so they thought they had a lot more time for me.
I contacted Craig and said he may want to make his way home, but I asked him to go by the store first to pick up a few things. I was still kind of in denial or shock that this was “IT”! Or maybe I was just thinking I had more time, I’m not sure. I am just an easy-going person so it wasn’t a big deal to me and we needed a few things.
Contractions….just walk it out!
Our doula, Paige, arrived first as our midwife, Beth, had a full day of appointments that she ended up having to cancel, but she was in the middle of one when she realized she would need to cut it short and get to our house. Paige, was so great though. She got there before Craig got home and her voice calmed me through each contraction as I was just walking them out and pacing the upstairs floor from room to room. It hurt more to sit or lie down. She reminded me to relax my face, my shoulders and body and that would allow my cervix to be open and not tense up so that I didn’t delay the process. The contractions were close together and in the middle of them I would just pray to myself knowing that the feeling would soon pass and all would be over. Reminding myself that I have the power of the Holy Spirit within me to conquer all things, even this! Focusing on the pressure of the contraction itself would not have benefited anything whatsoever and it would have actually delayed labor. Focusing on my Savior was key! I would say out loud, “Relax, relax your face, open your cervix, just relax, be calm.” Speaking these things to my body out loud really helped. I then began having an intense sensation to push but I was not dilated enough for that yet, so again Paige just reminded me in a calming voice to not push just yet and to relax, and again I focused on God and prayed to myself through those urges and instructed my body through spoken words to remain relaxed and for my cervix to continue to open up so baby girl could make her arrival.
Craig is the best man I have ever known!
Craig made it home and he began encouraging me, praying over me, and then preparing the birthing pool with hot water for me. He was amazing! There were several times where he said afterwards when we were talking about the experience, he just didn’t know what to really do or say always, or where to stand or sit or be. I honestly can’t imagine what it would feel like to be in his shoes and not knowing what to do really. He did such a great job at supporting me throughout the process though, more than he realizes, helping me to focus at just the right times when he knew my mind was wandering and becoming focused on the pressure instead of God’s power through the Holy Spirit to get me through. He’d just grab my attention and encourage me to remain focused and I could feel his prayers over me constantly. He knelt beside the birthing pool at one point, holding my hand, we bowed our heads together and prayed. While the words were fast, they were strong and powerful and so beautiful. I could not have done it without his loving support and help!
It’s a process, surrender to the process and to your body!
The whole time during labor before I got into the pool and while I was in the pool I was subconsciously reminding myself that delivering this sweet baby is a process and I would tell my mind to surrender to this process and surrender to my body because my body knows exactly what to do and when to do things and I don’t have to resist the process but embrance it in all it’s glory. Praises to our God who is able to do more than we can even fathom. His creation is so amazing!!!! My water broke while laying in the birthing pool. Praise God because I had prayed that it wouldn’t happen in the bed and ruin it and make a huge mess or somewhere else. Once I was dilated enough to push I pushed while in a squatting position (which Beth recommended to try, I am so glad she did) for most of the duration of the labor all the way up until she was born. It was like a workout that I had done so many times before, and I am so thankful I had worked out so much to prepare for this moment. They were all impressed that my legs were strong enough to endure this, I was pushing for an hour in this position and my legs remained strong the entire time. The first time getting into that position upon the Beth’s suggestion, I instantly felt the baby’s head and the pressure that it placed on me and knew she’d be here soon!!!! I’d push and then rest on my knees with my arms up on the side of the pool, holding Craig’s hand the entire time. There was no pressure placed on me by any one as to how long I needed to be pushing, how hard, what position even, only reccomendations and encouragement along the way. “Erin, you’re doing so great! Keep it up Erin you are really doing wonderful!” are some of the words I recall them all saying to me. Such a blessing! They monitored the baby’s heart rate after each contraction and pushing session to ensure all was well. It was calm and peaceful really. They kept me hydrated. They all kept me encouraged. There were some moments of silence where it seemed all eyes and all attention were on me, and they were, just waiting until the time had come to assist in some way more, that’s all they could do. But in those moments I prayed to myself and claimed in the name of Christ that our baby girl would be delivered very soon without issue.
“We did it!!!"
At 2:53 PM on January 27th Kinleigh Rose was delivered, perfect and healthy, beautifully and naturally in the water in the comfort of our new home!!!!!!
Beth assisted as I “caught” the baby as she came out and she was instantly placed in my arms of course. I was able to sit back in the pool with her right there on me and just hold her and look into her sweet eyes. Craig was right there still holding my hand. I kept saying, through tears of joy, “We did it! We did it! We did it! She’s here! Oh my goodness she’s here!” It was the most surreal and amazing moment of my entire life. After a few minutes of just sitting in the pool and holding her, and some pictures were taken, I was ready to get out of that water for sure. So I said, “Okay I’m ready to get out what do I do?” They assisted helping me up and out and directly over to the bed to lie down with Kinleigh and have some bonding time. They allowed Craig and I to just bask in the moment with one another and our precious new daughter. The umbilical cord would eventually be cut but not before we had some time and the placenta was out. Allowing the cord to stay connected until the blood stops pumping is vital. The cord is still providing essentials to the baby after the baby is born and until it’s stopped pulsating it should not be cut. Those sweet moments will not be forgotten! So surreal and beautiful! I remember saying, "Oh no, we didn't even check to make sure she was actually a SHE!!!" LOL! I was skeptical of the ultrasounds we had so ya know I had to see for myself. We all cracked up!
After her arrival…..
We then made our way into our bathroom where they had drawn a bath in our actual tub for Kinleigh and I with some beautiful flowers that Paige and Beth arranged. It was such a sweet moment and placing Kinleigh in the water and seeing her precious face just loving the water was so awesome and so beautiful! We got some really great pictures and it was something I will cherish forever. I then handed Kinleigh to Craig and my midwife helped me out of the tub and I got to take a glorious shower! After birthing in a pool and all that goes with delivering a baby (blood and other things I will not be mentioning here) I was more than happy to grab a quick few moments to myself in the glorious shower. Afterwards my midwife Beth helped me out with the awesome mesh panties and pad lol! Warning…TMI coming up……There is blood that just pours out of you after you give birth, completely normal, but you kind of need some help when trying to dry yourself off and keep that from not getting all over the bathroom floor at the same time. Yes, you somehow become immodest in the midst of having a baby and Beth said something I will never forget when I was thanking her for helping me with this, she said, not these exact words but something along the line of “It’s just what we do, I’d want someone to help me in this way too, so it’s just what ladies do for one another and I am happy to do so.” What a blessing! I am so thankful for her and Paige for their help. Yes it is their job and yes we paid them to do so, but not everyone is called to do this, and I am sure not every midwife would be helpful with so many personal things in this manner, maybe they are but either way I am forever thankful.
After my shower I was cracking them up because I had to put my lotion on before lying down to rest. My skin dries out so easily that I just have to, it’s a must, even after giving birth. Then we just rested as they finished writing their report of the labor and delivery and checking out the placenta and then they did the baby exam. Craig made us all some yummy tacos and I swear I ate mine in 2 seconds flat. It was the best thing I had ever tasted in that moment. I ate another one again in thirty minutes I think. You are SO hungry after giving birth oh my word. They helped me with nursing and gave me baby and mother instructions for afterwards and they packed up and prepared to leave. I remember thinking, oh no they are going to leave, then what?!
Then what……
Then what…..then we just rested as a brand new family of three. We continued to say, “Hey. We just had a baby right there.” and “Hey. This is our daughter!” Having a baby is surreal at least for me it was and is, being a first time mom makes it more surreal maybe I don’t know. It’s amazing and yet hard to believe that this precious little life that grew inside of you for the past 9 months is now alive outside of you and yours to care for and that you delivered her! And even more surreal I think is that we delivered her in our home! How amazing!
Home birth is not for everyone and not every circumstance would allow for it, but I am so so thankful that I did my due diligence and research and decided on a home birth for us. It was the best decision for us and our family. I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you are healthy and active and willing to follow the guidelines and recommendations of the midwives and you have the proper mental mindset you too can have an amazing homebirth. I attest my proper mental mindset to the power of the Holy Spirit within me. I firmly believe that some people work things up in our minds for them to be awful so therefore their experience is awful or painful or hard. But in the same token I believe that if you claim and believe that you will have an amazing experience with childbirth, that you will have little to no pain and that all will be well then it will be. The power of the spoken word is huge and the power of our minds is as well. I give a huge credit to a book my sister-in-law recommended for me to read called Super Natural Childbirth by Jackie Mize. It was instrumental to assisting me claim victory over my pregnancy and the birthing process. It gave me scriptures to read out loud and pray over and also gave lots of beautiful testimonies of other women (some delivered at home and some in hospitals) who also believe in more and claimed victory over their birthing experiences and delivered with ease which is exactly how I felt mine went as well. A beautiful home delivery with ease and power of God in every step of the process. An experience I wish for every mother to have and share. I pray that my story may touch the life of someone and that she too can claim victory over her pregnancy and labor and delivery as well and share her beautiful story. Birth is beautiful. I only hope that more positive stories are shared and more women change their outlook on the process to be positive and joyful rather than awful and painful. I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit more women are able to have the birthing experience that they truly desire and one that their bodies are already fully equipped to handle. Claim it. Believe it. Experience it. Through Christ all things are possible!