During my pregnancy I eagerly anticipated having a home waterbirth. I believed that God designed women's bodies to give birth and that birth works, though I was not naive. I knew things could go wrong--even at home--so, while sometimes wondering how I could be so audacious as to think I could have a beautiful homebirth when many mothers have such painful memories of childbirth, I carefully prepared myself for giving birth at home in a birthing tub. Here is the story of Calvin's birth. . .
On my due date, December 16th, I went to bed at 12:30 am feeling extra tired and slightly crampy. I didn't feel like I would go into labor anytime soon.
I woke up several hours later at about 3:40am with mild contractions and went to the bathroom. I had loose bowel movements and knew that was a possible sign of labor. I felt cold, so I turned up the heat and cuddled up in a warm, soft comforter, being careful to lay on my left side. When my husband got up for work about a half hour later, I told him I thought I was in labor.
He figured that it would be a while before our baby's birth, so he got on the Internet while I took a bath and ate some tea and toast. My contractions got stronger.
After the bath I chose a pink nightshirt with kitties on it to labor in. Then I laid down on the couch and timed my contractions while my husband finished surfing the Internet. I called my mom and talked until I had a contraction. . . then I became quiet, and Mom asked if I was having a contraction. Yes, I was! She said she'd get ready to come over and suggested that I call the midwife.
I called my midwife, Suellen, and told her I was having contractions that were at the most four minutes apart and 45 seconds long. She said she would come if I wanted her to, but I said she could wait a while. She said to let her know when the contractions got more intense. Soon after I hung up the phone, they started lasting 60 seconds long.
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