Here it is: my last birth story that I have to share with you (at least for now). This birth was more than I expected and everything I dreamed for my first natural home birth. If you have been reading along, then you have read my first and second birth experiences, and I can’t wait for you to read this one too.

Baby No. 3

Now I know most, if not all, practitioners – whether they are a standard OB/GYN or a midwife – recommend waiting at least a year between pregnancies for your body to recover and replenish key nutrients. But God has plans bigger than our own, and I only had four months between my first two pregnancies. We initially thought that we wanted to wait to add a third to our growing family, but by the time our son was 6 months old, God touched our hearts and we were open to expanding our family as God planned. Unlike the popular opinion of today, we believe every child is a blessing and the more the merrier.

My Third Pregnancy

When our son was 11.5 months old, we discovered that I was pregnant with our second little boy, and we were so excited. My experiences with all three of my pregnancies were fairly similar. With my first, I had nausea a few times and only had morning sickness once. With my second pregnancy, I experienced morning sickness twice, and with my third, I think it was three to five times. But compared to the experience of a lot of women, all three of my pregnancies were very smooth in that regard. For that, I am extremely grateful, especially during my second and third pregnancies when I had toddlers in the house to take care of, no matter how I felt.

When I first found out that I was pregnant, my initial plan was to use the same midwife group that I had used for our first son’s birth. Like I mentioned in my second birth experience, I enjoyed my prenatal care with them just fine, but it was the specific midwife that delivered my baby that truly made all the difference. Sadly, the midwife that I loved moved to another part of Texas six weeks after my son was born. If you are familiar with Texas, then you know that Texas is huge and this meant I wouldn’t be able to use her again for my upcoming birth.

With that in consideration, I started looking into other options in the area. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go with anyone else despite my favorite midwife moving away, but I decided to give it a go just in case. And I am so glad that I did.

The Hunt for a New Midwife

Initially, I looked at a lot of options in the surrounding areas. Based off my previous experiences, I knew that I didn’t want a birthing center that was more than 15-20 minutes away, and that I preferred my midwife shared my Christian faith. There were only three other midwife collectives within a similar distance as my last two. I thoroughly reviewed their websites and tried to get an overall vibe from their sites before deciding which one I wanted to meet in person. Despite their websites looking great, there was something overall that just wasn’t clicking with me. On top of that, the prices for all of the midwife groups around me had increased by over $1,000 in just the course of a year, and that is something I definitely had to take into consideration.

In my searching, I came across a home birth midwife who also offered births at local birthing centers. The birthing center closest to me was still about ten to fifteen minutes further than my past two experiences which I wasn’t keen on. I read a bunch of glowing reviews about her and thoroughly looked over her website, just like I lay out in my post Finding the Perfect Midwife and How to Interview Them.

From her website, I knew she was a Christian and after a short call with her, I was fairly certain she was the perfect match for us. I talked it over with my husband, explaining the option to do a home birth with this specific midwife or a birthing center birth. I explained my feelings about having to drive much further during labor than our previous experiences, and we discussed the feasibility and how comfortable we would be with a home birth, including our concerns about clean up post birth. That last one seems silly, but sounds like a lot of people have that same question for home birth midwives.

In the end, we agreed that this midwife felt like the perfect fit for us, and I decided I was ready to give home birth a try.

My Prenatal Care

My prenatal care was great, it was just as I expected after having gone through it two other times in the not so distant past. The biggest difference, and my favorite part of the experience, was having the same midwife for every appointment and for my birth. There was no guessing on whether or not the midwife I was familiar with would be the one attending the birth. The midwife that I saw each visit was the same one that would be there for my birth, and that really does give you a peace that I am not sure I realized before was missing.

39 Weeks

In my last two pregnancies, I felt like I was perfectly content for baby to come whenever they were ready, both of which arrived between 5-10 days past my due date. But this go around, by the time I reached 39 weeks – maybe because I was chasing around a 33 month and 19 month old at the time – I was ready for this little guy to join us.

I went to a prenatal massage therapist that I have been going to since my first pregnancy. She is amazing and I highly recommend looking for a good prenatal massage therapist near you during pregnancy. During that appointment, she mentioned that there was such a thing as an induction massage; I asked her about it, and she told me that it only works if your body is ready for labor, and it is best when done in conjunction with a chiropractic adjustment. Essentially, if your body is ready for labor, but there is one thing out of place in the chain-reaction that is necessary to start labor, this massage – along with the adjustment – can help get everything in its proper alignment and stimulate the beginning of labor.

Since I was already 39 weeks, she went ahead and did it for me. I didn’t feel any difference, but the next day, I had my chiropractic appointment. And would you believe that evening I started to experience mild contractions? Well, that is exactly what happened.

The Beginning of Labor

Sometime between 7:00 and 9:00 PM the night after my chiropractor adjustment, I was drinking Nora Tea (a tea that most midwives have you drink once you are around 36 weeks – another common option is straight Red Raspberry Leaf Tea) and I felt some very mild cramping that came and went. Despite the mild contractions, and I assumed this pregnancy would go past 40 weeks like my last two, so I didn’t think much of the cramping. That night, I woke up around 12:30 AM to some bloody show – something that never happened with my other two until much further into labor. The contractions were still very mild, so I did my best to go back to sleep until everyone else woke up around 6:30 in the morning.

After keeping myself busy throughout the morning with mild contractions, my in-laws took our oldest two back to their house after lunch. My husband and I went for a short walk around the block in the hopes that labor would begin to progress, which it did. By 2:40 PM, our midwife arrived at the house, did a check of my progress, and then things really started to pick up.

Active Labor

As I transitioned into active labor, I focused on breathing through each contraction calmly, something I had not really mastered with my last two. With each contraction, as they got stronger, I focused my mind on doing my best not to tense up, to breathe through them, and remind myself to stay open.

One thing I loved about this experience was that my midwife helped to put pressure on my hips in the exact spots where I needed it to help get through the contractions as they got stronger. The midwife from my last birth did this a bit and I really appreciated it then too. The first midwife group we worked with did zero of that, hence one of the reasons I encourage you to ask your potential midwife how hands on or off they are in labor.

As the contractions grew stronger, I held my husband’s hands through each one, and doing that really helped me focus my energy on staying open but also gave me a place to channel some of the pain. And at the same time, my midwife held my leg in such a way that essentially helped to open my pelvis more, making it easier for baby to come through.

One thing you often hear about women experiencing in birth is the “ring of fire” as baby’s head begins to crown. With my first birth, I never felt that because of the epidural. With my second, he arrived in the sack and so I never felt the sting of the ring of fire. But with my third, I definitely felt it, and while it definitely hurt more than the last two, it really wasn’t much more than a stinging sensation or as if someone rubbed along a bruised bone.

At 4:37 PM, after only about two hours of active labor, our second baby boy was born, weighing 8 lbs 9 ounces and measuring 22 inches long; our biggest baby so far. After he was born, and after doing skin to skin, our midwife did the newborn exam in our room with us, and it was just an incredibly peaceful experience. It was such a smooth and easy birth, and being able to just be at home is such a blessing. Especially not having to be in a moving car during active labor. Our midwife and her assistant cleaned up everything. Before I got settled back into our bed with our little boy, they stripped the top sheet and mattress proctor, leaving a clean and fresh set underneath that was ready for us. They started a load of laundry, got me something to eat, all the while just being very quiet and creating such a beautiful and peaceful space that was free of the hustle and bustle of anyone else.

Final Thoughts

After two experiences with chiropractors with very obvious results, I am a firm believer that it is a great addition to your prenatal care. But not only did a chiropractic adjustment help resume my stalled labor during my second birth, it also jump started my third labor. Both of which tell me how potent simple things like chiropractic work can have on your pregnancy and birth experience.

I pray that these three birth stories help you and give you the confidence you need to experience an incredible birth, whether it is your first or fifth. If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to drop a comment below or send me a message.