Carly’s 36w4d waterbirth

Written by Carly

I woke up at 3am on the dot to wetness in my underwear. I dismissed it and then laid there for a few seconds feeling a trickle of more fluid. Off to the bathroom I went for the third time of the night. I pulled down my underwear and immediately noticed how saturated they were. As soon as I sat on the toilet more trickles fell into the toilet before I even began to pee. My water had broken.

I called my midwife at 3:03am to update her. This was early. I was 36 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

We touched base and she told me the ball was in my court and she felt comfortable staying with the homebirth plans if I did. I went to wake Ryan. “My water broke this is not a joke”

A rush of adrenaline came over me as we situated the room some and discussed what we wanted to do. I threw a load of towels in the washer and we decided we were going to stay as long as it felt right.

I paced around and straightened a few more things up as Ryan went back to bed for a few. Finally I decided I was situated enough to lay down and I got back in bed at about 5am. Around this time I started noticing contractions. I was relieved because I knew if my body didn’t decide it was time to have this baby within the next day I’d have to transfer and it would definitely complicate my natural birth plan.

The contractions came about every 15-20 minutes with mild intensity and I drifted off to sleep from 6am ish- 7am.

Around 7am I checked in again with my midwife and texted my photographer. I decided to eat and shower and see where that took me.

My midwife told me she had an appointment an hour away from me at 10:45am so I needed to decided if she should go to that or stay close. Another 15 minutes later around 830am I told her to stay close.

I relaxed and watched a show with the kids and decided she should come at 9:15am. My contractions were spaced still about 10 minutes apart but becoming more intense.

My sister headed my way and the birth photographer got ready to go as well. My midwife arrived at roughly 10am and checked me I was 7cm dilated.

Let’s get in the pool!

I made my way to the pool and shortly after my midwife assistant and sister arrived. I was working hard now and starting to push.

After one intense contraction I felt the baby’s body completely rotate and drop. With the next contraction baby was crowning and one or two contractions later his head was born. The cord was wrapped around his body some so my midwife assisted and with the next urge I caught my baby and brought him to my chest.

A boy!

Born July 25, 2019

4# 15ounces

18 inches long

Sweet Jude Anthony ♥️

He has arrived.