by Karin
This is the birth story of my beautiful Kira
My husband and I knew we were going to free birth around month 4/5. Myself and good friend Stephanie would measure my stomach and listen to the baby‘s heartbeat to make sure the baby was growing appropriately. It was a very laid-back and relaxing pregnancy.
I hired a midwife to come and give us a freebirth class, this was in month 9. She went over all the emergency situations and when/if we should call 911 (we’re 5 mins from a hospital). The midwife listened to the heart beat and signed our proof of pregnancy.
I planned to have my good friend Stephanie there & a birth photographer. I was debating at the last minute who I wanted there. I didnt want to hold back anything, I wanted to be free to express however I pleased in the moment.
My water broke on a Sunday night on the bathroom floor. My contractions went 2 days on and off – nothing steady. We walked the neighborhood every day. I made sure to check my temperature and stay out of the bath. By Tuesday night around 11:30pm my contractions started and I was able to time them.
My 2 year son was home at the time, but had just gone to sleep downstairs on the couch. I let my husband sleep for a couple hours longer while the contractions were not so intense. I listen to rain music and just relaxed as much as possible.
I labored in my daughters room because it had an attached bathroom. We had shower curtains covering the floor. I made a “birthing nest” on the floor between the bathroom and the bed. I felt called to birth on the ground. I had tons of pillows under the shower curtains. Then on top of the shower curtains we had sheets that I planned on throwing away. I wanted to be able just to roll everything up and throw away in trash bags. The room was lit up by string lighting on the wall. I had my diffuser going and my words of encouragement from my close friends and family in front of me.
As the contractions got more intense I woke up my husband to help me. I remember when I was in the bath, I wanted the temperature to be a certain degree. I wanted the sound of the water running, so I would make him unplug the drain. It went back-and-forth like this for a good 30/ 45 minutes. I had a beeswax candle in the bathroom, giving us light. He was such a champ for endlessly giving in to all my demands and being a wonderful support person. I didnt want him to touch me or stand too close. I want him close enough so I wouldnt feel alone and so he could tell me words of encouragement when I needed them.
I ended up getting out of the bath and went to leaning on my birthing ball. I would lean forward on the ball when the strong contractions came. At the last minute I moved over towards the side of the bed where I had tons of those puppy pads down. I was on my knees and leaning over the bed, when I felt her head in the canal and knew in that moment this was almost over. My husband was behind me when I pushed her head out. He told me “one more push!”. I was too weak to reach down and grab her, thankfully my husband reached out and caught her.
The baby cried right away and my husband called out “its a girl”.
I had Kira around 7am, Wednesday morning. I kneeled in that spot next to the bed holding her and looking at her, until I had enough strength to move to my birthing nest. As soon as I got comfortable, my son came up the stairs. It was such perfect timing, praise God!
I ended up texting my friend Stephanie, as I still hadn’t birthed the placenta. She came over right away and gave me the encouragement to tug on the cord of the placenta to help it along. About an hour after birth, the placenta came down and out.
I laid there resting, replaying the birth, feeling so empowered of what I just did. My sweet baby was perfect, healthy just like the others.
Stephanie helped me so much after birth, from the clean up, to preparing the placenta for the lotus birth we had planned. We kept her placenta attached until 11pm that Wednesday night. It was too difficult for me to move around and nurse Kira so we decided to cut it.
About 2 hours after birth, my two older girls came home to meet their new baby sister. We are all so in love with our Kira June.
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