Noah’s birth story, part 2: Birth

To read about all I had to go through to get to this amazing birth, read Noah's birth story, part 1: the VBAC journey

**Disclaimer: While I am a huge home/natural birth supporter, I am not against hospitals/doctors/nurses. I don’t think they’re evil. I think they have a purpose and thank goodness we have those people and procedures like cesarean sections to save lives when it’s needed. I will not think badly of any mother that has a hospital birth. I just want all mothers to do their own research and make informed decisions for the health of themselves and their babies. I only recommend home birth for healthy, low risk pregnancies.

At 2 am Sunday morning when I was 41 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I woke to something strange going on with my body. I was pretty excited, because I knew it meant labor was close! I went ahead to church services. I started having some random contractions throughout the day and I expected to go into labor that night. Well, I was pretty disappointed when I woke up the next morning to not be in labor. Later that day (Monday) I was sitting at the table taking care of some things and I started to leak amniotic fluid. Again, I expected labor to come later that day. I had more contractions but nothing timeable so I gave up trying to keep track and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night having contractions that were lasting at least 40 seconds, but still were not regular. My midwife had told me to call her when they started lasting that long, no matter the spacing. It was about 2ish am (Tuesday) and we got everything into the car, dropped Eli off with his sitter and left for Cape Girardeau, MO (about 1.5 hours away from our house). The contractions were pretty uncomfortable in the car and I eventually had to get out of my seat to move around to try and relax through them. When I got there, everything slowed down. We waited around for a while, tried some things to pick up labor, and then I decided to let the midwife check me to see what’s going on. She said my cervix was so high she couldn’t even feel it. I was in prodromal labor...not actual labor. ugh! I was really disppointed...especially since I knew that it could last for days before real labor and I was not liking being so uncomfortable. We picked up Eli and went home. I took a nap and tried to relax to make myself more comfortable before labor began. My midwife said that I would know I’m in labor if nothing worked to help me relax and be more comfortable. I woke a couple of times for contractions, but nothing too serious. Eventually, I couldn’t sleep anymore so I got up and instructed Robert on what to feed him and Eli for dinner. I didn’t want dinner...I was feeling nauseous from the smell of it. So I just hung out in the living room and TRIED to eat a sweet potato in an attempt to make the nausea calm down. I was completely useless...the contractions were harder, still irregular, and I was worn out from not having much sleep. My sweet husband took care of everything that night so I could just lie around being miserable. We eventually went to bed but I couldn’t stay there long. The contractions were really uncomfortable while lying down and I couldn’t sleep between or through them. I got up, tried to entertain myself and relax, shower, etc. Nothing was making me comfortable. The contractions started flowing from one to the other...in other words, I was having a constant contraction. NO BREAK (not even seconds) in between. They would still rise and fall a little, but the pain always remained. I was unsure if I was in labor and I hesitated to believe I was because I didn’t want to make another pointless drive out to Missouri. I thought that maybe I was having indigestion or something, but nothing made it better. I became more nauseous and more miserable and I tried walking around the house, sitting on the birth ball, rolling around on the floor, and any other position I could think of to help the discomfort. This lasted for hours and I broke down and cried because I was so miserable and so tired and COULDN’T get any sleep. Eventually Robert woke up because I vomited in the doorway of the bedroom. That sweet guy cleaned it up while I was lying on the floor like an invalid, crying, panicking, etc. Robert said “you NEED to call the midwife. This can’t be normal.” I refused and I said I wasn’t sure that I was in labor (and everyone had said I would KNOW when I was in labor, so I was waiting for that). Robert said we will go to Missouri, and if it turns out I’m not in labor, we will stay in a hotel until it happens so we don’t have to drive back again. This was good to me, so I called the midwife, crying and not being able to really talk through the discomfort. She told me to attempt to slow down labor and drive to her house as soon as possible. This was at about 3ish (?) am on Wednesday morning. Again, we packed up the car and dropped Eli off with the sitter. I was in a lot of pain when we got to their house and begged Robert to hurry. We drove on to Missouri...the MOST MISERABLE CAR RIDE OF MY LIFE! I couldn’t sit, stand, lie down, whatever. I just screamed and moaned and panicked and cried. Poor Robert thought something was wrong so he kept updating me on how far we had to go and kept reminding me to relax my body. I was feeling SO MUCH PRESSURE that I didn’t know if we would make it in time. I prayed that we would. I knew Noah had to be sitting very low for me to feel that much pressure.


We FINALLY arrived at the home of the midwife (I wanted a home birth but I couldn’t have it at my own home, so she let me use hers. Still just as good for me :) ). Robert put my shoes on and helped me up the stairs. He knocked on the door (which is funny to me) and the midwife said that we should have just come on in. I felt so relieved once we got there. I immediately was able to relax and I FINALLY started getting a short break between contractions (ahhh :) ). I am absolutely sure that the coaching from the midwife and doula combined with my hubby rubbing my back was the reason I was able to feel better. I was still miserable, but labor was so much easier once we were at the “birth house.” We didn’t bother timing contractions, by this point I realized I was just not going to get regular contractions and was going to have a weird labor. I leaned over the couch while they were filling up the birth pool. Once the water was warm enough, I got in and it was amazing. The contractions were still uncomfortable, of course, but the warm water and the weightless feeling really helped me relax. I loved that pool. I didn’t want any checks during labor but I did want to know how close I was to having a baby. I expected Noah to come the next night or something. The midwife gave me a semi-check while I was in the pool to see how low Noah was. She showed me with her finger how much further he had to go until he’s out. I asked how much longer I had to go and was told that I was “probably” at 9 cm (they didn’t do a full examination since I didn’t want that). I immediately became happier and smiled. I said “my baby is going to be born today?” and they answered “without a doubt!” I was so happy. Robert took a picture of me then and I would put it here but I look really disgusting and worn out. 

I prepared a bunch of food and gatorade/water for labor to keep my energy up but I never thought to eat or drink anything. They did make sure I was taking sips of gatorade/water and taking bites of a banana after contractions, even though I didn’t really feel like having any of it. During the entire labor, I only had a few bites of sweet potato, a few bites of banana, a few sips of water, and one bottle of gatorade. 

It was taking longer than expected for me to feel the urge to push, so the midwife checked me and found that I had an anterior cervical lip that needed to get past baby’s head so he could come out. So we waited a little while for me to dilate past that lip, but then they told me to get out of the pool and lay on the floor. I was not happy about this part. Laying on my back on the hard floor was the most uncomfortable position to be in. We did this so the midwife could help me push past the cervical lip. I pushed while being on the floor and the rest of my water broke. This part really surprised me, because it was a huge gush of water that exploded into the air! haha. I asked if that was my water breaking and if I had done that myself (it was all me). I was able to get back in the pool after that and start pushing. Now I didn’t much like the pool anymore because I was hot and sweaty and the water was hot. My hair was in my face driving me nuts so Robert took a cold rag to wipe my face several times. I tried many positions: hands and knees, squatting, leaning back, standing into a squat...nothing was getting the baby out. I felt like I was making no progress at all. I thought I would be pushing forever. The midwife then instructed me to either lay on the floor again or get in the bed because I needed to lay on my side. Noah was stuck on my pubic arch, so we needed to get him past that. I refused to go back to that floor and stayed in the pool a little longer. They suggested the bed again so I gave in and got out of the pool. They took my gown off because it was soaked. We got in the bed and the midwife had Robert hold my legs so I wouldn’t have to just suspend my leg on my own. This part seemed to take so long. I kept pushing and pushing and I felt nothing was happening but they assured me that he was coming. They had me touch his head and I felt his little head hair. His head was squishy and slimy, which was surprising to me. It was kind of gross, actually :)

They took a picture of him crowning to show me as proof that things were happening. I still couldn’t feel him coming out. There was just too much pressure for me to feel any difference. I was still getting a little rest between contractions so during those times I laid there and breathed, trying to think “he’ll be out soon. This will all be over.” I had read that every woman gets to a point in their labor when they say “I can’t do this” and that that always means you’re almost done. During labor I didn’t think I would get to that point because of all I had been through already. I had been telling myself “I can do this” through all that. Well, I DID get to that point in labor. As I was pushing his head out I told Robert repeatedly “I can’t do this.” Of course, in my head I knew that was ridiculous because I had no other choice at this point but to get the kid out. Robert kept telling me that I was doing great and that I CAN do it. I was almost done. Robert said “he’s coming, PJ, he’s coming!” I was so happy that Robert kept saying that because I still felt like nothing was happening. Him telling me that was keeping me going. I even ignored a couple of contractions just because I was so exhausted that I didn’t want to push. Finally, they said “okay, his head is out!” and I was shocked. I didn’t feel any different yet. Then they had me flip to hands and knees so that his body could rotate to get out. I don’t know how I got to hands and knees, but I’m pretty sure I was pushed into that position. There’s no way I could do that on my own, with Noah’s head being earthside. I don’t remember if I pushed at this point, I think I gave a little push and Noah’s body just squirmed out. That part was easy. 

I looked down and saw a BABY lying on the bed. I was so happy to see him there. They told me to wait a second to make sure the cord was long enough for me to bring him to me, but I just remember grabbing him, sitting back, and saying “I did it” over and over. Noah was screaming as soon as I touched him. It’s neat that babies don’t need to have their noses and mouths suctioned. They just start breathing on their own when they’re healthy! Both Robert and I were crying, of course, and I looked at Robert in disbelief that I actually did it. I felt better immediately now that he was out. That was awesome! I laid on the bed with my sweet baby against my chest, falling in love with this little boy. He cried for a long time until I sang the "I'll love you forever" song. He found comfort in my voice :) 

I forgot that the placenta had to come out, but I felt another contraction later and they said the placenta was coming out. I asked if it would hurt because I was SO done with labor lol. It didn’t hurt, just felt super weird and squishy coming out. It took 20 minutes from Noah’s birth for the placenta to come out. Yay! No hemorrhage or uterine rupture or anything like that. My body isn’t broken!

I’m grateful to my amazing midwife, Joann Falcon of Missouri, for helping me achieve this safe delivery and for believing in my body’s ability to do this. I’m thankful for Robert, that he allowed me to have this home birth even though he was so nervous about it (he actually said no several times at first). It means SO MUCH to me that Robert trusted that I was making the safest decision for our baby and myself.

I had this beautiful labor and birth, the way God intended for it to be, and I felt amazing. I thanked God over and over and then thanked my midwife for everything. I got to birth my baby and be the first to touch him. No one took him away from me. I just got to be in bed with my sweet munchkin. I so wish I had this experience with Eli, but if it hadn’t been for my experience with Eli’s birth, I would not have had this beautiful, empowering, and healing moment. All I went through to get to this birth made this moment that much sweeter. I am so thankful, especially for the health of my baby and myself. This was a life changing moment, for sure.

**if you couldn't keep up, I was in active labor for 17 hours, and prodromal labor for almost 3 days before that. Also, Noah ended up being a HALF POUND SMALLER than Eli! My work paid off :) But he was still a sort of big baby and definitely had a big head...guess I'm made to birth big babies, even with my "small" pelvis. Oh, and I don't have to wear diapers the rest of my life because I don't have incontinence issues.

Noah Konnor Charnock

born April 16th, 10:12 am

8 lbs 13 oz, 22 inches long

15 inch head, 14 inch chest