Natalia Arami
I am so happy to be able to share my home birth story!
I had been contemplating home birth as my pregnancy
progressed and finally switched care providers to Morning Star when I was 36
weeks. The midwives and staff at Morning
Star made me feel so comfortable with my decision and I was so excited to give
birth to my second baby at home. We set
up the birthing tub in our dining room and I brought a twin bed into our living
room.
When I went into labor, I called Morning Star to give them a
“heads up” and settled in to labor at home.
We filled the tub with water and started timing contractions. When I thought things were getting close, I
called Rachel and she came to check on me (about 4:30 p.m.). I was only 2 cm dilated but I was 100%
effaced. Rachel said that when the baby
dropped, my dilation would happen very quickly.
Rachel gave us detailed instructions on what to watch for as labor
progressed and when we should call her to come back for the birth.
My doula came at about 8:30 p.m. and suggested some new
labor exercises. Labor was pretty
intense for me by then. At 1:15, my
doula called Rachel and told her that she should probably come. When Rachel arrived at about 2 a.m., I was
dilated to a 7. She said that now would
be a good time to get in the tub. It
felt so amazing to lower my belly into the water. I dilated to a 10 within a matter of minutes
and began pushing. I tried my best to
control my pushing so that I wouldn’t tear and my beautiful baby girl was born
at 3:05 a.m.
I moved to the bed in the living room to deliver the
placenta and to complete the post-birth tests.
Rachel and her assistant stayed longer than normal to make sure I was
stable (my blood pressure is always on the low end and I lost some blood during
the delivery).
My new baby and I snuggled and relaxed in the comfort of our
own home and started the bonding process without having to worry about going
anywhere. It was an incredible
experience and I am so glad I decided to do a home birth. If we decide to have more children, we’ll be
calling Morning Star.