My Fourth Natural Home Birth Story

After waiting 42 and a half weeks for our little baby to be born, Ashton Benaiah Nitz, was born to us at home on January 6th, 2015. He weighed 8 lb. 8 oz. and was 21 inches long. After I held my sweet baby for a while, unfortunately a little drama came our way...but before I get ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.

January 5th, 9:00 pm - After feeling like I had been waiting most of my life to go into labor, I noticed I was bleeding a bit. I called my midwife, and we discussed why that may be happening: possible infection, labor or just part of my mucus plug. I decided to go and take a shower and relax. However, when I got into the shower, labor contractions really amped up. They went from being irregular (which had been happening for the last month) to coming every 2-3 minutes. My husband called the midwife again and asked her to come over, then called my mom and sister, (who would also be attending the birth) and our birth photographer. Within about a half hour or so, everyone was here, and I could not believe the time had finally come! Soon, we would meet our little baby and find out if we had a new son or daughter!

We had decided to try a water birth this time around, so I immediately wanted to get in the tub to see if it eased contractions. After a little while of trying to add and subtract water to get the right temperature, I was finally able to get in. It did feel nice to relax in there for awhile, but contractions slowed way down to about 10 minutes apart. After a little while of resting, I decided I better get out and get things rocking again. I jumped in the shower, and sure enough, contractions sped up again.

Around this time, which must have been around midnight or so, everyone was getting sleepy. Before I knew it, it was just Adam and I. I was getting so tired and just wanted to sleep. I decided to lie down on our bed and try to get through contractions while resting in between. This was incredibly painful, and while I wanted Adam to rub my back to help relieve the pain, he kept falling asleep too.

I tried alternating getting in the bath with going back in the shower. It was hard to do this as contractions were getting really strong. I knew things were getting really serious when I started shaking uncontrollably and vomiting. I just felt so tired and weak.

Finally, I got in the tub and stayed in the tub. When I felt transition was coming, I asked Adam to go wake somebody up to help me. The midwives came in, and this is where details get a little fuzzy, because I was only focused on getting through the pain.

 I remember being so incredibly tired and pained and just wanting it to be over. But, what mother in labor does NOT feel that way, right? I also remember holding someone’s hand. When I was going through my birth photographer’s pictures, I realized that I was actually holding my father’s hand. I didn’t even know he was there, so this was such a sweet surprise to realize and brought tears to my eyes.

I felt so uncomfortable in the tub trying to figure out how to get ready to push the baby out. Adam started helping support my body by holding under my arms. The midwives and my mom and sister all tried to help hold my legs, so I could push the little miracle out. I also remember calling for someone to make sure my two older children were awake and in the room, because we had decided as a family that they could be a part of this miracle. After several crazy pushes, my beautiful baby was born at 5:07 am! We named him Ashton Benaiah Nitz, and he is so loved!

Seconds after my baby was born, I got to hold him. It is the most mind-blowing feeling to touch the skin and see the child you have been carrying inside of you for almost a year.

 My two midwives were amazing. Thanks Joanna and Jeanne! Also, huge thanks to my mom, dad, and sister, Calleigh, for being so supportive and helping with my other children.

As I mentioned earlier, none of us knew whether this baby was a boy or girl. I had told everyone not to tell me until I could find out for myself. But...my husband spilled the beans while I was holding him. When I heard, "It is a boy!" I didn’t care as much how I found out. I was just too overjoyed to have a son! (For those of you who do not know, we have a 6 year old boy, 4 year old girl and another 2 year old girl) It had been so long since I held a baby son, I was completely excited and happy to have another and for my older son to now have a brother!

After the joy of the moment started to soak in, I began to realize how much pain I was still in. I still had not delivered the placenta, and after trying for a bit in the tub, I got out to try on my bed. Little did I know, I had  bled a lot in the tub.

After getting into my bed and trying with all my might to get the placenta out, it finally did come out. "The worst is over. No more pain." I thought. Not quite...

After enjoying my baby a little more and trying to get him to nurse (which he did), I suddenly felt very faint and started blacking out. Things get a little fuzzy here again, but I do remember the midwives giving me oxygen, trying to get me to eat a mashed banana and drink a special tea, and saying my blood pressure was 50 over 30. I also remember saying, "I do not feel good," over and over again. After nearly blacking out twice, my midwife decided to call 911 and get me transported to the hospital.

When the ambulance arrived, they somehow got pajamas on me, and out we went to the ambulance. It was freezing! We are talking about -25 degrees or so here! They quickly wrapped me up when they got me on the gurney outside my front door. The rest of the day was full of IVs in both arms and resting/sleeping in the Emergency room. Finally later in the day, I was transferred to an OB room.

The thing that saddened me the most was that I was not able to hold and nurse my baby as often as I had wanted. They did not even want him to be there! But there was no way I was going to spend my baby’s first day of life separated from him. I held him several times throughout the day and tried to nurse him a few times. My midwife and husband kept me company that day, which I was thankful for. By nighttime, my hemoglobin was at its lowest of 7 from losing too much blood during the delivery. Since I was able to go to the bathroom myself and walk a little bit, I convinced the doctor to let me go home, where I could get much better nutrition and rest.

Thankfully, my mom had taken our other children, and that was very helpful as I tried to gain some strength the next day or so.

I have so enjoyed snuggling up with all four of my children, seeing the love between them all, smelling the newborn smells on Ashton, and realizing how incredibly blessed I am to have these children call me Mommy.

Thank you to our wonderful birth photographer, MB Photography, for the beautiful memories she captured!