Today, five years ago I experienced my second successful home birth story with our first son, Wyatt. Today he is our oldest boy and leads the pack of three other boys that quickly followed! This has been my quickest labor and delivery at 4 hours start to finish out of all five of my home births. My other home births lasted 12 hours or longer. Read along to learn more about my successful home birth with baby #2.
Pre Labor Signs
With this pregnancy I was very emotional and anxious the whole time. Previously we had experienced a miscarriage, so I kept waiting on something bad to happen again. In reality this pregnancy turned out to be the smoothest and easiest I have had. I expected Wyatt to come early as I was told numerous times that the second baby ALWAYS come early. Well, I had yet to experience the birth of a boy in our family and to date every single one of them has come late!
I remember having some contractions in the night, but they never led to anything. Once his due date arrived, I was completely convinced he would NEVER come, and I would be pregnancy forever! Thankfully during the waiting my Mom was visiting so she helped to keep me busy and my mind off how tardy this boy was being. I did try some of the “old wives’ tales” such as walking, eating eggplant, etc. to start labor, but none of them worked for me.
Labor Begins with Baby #2
Much like my first pregnancy, labor began around 5a.m. in the morning. I woke up to use the bathroom and started having contractions that felt like cramps. I waited a few hours to tell Sam because I wanted to make sure they were consistent. Around 7a.m. I remember telling him, “The baby is coming so I need you to call our Midwife.” We had moved the year prior, so she was now over an hour away.
Next, I asked him, “Please clean off the baby’s bassinet.” This space had become a dumping ground for Sam’s work clothes since Wyatt was taking his sweet time to come. Sam immediately started folding and putting away his clothes. My between contractions irritated self asked, “What are you doing?” “Cleaning off the bassinet like you asked,” he told me. Then I “calmly” replied, “NO, I need you to call our Midwife now because he is coming!” Well that made Sam nervous because once he called our Midwife, he started getting the room ready. I honestly think he had it in his mind he was going to have to deliver the baby after my unkind outburst 🙂
The Midwife Arrives for the Home Birth
During labor I was constantly asking Sam when our Midwife would come. Or how long had it been since he called her. I was trying to figure out in my head how much longer I would have to wait since the contractions were very strong. I turned on some Thomas Rhett music to distract myself, but that only helped so much. Sam was cracking me up because he would go back and forth between caring for Olivia, and seeing if there was anything I may have needed. At this time Olivia had just turned two years old the week before. She had woken up that morning soon after we called our Midwife, so Sam was handling her morning routine while I labored in our bathroom.
Our Midwife showed up close to 9a.m. She checked my progress, and the baby’s heartbeat. I was 9 centimeters dilated at this point. Then she began the final touches to make the room ready since Sam had already got that process started for her.
Delivery of Baby #2, Meeting Wyatt
It was good that Sam had already started setting up the room for the birth because soon after our Midwife arrived, I got settled on the bed and started pushing. It felt like I pushed for maybe 30 minutes or more before my water broke and the “ring of fire” followed. With one more push Wyatt slid out and was placed in my arms. He was born around 9:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning and weighed 8lbs. 5ozs. Seeing him for the very first time was a very emotional moment for me. Since we had gone through a miscarriage the year before I never knew if I would have another baby. But the Lord saw fit to bless us again and I was very grateful.
While cuddling with Wyatt I waited for another contraction so I could birth the placenta, and a few minutes later when our Midwife gave Sam the OK he cut the cord.
Postpartum Care after My Successful Home Birth with Baby #2
Our Midwife was working solo that day, so she asked if I wanted to be cared for first. Or she could focus her attention on the baby. I remember having the shakes really bad after birth due to all my body had gone through during those four quick hours. I asked her to care for Wyatt so I could eat, rest, and get warm. Sam went to grab me a snack to help get my energy up.
Once she cared for and dressed Wyatt, our Midwife helped me to the bathroom where I could try to use the restroom and freshen up. During this Sam was getting the bed changed and helping clean up the room. After the baby and I were cleaned up and cuddling in bed, Sam went to bring in Olivia to meet her new baby brother.
Meeting Baby Brother after the Home Birth
Some of you may be wondering where Olivia was during all this excitement. I was able to labor for about two hours before she even woke up. After that Sam would go from checking on me to caring for her. When the time came for me to push, he had turned on a show for her to watch in the Livingroom. She was none the wiser of what was going on, and how her world was about to change 🙂
Sam brought her into the room, and she stared at Wyatt for a few minutes. Then she pointed to him and said baby. We affirmed her that this was Baby Wyatt. Soon the meet and greet was over it, and Sam took her to pick up some Chick-fil-a for lunch. While they were gone our Midwife went over any information I may need to know during the first 24 hours. She also made sure Wyatt was latching and had no feeding issues before she left.
What I Did Right after My Successful Home Birth with Baby #2
A few days after having Wyatt we got everyone dressed and ready to venture out. I was itching to get out of the house and wanted to go to our city’s local farmer’s market. We had some neighbors who we were getting to know come along with us which made the trip even more fun! Later that day however I told Sam we should have stayed home as I was very sore and tired.
During my postpartum recovery Sam was planning on taking two weeks off. He went back to work a few days earlier than expected as his company needed him. I was not happy about this! Looking back, I wish I would have taken more time to rest and adjust to a new baby and toddler before Sam abruptly went back to work. Pre-birth I was very nervous about caring for two kids ages two and under. What if they both needed something at the same time? How would I handle that. Thankfully Wyatt was such an EASY baby, and Olivia eased into her role as Big Sister like a pro. We were able to create a new routine that worked for us and made the days flow easily.
A few weeks postpartum both kids were napping at the same time. There was time to keep the housework running smoothly. I was able to spend one on one time every day with Olivia doing crafts and reading. With both kids in tow, we also started frequenting our local Library for Storytime most weeks, then met up with Sam after for lunch. Looking back these were such easy and simple times with only two kids to care for. I laugh now thinking how worried I was about how to handle all my responsibilities once another baby was in the picture.
For More Information on Home Births…
Interested to learn more on home births? Check out my post on Where to Start When You are Considering a Home Birth. Or read about my very first home birth, with our daughter Olivia in my post Successful Home Birth of Baby #1.
Leave a Reply