Birth stories - Natural, unmedicated home birth

Birth stories - Natural, unmedicated home birth ^Featured

Nelia Strydom (29) wants to inspire more moms towards natural birth and hope to have a blog one day.

Birth has become a very passionate topic for Nelia and her son Kaleb is the one to thank. She had a natural, unmedicated home birth.

Nelia did a lot of research before giving birth. When she fell pregnant with Kaleb, she didn’t even know people did home births. She read about preparing for home birth on the internet and at first didn’t take it too seriously. “The idea grew on me and very soon I was visualising my son being born in our bathroom. I shared the idea with my husband, who was completely petrified and we decided to discuss it with our gynae. She told us to find a midwife and within a couple months of informing ourselves on benefits and risks of home vs. hospital birth, my husband was totally converted to a home birth advocate and I was totally looking forward to it!

Induction scheduled

“I was scheduled for an induction on the 15th of May. By the 12th, after trying every remedy possible to naturally induce, I was very relieved to go into labour! My midwife for the first time in her career had another birth on the same night, but expected it to be over quickly as it was a 4th time mom. Unfortunately the usual two-hour-labour of this mom turned into a 14 hour labour and my midwife was only able to come to our home at 12:30am in the morning. She sent a back-up midwife to us by 9:30pm when it became clear she could not get to us sooner. “

Labour freely

Until that time I had spent about three hours in the bath to alleviate back ache, but got out when the warm water ran out. When the back-up midwife arrived, the first thing she said was she would inspect me and watch my progress for about half an hour, but if I didn’t progress my midwife advises that I should rather go to hospital as I had been labouring for quite a while. I suspect this was because she expected me to be naturally anxious and to struggle to progress as a first time mom. I was not at all convinced and told her my labour was still very much in line with normal labour durations and I needed to be given a chance to labour freely. I was eager to find out how far I was dilated and relieved to find out it was about 5 cm, which meant I was now going into transition phase. I remember an incredible sense of calm and cleared my head, which I normally struggle with. I felt very determined to have this baby at home and no circumstance was going to get in our way. I visualised delivering our son as I had done for months before.”

First stage

Throughout the first stage of Nelia’s labour, she did a lot of walking, swaying and bouncing on the birth ball. “After half an hour another check revealed I was making progress. My husband was organising everyone at the house, getting things in place, receiving family and updating others on the phone and encouraging me in between. My family stayed in the living area, but helped with food and beverages for us and the midwives. I was unaware of our sausage dog, Stitch, also sneaking into the bedroom every time he got a chance.”

Handkerchief and shoe lace

The back-up midwife also doesn’t normally practice home births and had to stop at Mchem on the way to buy a stethoscope and gloves. When she realised the labour was progressing and my midwife was still tied up she started preparing to deliver the baby herself, despite the lack of equipment and I remember her asking my husband for a clean handkerchief and shoe lace. When my midwife arrived, I got back in the bath and tried various positions. I took each contraction one at a time and the midwives and my husband took turns to massage my back.

Getting intense

I started struggling to concentrate on my breathing during the stronger contractions. After a while due to slowed progress in bath, my midwife had me lie down to try and sleep, but lying hurt quite a lot. I lay there trying to relax and moaned and squeezed my husband’s hands. Kaleb turned anterior around 2/3am, but by the time he was delivered he’d turn back again (we believe this was because of my protruding coccyx which made passing difficult). It was as though he was navigating his own way out. We waited ‘till I felt the urge to push for me to get back in the water for some relief. After labour slowed too much, I got out again. We tried all sorts of birthing positions and the birthing stool. My midwife often reminded me not to push in my throat, but keep my chin down. After two or so hours contractions slowed and I was growing very tired of pushing, so the midwife sent for the oxytocin drip to strengthen the contractions. This encouraged me to try harder and hopefully avoid such interventions. The final position was me squatting and leaning back onto my husband’s legs as he sat on the bath’s edge.”

Soft and pointy head

“I remember the midwife telling me to feel my baby’s head. It was soft and pointy and didn’t really register at that time, I think I felt a bit disconnected and all I could think of was to lie down and sleep. By the time the midwife asked if she could perform an episiotomy (something she rarely does), I immediately said yes as I realised despite giving me opportunity, I wasn’t managing to make progress. My husband stopped her and first reminded me this was against my birth plan and checked if I was certain and I confirmed it. I think that’s the great thing of having a birth plan and having your support persons be familiar with it. The snip was quick and probably most painful part of the experience, but even that was quickly forgotten when my son splashed out in one go with a lot of amniotic fluid. It was 06:19am on Mother’s day.”

Surreal

“The midwife caught him and put him on my chest. I was taken off-guard as I almost didn’t expect it so soon and sighed in relief that it was all over. Kaleb cried quickly and hard. I remember looking at this person on my chest – it was surreal. My husband took pictures and called the family in while the midwife did stem cell collection (something I’ll also reconsider next time). My husband cut the cord and then I went into a bit of shock and started shaking from the sudden cold I felt. Kaleb was put on my husband’s chest and given oxygen through a mask until they could warm me with some blankets and hot water bottles. The third stage of labour was a bit more rushed than I had planned and placenta wasn’t delivered spontaneously as I had hoped. I didn’t really have the energy to question it and accepted the midwives knew what they were doing. While being stitched up on our bed, Kaleb was placed on my chest and we allowed him to crawl up on his own and start breast feeding by himself. This was one of the best parts of the whole experience. We spent the entire Sunday in bed staring at our baby – the best Mother’s day gift I’ll ever get! The first night was our “2nd night” as I think may be common with non-medicated babies where they are more alert sooner. Kaleb slept on my chest and woke often, fed a lot and had plenty nappies and winds. It was very special to have my own parents and siblings at the house and for them to see their grandson and nephew within a minute of his birth. I felt very empowered after the birth, an amazing high – as though I could conquer anything after what we just went through – those hormones are potent! I think back on the birth experience as something that has shaped me as a person and feel like I was also “born” that day as a mother. – Jana Engelbrecht

Baby’s weight: 3.9 kg @ 41w3d

Labour lasted: 17 hours

Birth date: 13 May, 2012

Birth stories - Natural, unmedicated home birth Featured

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Birth stories - Natural, unmedicated home birth ^Featured