Awesome birth!

Where do I start? I love homebirths! I love Hypnobabies! I love being a doula!

Yesterday I had the honor of attending an awesome homebirth. And awesome is the perfect word because I'm just in awe of this woman. Tisha, who was my doula for AM's birth, had her baby and I had the honor of attending. Wow, what a woman! Tisha is amazing!

I'm doing a little bit of a flashback here. I remember the birth story of Tisha's second baby born at home. I remember her writing about how she felt like she lost control and had a wonderful midwifery assistant(Bridgette) telling her that a laboring mother was a woman in her majesty. (Sorry if I got that wrong Tisha!) What powerful words. Those same words were told back to me during AM's birth and have stuck with me ever since.

Well, baby #3's birth was the most beautiful, calmest thing I've ever seen. I arrived at Tisha's home around 2:30 to find her so very focused doing her hypnosis. Her husband, Sam was so playful with her between birthing waves and we all ended up laughing quite a bit(getting those good endorphins going). We didn't do much moving around, she mostly wanted to lie down, moving a few times for bathroom breaks and ralaxing on the birthing ball. I few times I coached her into hypnosis by reminding her to turn her "lightswitch" off. She was excellent at communicating her needs. Around 5 o'clock we started doing counter-pressure and called her midwife shortly after.

While we were waiting for her midwife, Suzanne, to show up Tisha had us prep her for disappointing news. She was afraid that Suzanne would get there and find her only at 4 cm's. So we made 4 a good number, it was her favorite number, and just reminded her that she had the strength to take as long as was needed because she was conserving her energy so well by relaxing. I thought for sure she was atleast 7 cm's by the sounds she was making, soft, low moaning through each birthing wave. Suzanne showed up a little before 6:30 p.m. and checked her and found her to be completely 10 cms!!! Bag of waters still intact and ready to have her sweet baby girl any minute. I was in total disbelief, because this did not sound or look like a woman at 10 cm's. Tisha was calm, composed, and relaxed. Keep in mind Tisha was in disbelief from the time I showed up to the time her baby was born. lol!

About a half hour later her water finally broke on it own. She moved onto the birthing stool to help move baby down a bit. Sam sat behind her on the bed to support her, it was so sweet watching him caress her face and give her encouragement. I love those little moments during birth when husband and wife are making a connection. I don't know if men know that us women need that during birth, atleast I did and for me it helped knowing that Josh was staying by my side, that was the connection I needed.

Pushing seemed a bit difficult for her because Tisha never gets the urge to bear down. And who wants to willingly push? At one point Suzanne looked at her and said,"Now's the time you need to dig down deep inside you and find that strength". I thought those were neat words. And that she did, she found that strength, she needed to because baby's heart tones were not sounding good and she needed to birth her baby quick. About then Tisha enveloped me in a full-on bear hug/choke hold. lol! Birthing women are sooo strong, don't mess with us! Once baby's head was birthed, Suzanne found a cord wrapped around the neck. Baby was still okay and with the next push baby was out and in mommy's arms. At 7:32 p.m. a beautiful 7 lbs. 5 oz. baby girl made her arrival. Now I've seen a lot of homebirth baby's not cry because they adjust so well, but I've never seen one open her eyes immediately. This little girl was eager to see what was going on. It was absolutely precious.

Tisha had a few firsts with this birth. It was the first time she didn't throw-up, she did get nauseous, but didn't throw-up. This baby girl came 5 days early, when her first two came atleast 7 days late. It was her mother's birthday, what a great present! And it was the first birth she didn't loose control. It truly was an honor to be my doula's doula. Thankyou Tisha!!! And I hope you and that little girl are getting lots of rest, I'll being seeing you soon.