Remembering My First Home Birth

photo by Kaitlin Wessman Photography

All the research, all the preparations, and all the trust was coming into fruition. I had all these fears and hopes, trials and triumphs, doubt and trust all wrapped into one big ball that rolled along as the time passed that would bring this baby into my arms. 

I had 3 normal (vaginal) deliveries at the hospital. My 4th needed to be c-sectioned. So I was preparing for my 5th child. With the c-section rates at an all time high these days and trigger happy obstetricians, the hospital terrified me. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle any bullying from an OB at such a critical point of my baby's birth, as if I didn't care about the lively-hood of my newborn. 

I had heard all the horror stories. "Do you want your baby to die?!" a doctor said to a laboring mother when everything was going fine, labor was just taking it's time. 

I'm a SIDS parent. My 2nd baby (my sweet Sarah) died when she was 3 months old. I don't take ANYTHING lightly considering the care for my babies, in utero and out. I don't know how I would respond if a doctor actually said that to my face, when I knew in my gut that I was doing the right thing. 

Labor can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. You have all these moving parts, trying to prepare yourself for anything, but psyching yourself out for a normal birth. Trusting that your body works can be a hard habit of self-talk, especially when you have experiences in your history where maybe.... your body didn't work. I had to have that c-section. I know this to be true still today. I remember feeling the intuition of it too. Something was off. It didn't feel right and something needed to be done. That c-section saved my life, but more importantly, it saved my daughter's life. 100 years ago, we'd both be gone. C-sections have their place and I'm thankful for it. But I did not want to repeat that experience all for paranoia. So I stayed out of the hospital as best as I could. 

So there I was, laboring in my home, my midwife on her way. I'm in my birthing pool swaying with the warm water with all my family surrounding me. The lights are low, my music is in the background and it seemed so surreal. There was no panic, no rushing nurses in and out, no monitors (although the midwife would check the heartrate from time to time). I remember the loudest noise coming from the kitchen when my sister in law was blending the cake mix together preparing for this "birthday". 

photo by Kaitlin Wessman Photography

When it came time to deliver her, I got out of the water for about 10 minutes to push her out on the living room floor and get stitched up. Then got back in the soothing water and enjoyed my brand new baby. I would look around my house and all the people that supported me through this and was so thankful that I did it! 

Ah... it was magical. After that experience I knew I wouldn't do it any other way. 

I respect the fact that some women are more comfortable in a hospital, or there are some women who opt to have a repeat c-section. This post is not to condemn or judge anyone for doing what they feel is best for them and their baby. My purpose for this post is to share my stories, but especially today I share this story because this beautiful baby girl that I delivered at home is 2 years old today. This is simply my tribute to her birth. Her arrival reminded me that my body works and it taught me that my body works even when I'm in full control in my own home. It was so empowering. And no one can take that experience with my daughter and family away from me. 

photo by Kaitlin Wessman Photography

Happy 2nd Birthday Naomi! 

Read my detailed home birth story here.

If you're curious about my story about my sweet Sarah' death, you can read that here. 

You Did What With Your Placenta???

That's right... I did something with that lovely piece of gold. As soon as that placenta was out of me, I went ahead and took a big huge bite at that sweet gushy-ness and ate it.

Just kidding..... ew. I had my placenta encapsulated.

Why? Because... well... I didn't want to cook it up and eat it... so to save myself the gore of said dinner, I decided that encapsulation was my best option to reap the wonderful hormone benefits of getting that placenta consumed.

Why consume it? What are the benefits, you ask? Let me quote Pleasant Postpartums site information: (www.pleasantpostpartums.com)
"Placenta consumption allows you to have a pleasant postpartum by: 
-Gently weaning off your pregnancy hormones
-Avoiding the "baby blues" and postpartum depression
-Increasing energy
-Replenishing depleted iron levels
-Boosting milk production
-Speeding up healing
-Decreasing pain
-Reducing post-natal bleeding
-Helping your uterus more quickly return to pre-pregnancy size "

I actually had my placenta encapsulated with my last 2 babies now and I'm grieving the fact that I let the hospital just throw away the first 4. :( Not only do they work, but I even took a pill, as needed, during my crazy contraction nights during bedrest, just to help calm things down and it would work. The proof that the hormones are present in these pills, for me, is that if I take too much of it, I will get almost instant headaches. So for me, I have to take them a little slower than others, and I still reap the benefits listed above.

Wanna know/see how it's done?? :D Let's begin!

First, you play with it!

Laura, from Pleasant Postpartums, comes to my home and in my kitchen plays with my placenta. :) It's actually very neat when she spreads it out and examines it. She's able to tell me things about my placenta, like the bright red spot on it is actually an area where there is an interruption of blood supply causing it's cells to die. She said, small infarctions are normal, but that mine was a bigger-sized one.

Did you know that the placenta's nickname is "Tree of Life" ? It's no wonder. It looks like a tree. And for the life that it gives, making it the most essential part of an infant's survival, Tree of Life is very appropriate.

Next: You steam it!  (sorry, these next couple photos are not for the faint of heart... er stomach)

Yummo!!!....

......

Next: You dehydrate it! 

She slices all that goodness into little pieces and lays them in a dehydrator, concluding her efforts for the day. She leaves this in my kitchen, and comes back in 24 hours to finish the process. This is extremely fun when we have visitors at this time the dehydrator is running... little do they know they are standing next to my placenta! :)               ((insert evil laugh here))

And Finally: You crush it and encapsulate!

She used some kind of grinder thingy, making into powder form. Then used this encapsulation tool to actually put the powder into either tasteless capsules or berry flavored capsules... You get to pick! :) I had the berry flavored ones the first time, then wanted to do the tasteless ones this second time. It's a toss up.

tasteless vs. berried

Of course, to cap it off, Laura had a little helper that wanted to get his hands on the process, so she let him dust the capsules off with napkins and place them into the container. :) Eve joined in later. 

 And for you umbilical cord keepers.... why keep that yucky dried up little stub that falls off your babies belly button, when you can have something like this? :) A dehydrated umbilical cord shaped like a heart!

So if you've ever considered doing this or have never even heard of something like this being done, I would strongly recommend it. If you live in the Des Moines area (or surrounding) then Laura at Pleasant Postpartums would love to be of service! (www.pleasantpostpartums.com) Or if you don't live in Iowa, search it out and see if there's someone in your area that does this. 

Meanwhile.... Bon Appetit!  hahaha

My postpartum healing has been very pleasant, indeed! :D

Ruth's HBAC Story: in Pictures "From An Eight Year Old's Perspective" :)

All these pictures (except for this first one, of course) were taken by my 8 yr. old son Isaiah. I let him take pictures of anything he wanted to during this process. So enjoy these pictures, from an 8 yr old's perspective. 

Isaiah and I adopted the My Little Pony phrase, "nervouscited!"