Written by Hattiesburg Midwifery Mama, Emily Thompson
My 4th pregnancy was so different than my first 3. While there were the normal pregnancy discomforts, overall they had been pretty easy. My 4th pregnancy however, was very challenging. I had horrible morning (all day) sickness until about 20 weeks. Even when I was feeling better, most foods still didn’t taste good. And once I hit my 3rd trimester, in the heat of a South Mississippi August, I developed heart burn, reflux, and insomnia that I truly thought might kill me.
I’m a Birth Doula and a Midwife’s Assistant for Amanda. So I really do love all the pregnancy and birth things. But I was straight up not having a good time.
On the bright side, I was so excited to be planning our first home birth. My previous births had all been unmedicated, but in the hospital. I was very excited to be having this baby at home.
Starting at about 37 weeks, I had persistent Braxton Hicks and cramping. This was also different from my 3 previous pregnancies. Every time the cramps would start up again, I would wonder if labor was starting. But they always calmed down eventually. The mind game of prodromal labor quickly became pretty exhausting. I was more than ready to have this baby.
The day before my due date, I asked Amanda if I could come in to the office and try a membrane sweep. She was supportive, so at about 2:00pm on Wednesday, I went to see her. I was about 3-4cm dilated, baby was low, and I was starting to loose my mucous plug. All this was very encouraging to me! Amanda sent me home with a bottle of castor oil, just in case I wanted to try it later that day.
All afternoon I had more cramps, but no contractions. It was a pretty October afternoon, my kids were playing outside, and I was alternating walking around our yard, curb walking, and sitting on my birth ball.
At some point, I decided I wanted to try the castor oil. I asked my husband, Josh, to bring me home a chocolate milkshake to mix it in (I highly recommend). He got home from work around 6pm, and I drank my castor oil-milkshake around 6:30. I ate supper, took a bath, and we got our big girls in bed.
Josh and I sat down to watch a show around 8:30. I needed to distract myself. I was sitting on my birth ball, and right around 9pm I started to feel some contractions. They were not painful, but they were finally different than my cramps and Braxton Hicks. I started timing them. They were coming pretty close together, every 3-5 minutes or so, but they weren’t intense at all. I let Amanda know, then went to lay down and rest.
At 10:45pm, I heard and clear “pop” sound. I stood up and found that my water had broken! Again, this was different than my previous 3 pregnancies, where my water broke during pushing. At this point, I was finally convinced that this really was labor and wasn’t going away. I let Amanda know, and she started to head to my house. I also let my doula, Whitney Adams know. Josh blew up our birth pool and began preparing our birth space. Contractions were growing more intense, but still felt manageable.
Amanda and her assistants arrived, set up their equipment, and listened to baby. She sounded great. At this point, my contractions were getting very intense.
I asked my doula to come over, and she arrived around 11:45pm. I leaned over my bathroom counter while she held a warm rice pack on my back, and my husband held and encouraged me through contractions. At this point, labor was requiring all of my attention! The team filled up the pool, and by about 12:20am I was ready to get in.
The warm water was such a relief. Contractions were still all consuming, but I didn’t feel out of control like I normally do at this point in labor. I kept my eyes closed and worked through each contraction as it came. The birth team was incredibly calm and quiet, which I SO appreciated. I was in “labor land.”
All at once, I felt my baby descend. I said “she’s coming,” and started to push. I reached down and could feel her hair, and in another push she was born! Amanda unwrapped her from her cord while she was still under the water, then I got to pull her up to my chest and hold my sweet baby girl in my arms. Greta June was born at 12:50am on her due date, after just 4 hours of labor! All I could say was, “Jesus, thank you Jesus!”
After such a challenging pregnancy, Greta’s labor and delivery was everything I hoped and imagined it would be. I was surrounded by only my husband, and women that I know and trust. My 3 older daughters got to come in shortly after and meet their new baby sister, who was born right down the hall from them as they slept…how amazing is that?? It was such an empowering, experience. Praise God.
I cannot recommend Amanda and her team enough. I am so thankful we have Hattiesburg Midwifery here, and I hope to see more women in our community embrace the midwifery model of care 🩷.
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