Aleximus’ birth story must begin with remarking how amazing and wise his mom and dad are. C and C are both young, but the research they did in making their decision to have a home birth was more than most couples do. At 41 weeks, C came into the office asking for her membranes to be swept. I was amazed to find her walking around at 5cm! Quite remarkable for a first time mom. We did a good sweep. Then I took C outside to do some curb walking. It all seemed to do the trick. When C got into the truck, she was contracting every 3 minutes. I reviewed labor instructions with C and C and told them to call me as soon as it seemed like they needed me. Around 5pm in the afternoon, C asked me to come. She said contractions had been every 2-5 minuted for the last 3-4 hours and they were feeling different. I loaded up and headed her way. C was definitely having regular contractions coming every 5 minutes, but they were short. There was no cervical change from earlier in the day. We discussed options and C decided to try B&B tincture and curb walk. Contractions continued to come every 3-5 minutes, but not longer than 30-40 seconds. C would go out to curb walk, then come back and sit on the ball, and then back out to walk. C requested another cervical exam two hours later, and no cervical change. Her amniotic sac was bulgy at the cervical os. C asked a few questions about amniotomy, but decided to continue on. C continued on working through contractions. C said they were feeling more intense. At 10:05 pm, C asked for another cervical check. No change. C and C talked and decided they wanted to have me break their water to encourage stronger contractions. Risks and benefits were discussed, and then I broke her water. A good amount of clear fluid came, and immediately the intensity of the contractions changed. After two contractions, C asked me if she could get into the birthing pool. I told her to empty her bladder and then she was good to get in. An hour after her water had been broken, C was moving into transition. Contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes, lasting 70 seconds. C was wonderful support helping C with contractions. He kneeled beside her outside of the birth pool and held her and whispered words of encouragement to help her get through contractions. Such a sweet, beautiful site. Twenty minutes passed eleven, C stated she had an unbearable urge to push. A contraction passed, and she said she couldn’t hold it back. I encouraged C to take a big breath in and push all in her bottom. After a few contractions, C asked me to check. I found swollen vaginal tissue on her anterior wall. I held back the tissue as C pushed the baby through it. A small cervical lip was felt. C laid on her right side in the pool and breathed through a couple contractions. She then decided to get out of the tub to try and use the restroom, and quickly got back in. She was now completely dilated and ready to resume pushing. At 12:35am, we slowly started seeing a small amount of baby’s head emerging at the perineum. C quietly pushed long and hard with contractions, with more and more baby’s head emerging each time. C was holding onto C, pushing in a squatting position. 12:48am baby was crowning. A few more pushes and sweet baby Aleximus was born into his mama’s arms at 12:56am. C was determined to have her waterbirth, and was silent through her entire labor journey. The only noise she made was as the baby was being born. She let out the quietest yelp, the intensity too hard to hold it back. At the 6 minute mark, we cut the cord, which is remarkably early for me. C was too weak to get out of the tub as quickly as we needed to assess bleeding. Dad cut the cord and took the baby, while I helped mama to the bed. Soon after getting to the bed, the placenta came and blood loss was perfect. Welcome to the world sweet Aleximus, weighing in at 7.2#, 18″. Such an honor to be part of your birth journey. <3 07/27/13 Birth Story of Andrew S and R’s family is very special to me. I was honored to be part of their fourth pregnancy during my training at a birth center and caught their sweet baby girl C. S and I became very close through her pregnancy and birth of C. When C was about a year old, S discovered her second favorite midwife at the center could not promise that she could be their when she went into labor. S did not feel like she could go back to the hospital, but did not no where to turn. We then began to discuss the option of a home birth for when they were expecting their next baby. Just a couple weeks later, S called me excited. She had a positive home pregnancy test. Due to previous miscarriages and history of low progesterone, we immediately began progesterone supplementation. S decided she wanted to go in for an ultrasound around 6-8 weeks so that she saw the heart beat. S scheduled with an ultrasound place near her home that took her insurance. The technician found nothing, but an enlarged uterus. The technician gave her a dramatically different due dates that did not even make sense. It was very devastating. S went in for lab work and there was a small rise in the HCG (pregnancy hormone). By everything we could look at on paper, it definitely seemed that S was going to endure another miscarriage. S stopped the progesterone and waited for the inevitable. Each day her nausea grew, but no cramping or bleeding began. S and I talked often as it was hard to endure not feeling well knowing miscarriage was happening. Two week later there was still no signs of miscarriage. I sent S to another ultrasound at another location. R got off work and went in with S, both anticipating the worst. The technician began the ultrasound and there was a perfectly healthy baby sizing at S’s original due date of June 19. We were all in tears. Praise God. This baby showed all signs of a miscarriage, but God was mighty. S progressed beautifully in her pregnancy. At the start of the third trimester, S had a 5cm jump in fundal height in two weeks. S had a diagnosis of gestational diabetes and was managing it fabulously with diet and exercise. We decided follow up ultrasounds would be wise through the end of pregnancy. A week before her due date, S called me at 4:25 in the afternoon stating her water just broke. Normally, me driving to the Pasadena area from my home would be a nightmare at 4:25 in the afternoon! However, I was at my in laws and it was much quicker for me to get to S as she wanted me to come. I got to S’s house a little after 5. She walked out of her house to greet me. I definitely could tell this labor was progressing faster than C’s birth. She stopped on her walk and at my van to breathe through contractions. We got supplies unloaded and immediately got the birth pool up and filled. S paced around the house, holding her back. At 5:30, we did a cervical check. S was 5cm dilated, 80% effaced and baby was engaged at a 0 station. With her amniotic sac broken, it was amazing the difference in the size of S’s belly. I was confident that instead of a 9.5# baby, we were more looking at 8.5-9#. S was thrilled with her progress. S continued to pace her house as the birth pool filled, snacking on trail mix. S’s middle daughter was entertaining everyone with her funny comments. It was a very joyful laboring time. Soon S could get in the pool. Her last birth she wanted a water birth, but never felt it was time to get in. She felt it was painful to have the baby in the bed, and really wanted to birth in the water this time. Contractions were much more manageable in the water. Things got very serious. Soon the birth assistant arrived and S’s doula B. S would be chatting and joking in between contractions. Then another wave would come on and she would be serious. Eyes closed, moaning through the contractions. Five minutes before 8pm, S was actively pushing with contractions. She was surrounded with amazing support from her birth team, her best friend, her daughters and most importantly, her awesome husband. S’s middle daughter C was right there beside me. Ready to watch the baby to be born! Twenty minutes into pushing, I discussed with S letting me check to be sure her cervix was all gone. We discovered a small anterior lip. S agreed to me reducing the lip while she pushed. The lip easily moved. As the head began to crown, S was in a semi- reclining/squatting position in the tub. She wanted to help catch her baby. I managed her perineum to keep her from tearing. The baby’s head emerged and soon the body followed being caught in the loving arms of his mama. S’s delivery was absolutely wonderful. We moved her to her bed and she got baby to latch. She did not tear, which was a first even though this was baby number five! She felt fabulous! Even in her first couple weeks postpartum, S said she felt remarkably better with this recovery than she had in the past. Welcome to the world Andrew Thomas! Born on June 12, 2013 at 8:25PM, weighing in at 8.14, 20.25 inches long! Sweet little boy born into an amazing family. Thankful to have worked with this family through another pregnancy and birth of a child.