We finally had our home birth that we had dreamed of for so long, surrounded by a wonderful team of midwife (Shannon Stellhorn), doula (Lizet Guajardo) and two midwife assistants (Hunter and Kaitlyn). The contractions were a lot more manageable than they were with Avner (my previous baby), I seemed to be in a lot more control. A good part of the time I had my doula putting pressure on my lower back which made it easier to ride out the contractions. She did that for hours even getting into the birthing pool with me, fully dressed to continue helping me with pressure (poor thing, don´t know if she had planned to get into the pool but I´m so beyond grateful for her sweet help). When the midwife got to the house I was laboring on the couch and she asked me if I was comfortable. I wasn’t, my knees were hurting pretty bad, so they transferred me to my bath tub while they prepared the birthing pool and then transferred me to it when it was full. After a while in the pool I asked when I should start pushing. The answer was: “I don´t know, when do you think you should start pushing?” I look back now and am grateful for the midwife´s attitude which was one of helping when needed but not being controlling. At one point during the pushing, which lasted 21 minutes, I became very fearful of tearing and I think that probably made me tense up and caused Dahlia to get her shoulder stuck so the midwife had to help her out. You know what they say, ”Midwives help people out.” In Dahlia´s case that was very true. I have to say I am quite proud of this birth because even though I “lost it” a couple of times I remained more in control. Dahlia was born in the water. Jeff was able to get into the pool and be the second to hold her and was finally able to be present at the birth of one of his children, which hadn´t happened before. He´d missed Avner´s birth because of a security guard at the hospital who had been a bit too zealous in his duty; so I´m very happy for the both of us in this regard. After Dahlia was born I was able to have skin to skin contact with her for an hour or more which I hadn’t been able to do with Avner either and her umbilical cord remained attached all that time as well. After the cord had become white and stopped pulsating Jeff was offered the opportunity to cut it off which he did. This is something Jeff had again missed at Avner’s birth since it had been cut by the doctor because it was so short they couldn’t hand him to me without cutting it. After the cord was cut I was able to have a herbal bath with Dahlia. Recovery has been so much better this time around as well. Not having torn as bad this time has been a huge advantage. I am so happy we were finally able to have a complete home birth. If you are in the Houston area and expecting make sure to consider Shannon, Lizet and her team. Lizet has the sweetest disposition, she is kind and a true servant. Shannon is also sweet and kind and an amazing midwife. She’s just the best.