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Jana's Birth Story

Mar 5, 2009 |
Home Birth Stories,  |
Kellie Moeller, CNM |

After looking online for a midwife and doing some reading about home births I finally decided it was the thing for me. I had been hesitant before because I always thought home births were for Hippies or some weirdo. But after reading the stories of so many beautiful home births I couldn't do a hospital birth or even a birth at a birthing center. That is when I found Kellie Moeller.

At all of our prenatal visits Kellie was always so gentle and took her time with us. She addressed all of our concerns. She took care of us both physically and mentally. I can still remember hearing our baby's heart beat for the very first time, tears came to my eyes and Kellie handed me a tissue she seemed to have ready just for the occasion. She was like a mother to my husband and me. On the contrast, when we went to the Doctors office to get our sonogram it was like take a number and the radiologist will get with you when she can. The radiologist barely explained anything and made it seem an inconvenience for us to be seen by her. I feel it would have been about the same everywhere if we would have found an OB/GYN to do our birth. I really appreciate the time and care Kellie took with us. She is most definitely a large part of our birth story.

On the night my water broke my husband Tim kind of panicked for a moment, I told him all we can do is wait and try to get some sleep but we should call Kellie and let her know my water had broken since it wasn’t too late. My contractions started while I was on the phone with her at 10:35 pm. ten minutes after my water had broken. She listened and waited for the contraction to finish. She told me to get some sleep if at all possible. I asked her to talk to my panicking husband. She did, and reconfirmed what I had told him to get some sleep. I think those words coming from someone he trusted and considered an expert in the subject made it all better for him. So, he took our advice and got some sleep.

I tossed and turned for a long time trying not to wake my husband but I was too uncomfortable I had to get up. Sitting in the bathtub with the shower running sounded so good to me so I got up quietly and I turned on the shower got a pillow and relaxed. It felt so good to have the warm water hit my belly it helped sooth the contractions. I think I sat in the shower for three hours. I knew I was wasting water and the heat wouldn’t last much longer so I got up and went into the living room and turned on Sleeping Beauty (an all time favorite) because I knew if there were any movie I could fall asleep to it was that one. Well my theory worked, I don’t even remember the fairies bestowing their gifts within the first ten minutes of the movie. I slept until 4:00 when the contractions woke me up. I waited to wake my husband until our alarm clock went off at 5:00. I thought ok he has slept enough and it is his turn to go through this with me besides, he would be getting up anyways to go to work. He was so funny he had not read any of the books we got so he had to ask a lot of questions. I guess this does have an advantage because then I could tell him what I want him to do and he doesn’t think himself an expert through my contractions. He had to ask do I go to work today????!? No sweetheart, call in sick please. He did that and then called my office for me because I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

We didn’t have everything ready for the birth so the morning was full of activity. I wanted to get the new shower head for our shower and the hammock up in our bedroom I also wanted to go to the grocery store to pick up some food that sounded good. I wanted to go too because I heard it was good to walk around.

When we got to the home improvement center parking lot I couldn’t get out of the car till my contraction stopped which by this time they were anywhere from four to five minutes apart and lasted about 45 seconds to one minute. We got to the shower heads and another contraction came I leaned quietly on my husband (who is now in my opinion the strongest sexiest man in the whole world). He stood there strongly and supported me. We picked out a shower head with contractions getting closer and stronger. I wanted to leave but I wanted that hammock hung. So we hurried over to the hardware section with you guessed it even more contractions. I felt like doing nothing else but go home. We got to the register I had my last contraction at the register the cashier was getting kind of nervous looking and asked "Are you OK?"

"We are doing OK." my husband answered. We waited it out then we could leave.
In the car, at about 8:00, I had my husband call Kellie. I wanted her to come now. I didn't want to go to the grocery store, now I was ready. He spoke with her and let her know my contractions were three to four minutes apart and lasting one minute. She had just finished a birth for one of my birth class classmates. She had been up all night helping her. She asked me to go home and get in the shower again, put my feet up, and relax. She wanted to take a shower and get refreshed. I agreed. I handed the phone back to Tim and they talked for a bit Tim looked at me and said uhu a couple of times.

At home I put on another movie and waited for Kellie to come. One…two…three hours passed still no Kellie. "Tim, call Kellie! Where is she?" Tim wanted to make sure I wanted him to call Kellie he asked me again and again if I was sure I wanted him to call. I stared him down and told him to call Kellie. After he called her I went into my bedroom. I got into my birth outfit a really loose fitting nighty and hung from the hammock, rocking my hips back and forth. By this time I already knew I didn’t want my husband touching me on my back during a contraction so he didn’t even try. When a contraction started he would take his hands off me and let me do whatever I wanted to him, mostly I would hang on him from his shoulders. It felt good to get the pressure off my abdominal area by relaxing my legs but sitting did no good. Kellie finally arrived at around one or two and brought the heart monitor in to listen to the baby, once between contractions and once during contractions. His heart didn’t miss a beat. He sounded so healthy. So Kellie got the rest of her stuff in. I didn’t really notice her too much. Besides some black bag I don’t even know what else she brought. She asked me if it was OK to let her relive Tim so that he could eat. I let him go but that meant some training for her on how to help me through a contraction. Good thing she learned quickly not to touch me during a contraction.

By this time the contractions were hard. Pat, Kellie's co-worker, told me they didn't hurt any differently than the beginning they just lasted longer. I don't know how true that is for everyone else but for me they were much more intense not just longer. But, if it makes you feel any better it was the same type of pain just more intense. Time was lost to me. I had no clue what was going on outside of my situation. Finally a break came right after my second bag of waters broke. The frequency and intensity of the contractions mellowed out. I was told I was in transition. Contractions kept coming and though they were more intense than when it all started they didn't hurt as much and last as long as they had a short time before that. My feet were getting cold so I asked Tim to put my socks on. I also made a little bit of humor by then adding that I didn’t want him to put my socks on but that I in fact wanted him to put my socks on me. We laughed at the little play on words and I was quite impressed that I could have even a little bit of humor at a time like that. We in fact talked more during this part of labor than any other point of labor and I think we laughed one more time together.

I started to have bloody discharge and I knew that our little boy was coming soon. Kellie asked me if I wanted to get into the tub and I thought that sounded like a grand idea. She filled up the tub for me. I had been waiting to sit in a bathtub full of water since my contractions started but refrained from it because Kellie and Pat had asked us not to get into the tub full of water till we were 7cm dilated because before then it would slow down labor. I got in with help but sitting was still not on the agenda for me so I knelt on a pillow.

Things went slow for a while longer then it happened. I started to push, one simple push at first then two. Like a contraction I felt like pushing on cue to my body. It started to hurt after a while. Like lemon juice being poured onto a cut that was being pulled apart. Yes, it burned. I think I made mention to that a couple of times while I was pushing. I mean it hurt. I glared at Tim and Kellie and thought to myself "how did I let you talk me into this." But then, I knew I had chosen this for myself. I didn’t say it aloud. I had to think why I wanted it this way. I wanted to be able to get my son out without the help of a doctor either pulling him out or cutting him out and I knew if I went to the hospital to get that epidural I would have had to get him cut out of me because of hospital policy. I knew I didn't want that epidural because I wanted my son to be mine after I gave birth to him not the hospitals. So I kept pushing. Kellie tried to slow me down. But I couldn't take the pain much longer. She saw that I was tearing and tried to help me I pushed her hand away. I was in enough pain without her adding to it. She understood and stopped right away. She said get ready or let me get back there to catch the baby or something and I asked are you serious? I felt I had just started pushing there was no way he was already coming but he slipped out. Oh, that felt good. I looked down and saw my baby oh how beautiful he was, this tiny little creation. I reached down and picked him up. He was so small he was ours I showed him to my husband. We dried him off. We held him and kissed him and looked at him. I don't think I've seen anything so beautiful. He barely let out one cry then acted comfortable again. He blinked his eyes and looked around closed his eyes again and went back to sleeping. I wanted everyone to see him I called for my father-in-law to come in.

  • "Are you sure?" everyone asked.
  • “Am I decent is anything showing? 
  • "No."

"Yes I’m sure." I replied. Normally I am a very overly modest person and had not wanted my in-laws in the room when I was in labor and delivery. But at this time, I wanted to share this experience with everyone in my family.

After my in-laws left the room, I was able to get out of the tub that had drained almost completely, before the pushing had even started. Kellie and her assistant helped me out of the tub and got something on me. I was helped into bed and I got to hold my baby and enjoy my baby. He ate and they checked our vitals without disturbing us. My husband got to sit on the bed with me and stroked Timmies tiny head. My husband cut his cord when he was finished feeding, Timmie let out a little cry but was again easily consoled. Tim took him to let Kellie do the exam on the other side of the bed. He was 20 3/4 inches long and 7 lbs and 8.5oz and perfect in every way.

After the exam it was bath time. Kellie and the assistant had gotten the tub ready for our herbal bath Timmie and I slipped in and relaxed together. He was so tiny and beautiful. I could not have asked for a more perfect first day than that. Thank you Kellie for a wonderful home birth experience and for helping us bring our little son into the world so gently.

Original Publish Date: March 5, 2009

Blog Posted: Mar 5, 2009
Posted by: Kellie Moeller, CNM
HomeBirth Experience Inc.
(281) 309-8030

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2009 Jana's Birth Story

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