Gaby: My contractions started that morning but were super irregular so I just thought they were Braxton hicks so I ignored them. Then around noon I went to the bathroom and noticed I started having bloody show and then around 2 I just have way more that I called my midwife and she said she'd come over just to check how I was doing. So around 3, my midwife and her student got to my house, she said I was about a stretchy 6cm dilated and the baby's heartbeat was good. Then I had to go to the bathroom and while I was in the bathroom they got my bed set up since we didn't get the tub delivered on time. By the time I got back in bed my contractions were super intense and I had 1 or 2 more before I had a whole bunch of pressure and pain in my groin and my midwife looked and could see the baby's head. At 3:39pm he started crowning and by 3:40pm he was fully out.
Me: Aww wow! So fast! How are you feeling about how quickly it went?
Gaby: I was so exhausted but it was so nice just being able to rest in my own bed afterwards and only had to get up to go to the bathroom. With my first 2, i still had some energy but this time my body was just needing a break. It was definitely more intense but it's also nice that I wasn't in labor for a long time.
Me: Can I ask why you chose a homebirth after two hospital births? Gaby: I wanted to try something different. When i asked my obgyn, she said she thought it would be a good idea. But my husband and I had thought about doing a homebirth since my first pregnancy and since I lost that pregnancy to a miscarriage I had a lot of anxiety and wanted to be at a hospital in case anything happened with the my oldest. And then with how fast my second was born I thought why pay a ridiculous amount of money for a super short birth so we decided to try it and now I wish I had done it with at least my youngest daughter.
Me: Was your care different or the same with your OB and midwife? How was the care during birth and after?
Gaby: It was the same. My ob is super attentive and listened to my concerns without brushing me off even if it was just anxiety. My midwives were the same. I'm not sure if you remember the music director from high school, his wife was actually the midwife I went to. But she was out of town when I was in labor so her partner was the other midwife I saw and was the one that delivered Fernando
Me: Yes I do remember her! She’s the one that got me interested in midwifery and opened that spark in me when she came for career day one year. How cool! Thanks for answering those questions I’m glad to hear also that your OB was nice, sometimes that isn’t the case. I mean I guess can be said about anyone but I have heard and seen OBs not be that way more often
Gaby: Oh nice! My ob is amazing and it's hard to look for other drs just because of the way a lot of them treat their patients and brush things off. But since my ob does family medicine I have her as my kids' dr
Me: How was your family’s reaction to your desire to birth st home? And was your husband on board from the beginning?
Gaby: My husband had been wanting to do a homebirth since my very first pregnancy but understood why I wanted a hospital birth with our oldest since my first pregnancy was a miscarriage. Our family was supportive but some were just worried about it being messy and having to do a whole bunch of cleaning.
Me: So happy you have that! That makes sense. Was there a lot of cleaning?
Gaby: Not that I had to do. My midwife and the birth assistant did everything, they put all of the dirty laundry in the wash for us so we didn't have to do any cleaning. They also took out the bag with trash out for us.
Me: Thanks so much for answering my questions!!
