My name is Amy and I am 23 years old. I was born, raised and married in Australia then I moved to Canada to my husband's hometown 2 months later. We met on the Internet.
The person I am today is all because of my daughter. I think being a parent makes me more aware of the world around me. I want it to be the best place for her and I want to give her the best start in life possible.
When I found out that I was pregnant I was fortunate enough to be able to find a midwife to have our care through. To be honest I don't entirely remember how I came to the decision that homebirth was what I wanted, I think as soon as I read about that being a viable option in this day and age something clicked into place and I knew it was what I wanted. Because I am an Immigrant and at the time had no medical coverage that was also further reason to pursue a homebirth. A standard hospital birth would have cost a minimum of $3000-$4500, however even if I had been covered homebirth would still have been my choice.
I went on to amuse my husband and impress my midwife by borrowing nearly every conceivable book on pregnancy and natural childbirth from the library and coming armed with long lists of questions at each prenatal apppointment. Believe it or not there did come a point where I ran out of questions because I seemed to know it all!
My husband and I attended only two prenatal classes when we made the joint decision to stop attending as neither of us were learning anything we didn't already know.
When labour came I was completely prepared for it. We were at a family friends house for our traditional yearly pre-Christmas dinner. We were watching slides from when the kids (including my husband) were young and I laughed so hard that my water broke! I was 39 weeks 5 days pregnant. We stayed for another hour or two because I wanted to play cards with everyone. I got a few strange/paniced looks because in this day and age when a woman's water breaks it is expected she will run off to a hospital. But unlike what you see on television the baby generally doesn't follow 15 minutes later. I knew early labour can last a long time and figured I might as well stay while I felt comfortable.
When we went home, my husband went to sleep for a few hours as he was still on night-shift hours. I laboured mostly on my own for 4-5 hours with my sister and midwife silently observing and occasionally coming to monitor the fetal heartbeat. I was leaning over my birthball for the first couple of hours, then I moved to leaning on the back of the couch. I retreated within myself and just focused on breathing calmly and swaying and 'singing' through contractions. I didn't feel panic or frightened, I knew exactly what was happening and I trusted in my bodies' ability to safely labour and deliver my baby. At about seven hours into labour I moved into the birthpool and laboured for the next three hours with my husband sitting behind me on the outside but holding my hands. He kept me grounded and I was able to stay calm and focused just by having his hands to hold. I vocalised through contractions (I did not practice breathing exercises previously) by making the most natural sounds as I breathed in and out. They were 'haaaaa hoooo' type noises, that is just what came out, at different pitches depending on what I was feeling. I had the first pushing urge at the end of a contraction about an hour before my baby was born. I never intentionally pushed other than when my body was pushing. It wasn't really something I could control, it knew what it was doing. My midwife advised I move on to my knees because that would make it easier for me. My husband had his arms around me supporting me and my daughter was born into the water about 15 minutes later. I was only in labour for 10 hours. I remember saying "I did it! I can't believe I did it!" and I said "That was easy!" I did not tear and only had minor abrasions. My midwives said that I gave birth as if it was my third baby, not my first, and that I should be teaching women how to birth like that. It was such an empowering experience and really one I wish more women could experience. I think that today too many women trust in medicine and machines rather than their own body and its ability to deliver a baby. People may think I am crazy but the experience of giving birth is one I wish I could have on a regular basis. Unfortunately our bodies are not designed that way!
So that is a somewhat summarised version of my birth story. I am open to questions if you have any.
Now that my little girl is here, my desire for knowledge (I think of it as 'informed consent/knowledge' of the world in general') has stuck around. I have an attachment parenting style, I co-sleep, breastfeed and wear my baby. I can't help but want to think green and want to be sure I am making the right choices for her health and best start in life.
That's what this is all about.
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