Micah's Homebirth Story
(written by Tami in August 1999)

This was my third pregnancy, as I had lost two very early pregnancies in 1997 and 1998.
Several years ago while studying New England history at Boston University, I had read the
journal of a midwife from the 1880s and had discovered that I had a strong interest in
childbirth. I had thoughts of eventually becoming a midwife. I had already attended the birth
of my niece Amanda and was not impressed with the hospital experience, though I was
thoroughly impressed with my sister's ability to birth her daughter. Joel and I had already
decided to pursue a homebirth and I had contacted a few midwives in Minnesota months
before this pregnancy started. During the first trimester we interviewed with and reached
agreement to work with a pair of local, Christian, traditional lay midwives, Jan H. and
Jeanne B.

Joel and I took Bradley Method classes and did a lot of reading in preparation for the birth.
Throughout this pregnancy I used herbs to nourish and tone my uterus and support my body.
We had regular evening appointments at the home of one of our midwives. It was a very
easy pregnancy, my only complaints were a tiny bit of work-related edema in my legs and
some hip pain. We also participated in water aerobics classes for several months during the
pregnancy. I am a very large woman (6'2" 300+), but I gained only about 17 lbs during my
pregnancy and I was still having to tell people that I was pregnant on my due date (though it
seemed more obvious by the time labor day came....12 days later.)

After regular cramping and bloody show on Wednesday 5/12, I was very discouraged to
have nothing happen all day Thursday. Our baby's due date was 5/3/99 and I was more than
ready to meet the little one. Overnight, Thursday to Friday, I was awakened 3 times by
cramping. By 7:30 Friday morning, the time my husband Joel would normally leave for
work, we had recognized that the cramps/tightenings were at 10 minute intervals and Joel
chose to stay home. Throughout the day, as we did errands and yard work, the cramping
became more intense at times but remained irregular. By 10:50 PM or so the contractions
had my full attention and I was wanting to know how far dilated I was and when I could get
into our rented birthing pool. When the midwives came at 1:15/1:20 AM on Saturday, my
contractions were still coming at irregular intervals and were of varying intensity. During
the hard contractions I would get up from wherever I was lying or sitting or even standing
and immediately go to the bathroom to sit on the toilet for the duration of the contraction.
At my request one of my midwives checked my progress at 1:30 AM; I was 8 cm dilated.
The midwives agreed that it was fine to get in the pool and suggested that it might help the
contractions to get more regular. After a little while the midwives each retired to a bedroom
to sleep and Joel and I labored together with me both in and out of the pool. The pool was a
wonderful place to labor!

Around 5:30 AM we woke one of the midwives to check my progress again. I was at 9 cm
but there was a lip of the cervix in the way. I was very disappointed. The midwives
suggested various positions on "dry land" to try to get the baby's head properly situated. By
8:45 AM there was still a small lip in the way and the midwives held it while I began my
pushing. The pain was very intense. It took 3 hours of pushing in various positions until I
birthed Micah James while leaning back on my hands and knees on the floor in our guest
room. Micah was born posterior. His apgars were 8 and 9. He weighed in at about 8 pounds
13 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. I had no tears or episiotomy, but had one scrape and
two tiny splits. After nearly 14 hours of active labor, Micah's birth took place at 11:43 AM,
Saturday, May 15, 1999.

Throughout his first three weeks we had a very difficult time establishing the breastfeeding
relationship. Micah was not interested in the breast at first and would almost scream when
put to my breast. Gradually, using a pump and syringe, we managed to get him to lick at the
colostrum we dripped over my nipples and we fed him at times directly from the syringe.
We had almost daily visits from our midwives to help us and to weigh Micah for the first
two weeks. In addition we had weigh-ins with our pediatrician. I was also in contact with a
local LLL leader. After a visit to a lactation consultant at two weeks, where it was found that
Micah had a high arching palate, but that I had plenty of milk, we were supposed to use a
silicon nursing shield. Unfortunately, I found myself unable to use the device on my own. In
desperation, I began to think that perhaps Micah would never nurse, but convinced of the
importance of breastmilk for babies, I decided that I would pump and bottle feed the
expressed mother's milk to my boy. After a weekend of this approach we visited the
pediatrician's office for a weigh in and the nurse practitioner asked to see us attempt
nursing. When I put Micah to my breast he latched on and began sucking like a champion!
Against the conventional wisdom, my little guy had actually learned to breastfeed from using
a bottle!

Now three months old, Micah is 15+ lbs and 26" long. He feeds very well, loves to pull my
hair, sings in the car ("ooo" "oooo"), rolls over, and is a happy and alert, sling carried, cloth
diapered, breastfed, co-sleeping baby.