Homebirth Midwifery Services in Vermont

Also in this section: Ada's Birth | Aristotle's Birth | Antonio's Birth

Ada's Birth

On January 12th I birthed my child at home, with the help of my husband and two incredible midwives, without pain meds. Nothing I've accomplished comes close to that and being a first-time mom, I wasn't sure that it was even possible. But holding the brand new, breathing human that just exited my body instantly made the memory of childbirth pain unimportant (the cessation of contractions helped with this outlook). I do vividly remember the thought that passed through my mind in the few minutes after Ada's birth as she slipped into my hands, even before we knew she was a girl. It was thank god I don't have to do that anymore!

The birth memory fog is a powerful asset. Right now I have nothing but warm thoughts looking back to Ada's birth; she was born literally right in front of our Christmas tree, there were brownies baking, music playing and candles burning. There are some things I'll never recall about that day but hrm... now that I think of it, I was nauseous the whole ten hours and could barely drink watered-down fruit juice let alone eat a brownie or um move very frequently. Also, the smell of the scented (and even non-scented) candles promptly made me want to hurl. Right after Ada's birth I remember telling Bonne I'm not going through that again. I had already changed my mind the next day. Will I do it again? Let's just say that I'm planning the birth of our second child around the availability of these wonderful midwives, Bonne Dunham and Astrid Grove.

As I said, this was not an unassisted birth. Bonne Dunham and Astrid Grove, two Certified Direct-Entry Midwives, attended Ada's birth. A direct-entry midwife is trained to provide care to healthy women and newborns throughout the childbearing cycle primarily in out-of-hospital settings. We had complete faith in the capability of these professional midwives. They offered an exceptionally high level of prenatal care and I enjoyed the comfortable setting of their home offices. Their very human approach was a breath of fresh air compared with the often very clinical (which certainly has its place in medicine) and rushed approach experienced at some busy doctors' offices. They were very supportive and took time to answer all of our questions at length. We had at least an hour for each prenatal visit plus they were on call throughout my pregnancy. Both midwives incorporated effective herbal and homeopathic medicine into my medical care. My primary care physician was pleasantly surprised to hear that I didn't need antibiotics for the two cases of mastitis that occurred.

Here's how it went:

I woke up around 8:30 on Saturday 1/12, stood up and my water broke, just like in the movies. It was fabulously exciting. The contractions were fun at first, I would note to Jason that I had just finished one and we'd sort of nervously giggle. He printed out a contraction schedule and began filling it out. The rushes did quickly become more frequent but I tried to nap. We contacted the midwives and they were set to come over when they reached about 5 min. apart. Jason fed me cheerios and a Clif bar and that's pretty much what sustained me until after the birth. After that we ditched the contraction schedule and the midwives arrived. Much of the rest is a blur. I went from laboring in my bed to the bathroom to the living room to the birthing tub then PUSH in front of the Christmas tree. As far as I know, I was quiet as a mouse up until push time, mostly because of the nausea. It just felt better to stay quiet and still. I also discovered that the contractions hurt less when I did not look at the little air bubbles attached to the bottom of the birthing tub. Whatever works right? Jason's performance was stellar throughout. Poor guy was even a bit sore from all the tugging that I did on his wrists while in the tub. My labor was pretty much 10 hours on the dot and I really feel it would have lasted quite a bit longer has I been in unfamiliar surroundings. I don't know if I would have been able to resist the temptation of using the narcotics available to laboring women in hospitals. Since it wasn't an option at home and I really didn't want to drug my unborn child, I didn't focus on it. I had spent nine months avoiding all sorts of harmful chemicals and didn't want start compromising her nervous system just when she was hard at work moving down the birth canal.

Considering all our supports, we saw home as a comfortable, safe and preferable setting to have the baby. Unless some medical problem prevents me from doing so, I will certainly be having any future children in exactly the same way (minus the candles). I of course, would not make judgments about how anyone else decides to birth their baby, drugs or no drugs. So now on to the real challenge - raising children!

Much Love, Denise D'Abramo
(Mother to Ada Kay Lemieux, born January 12th, 2008)