Attended a beautiful homebirth yesterday morning. Mama made it look rather easy as she pushed a 9 lb. baby into the birth pool; exhilarating for her and her family to experience a homebirth after a previous preterm hospital birth a few years ago. Not only was the locale different, but the entire experience! She labored in her own time, without any poking or prodding from me, and her baby has not left her arms since birth! It’s true, sometimes birth in the hospital cannot be prevented. But it is always nice to know that every experience is different and that every baby will really choose his own path and way of coming earthside.
The sentiment that this particular birth left me with is one of simplicity. Not every normal, nice or “successful” birth is always simple. Sometimes there are little snafus here and there that are just part of the process; keeping a mom who’s vomiting hydrated, or dealing with some extra blood loss on mom’s part or even a slow to start baby after a quick birth. They are all wonderful and different and the best part (!) is you really never can predict or know how it will all play out ahead of time. It is the mystery of birth, and the lesson (to me) is to be in the moment. All to say, that with this birth, there weren’t any tricks or twists. Everything was just pretty perfect and textbook, and I am so glad for this family that they got to experience that!
The other neat thing for me was having a different assistant. My regular assistant is on “maternity leave” and it has been a struggle (to say the least!) to find her brief replacement. I was delighted to have another, more experienced midwife come and be at the birth with me. I think it made me relax even more and helped contribute to the ease of this birth, at least on the attending side! It also reminded me how much we have, as midwives, to offer each other. This midwife was such a calm presence for me and the mom and even though she is more experienced, I did not feel judged or criticized or anything petty like that.
Blessings to this special mama and family and chubby baby boy! As always, I am honored to have walked with you.
