# Got my second home waterbirth - 2 year old participation!



## Feronia

My baby was born at home at 3:25pm on February 20th after a 2.5 hour labour. He was 21 inches and 8 lbs 1 oz, a full 2 lbs larger and almost 3 lbs longer than his sister was. How did I make such different babies?! 

Like with my daughter, I had been having prodromal labour for weeks before I was due. On a few occasions, I would go through 6-12 hours of what felt like early active labour just to stop. It was super frustrating, but I ended up dilating to 5 cm about a week before he was born and just stayed that way. I was afraid to go out since it felt like labour could start at any moment. I tried just about everything to get things going, but nothing worked. I had an awesome acupuncturist come over and she did some induction points with the TENS machine; it didnt work, but at least it was relaxing!

On the 20th, nothing was happening at all. I even told DH to take a nice long shower since I didnt think the baby would be born so I didnt think wed need the hot water. However, as I was using the last bit of my matcha powder for breakfast, I joked that the baby would have to be born today since I was out of green tea. (When DH bought the matcha for me in December, I told him it would last until the baby was born  and it did!) 

I went to the playground with my 2-year-old daughter, came back, put her down for a nap, and played some video games while DH napped on the couch. I got up at 12:45 to go to the bathroom and my water broke! Finally! I woke DH up and told him to start filling the birth tub, paged my midwife, and my daughter woke up from her nap just then. My midwife said to call her back when things started getting intense. I tried to sit down and finish the quest I was doing on my game but couldnt, so I called her back about 5 minutes later. I laboured around while DH filled the birth tub, and my midwife arrived not long after. I joked that at least this was the worst of it and it really wasnt so bad. We ran out of hot water when it was halfway filled. I suggested that he ask the neighbours, and thankfully they were home and we were able to run our hose through the window to fill it the rest of the way along with a few trips to the kettle with boiling water!

I got in the tub and it felt wonderful! I then felt nauseous for about 2 minutes and that must have been transition. my midwife took my blood pressure and remarked that I had the lowest blood pressure shes ever seen during active labour  something like 90/40. She sensed that I wanted to push almost right away and asked me to check myself to see whether she should call a second midwife or whether wed have time for my other midwife to show up. (Ive checked my own progress throughout late pregnancy so she knew I wanted to do it myself.) I was at about a 9 and baby was very low, so she called over the closest midwife who apparently raced right over! 

DH and my daughter got in with me and I was really feeling the contractions in my hips. My daughter was so kind and gave me hugs in between contractions. When the second midwife from another clinic showed up, I started to push. I wanted to take it very slow so I wouldnt tear. We chatted in between contractions, I talked about my daughters power mullet which made my midwife laugh, and I could gradually feel the baby getting lower without me doing much effort. My daughter wanted to get out and watch from the sidelines at one point, so she got out and stood next to my midwife. 

After about 30 minutes, I pushed out the babys head, and the next contraction I tried pushing out the rest. The babys arm was reaching up so my midwife reached down to help move it during the next contraction, and he was born! I reached down and brought him to my chest and we marvelled at how cute he was and how much vernix he had. My daughter was in the tub petting him, saying hello, and smiling at him  it was so precious. After about 10 minutes of admiring this little creatures facial features, I remembered that we didnt even know the sex! I lifted him up and was SO surprised that hes a boy! My intuition was that I was carrying a girl, but it turns out my mothers intuition is horribly inaccurate. 

My midwife noticed that his cord had a true knot in it, which was pretty cool. He started rooting around right away and latched on perfectly, so I stood up and birthed the placenta while nursing him. Then DH and my daughter cut the cord together. It was all perfect!

I had very minimal blood loss this time and didnt hemorrhage, yay. I also didnt tear and was very happy that I got through both my births with an intact perineum. DH cooked up some veggies and tofu and made me a placenta smoothie while I nursed both the newborn and my daughter. It tasted pretty good, actually.

Im feeling great now and recovery has been easy. So far, he seems like a really chill baby and an excellent nurser and we are really enjoying bonding as a family of four. my daughter is being so loving towards him and loves holding his hand and giving him cuddles. :) Im so glad she was there to experience this.


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## doctordeesmrs

Congratulations sounds like such a perfect birth :cloud9:


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## lindblum

Congratulations, what a lovely birth <3

looks like baby is doing a peace sign for the photo! :)


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## Srrme

Congratulations! I hope my home birth is as smooth as yours. :)


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## Button#

Congratulations!


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## Perplexed

Congrats :hugs: your experience sounds perfect!


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## tallybee

Congrats, sounds beautiful xx


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## luna_19

Congrats! Sounds like such a great experience :)


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## NDH

Aww congrats! I loved hearing how your daughter participated too.


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## lynnikins

congrats


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## Bevziibubble

Congratulations!


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## SarahBear

Congratulations! I also plan to have my 2 year old daughter at my birth although I will not be having a water birth.


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## 30mummyof1

congrats, great birth story x


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