The home birth of Kate

Kate's birth story. 

(Pictures by Carissa Pierce Photography)

The night before Kate was born, I had a few contractions sometime around midnight. I got up to go to the bathroom. I told her, “No, not now. I don't want to start this in the middle of the night. I'm tired.” So I went back bed. The contractions lasted about another 15 mins, then I fell asleep.

Two In the Hospital and One at Home

At home, in labor with #3

I thought I'd give you some insight into how I went from two hospital births to a home birth, and how my thinking changed along the way.

My first pregnancy was rough. For the most part I hated being pregnant. I was really sick and in and out of the hospital the first few months. I didn't take a lot of pictures of my belly with my first, so I took a lot with my second and even more with my third. With my first pregnancy, I had an OB in town and delivered in the local hospital. I really did not like to be in the car when pregnant so I didn't want to drive far while in labor. I had thought about a midwife but was told it was better to go with an OB the first time, because you don't know what will happen.

Looking back, I wish I had used a midwife with all my babies, but that's okay. There were things I knew I wanted to do, even with the first one. I wanted a natural labor no drugs; I just didn't like the idea of drugs while in labor or a huge needle in my back. I knew I would breastfeed and use cloth diapers. I researched the breastfeeding quite a bit and cloth diapering some. I didn't do a lot of research on natural birth; just read a few stories and knew that's what I wanted.