On Valentines day 2021, I had the honour of attending Brittany’s home birth. I’m so excited to be able to share her birth story below, in her own words. Make sure you watch her whole birth story video at the end!
”My fiancé Chris and I live in northern BC, but we travelled to Vancouver to have our first son under the care of midwives since that option wasn’t available to us in the North. We loved the continuity and level of care we received and decided to do the same when we found out we were expecting our second son during the pandemic.
This pregnancy was so different than my first. The morning sickness lasted forever, and just as it started to go away I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Which honestly felt so unfair to me at the time because I live a pretty balanced lifestyle knowing that diabetes runs in my family. I thought I had done everything “right” to avoid it.
Our midwives tried to help me remain optimistic about our plans for a home birth. But despite any changes I made to my diet and exercise, the hormones in my placenta prevented me from being able to manage my blood sugar without the help of insulin. I was beyond frustrated and felt like my body was failing me. I knew being insulin dependent meant my endocrinologist would recommend induction around 38 weeks.
At this point I reached out to Alyssa and we set up a zoom call. I explained the situation and she immediately understood the challenges I was facing. She emailed me some resources and put me in touch with a friend of hers who had experience with home birth and diabetes. With their help I started to regain some confidence in my body.
Once I had a good support system in place I agreed for my midwives to arrange a consultation with an OB. I wanted to make the safest and most informed choice possible and hoped that the OB would be open minded towards my plans of a home birth. Instead, she insisted that my baby was going to be large and that my body wouldn’t be able to handle labour and delivery without intervention. She didn’t listen to me at all when I told her that my first baby was on the bigger side (8lbs 15oz) and I gave birth to him just fine. At the end of the appointment she asked if I wanted to schedule an induction or a cesarean. My answer was a firm no.
I think it’s important to mention that my fundal measurements, NSTs, fluid levels and placenta function were all normal. I pumped and saved colostrum in case he had low blood sugar after birth and planned to deliver on all fours to reduce the risk of shoulder dystocia. I bought snacks and drinks to help keep my sugar levels steady if my labour was long or difficult. Our Airbnb was 5 minutes from the hospital and I was willing to transfer at the first sign of any complication. I felt prepared and I trusted my birth team, but if any of that changed or wasn’t the case then our birth plan probably would have looked very different.
After processing all of the information I’d taken in throughout my pregnancy, I decided I didn’t want to go beyond 39 weeks because of the small increase in risk of stillbirth. I was willing to try every natural method to go into labour before then, so our midwives started membrane sweeps at 37 weeks.
By 38 weeks I’d had a couple of sweeps and not much was happening. The next option was midwives brew, which did bring on some contractions but they didn’t last. At 38+5 I chose to have my water broken knowing that’s what kick started labour with my first. I started having contractions and all of us expected him to be born sometime that night. But unfortunately those ones also fizzled out.
At 38+6, the last day before I planned on going in for a medical induction, I gave midwives brew one more chance. Again I was having inconsistent contractions. One of our midwives suggested walking up and down the stairs to keep them going. Within a few minutes of trying that my contractions were consistent and strong. I continued for about 20 minutes and called her back to let her know. She told me to keep going and call her again if things continued to pick up. Another 20 minutes went by and my contractions were steady even after I had stopped walking. I questioned whether it was the real thing but we asked our midwife to come anyways and let Alyssa know to start making her way also. There was a snowstorm and we knew it could take them some time to get there. As soon as we finished calling everyone I threw up, that’s when I knew it was finally baby time.
Things went quickly from there, as soon as the first midwife showed up she helped me get upstairs to the bedroom where we had the birth pool. I was using the tens machine for pain relief while Chris was still trying to fill the pool. Alyssa arrived and not long after that I was in transition. There was no time for the pool and almost no time for the second midwife to get there. He started crowning just as she walked in the door. One more push and our Valentine’s baby was born.
Bentley was perfectly healthy and had no issues with his blood sugar. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and the midwife said my placenta looked great. We were able to enjoy some bonding time as a new family of four right away. Something we wouldn’t have been able to do in the hospital because of the pandemic. Even though my pregnancy was stressful and his birth was quick, it was still the rewarding and empowering experience I’d hoped for. We are so grateful to our birth team for supporting us every step of the way, we know we couldn’t have done it without them. “
- Brittany