When I was pregnant with my third baby, I often joked with my husband that I wouldn’t make it to the hospital because my second baby came so quickly. Surprise, surprise, my jokes came true. In March of 2019, I had an unplanned home birth in my bedroom. I was exactly two weeks away from my due date and scheduled to be induced in a week, but my baby decided he couldn’t wait a minute longer! I wish I had some pictures documenting my accidental home birth, but we were a little too busy at the time! The pictures in the hospital will have to suffice.
A few days earlier on Saturday, my oldest son had a birthday party with most of his class in attendance. Needless to say, it was a little crazy! I cleaned the entire house in preparation for this party, so I was already exhausted. Once all the kids went home, I laid down in bed to rest for a little while. I started feeling mild contractions, but I assumed they were Braxton Hicks contractions brought on by the chaos of that day. The contractions were sporadic and manageable.
On Sunday, I was still having the sporadic contractions that were somewhat painful, but they weren’t getting closer together and they weren’t predictable in any way. At this point, I figured these contractions were prodromal labor, aka false labor. The American Pregnancy Association has a good explanation of prodromal labor if you want to learn more!
I went to work on Monday, still experiencing these false labor contractions. They were painful but still manageable. I remember feeling frustrated that I was in pain and these contractions weren’t doing anything to advance my labor. I figured I would have these false labor contractions until I was induced at 39 weeks.
Around 1 AM on Tuesday, I was still feeling contractions and wasn’t able to sleep. The contractions were painful enough that I needed to breathe through them, so I decided to start timing the contractions just to see how far apart they were.
I was told that when my contractions were five minutes apart, each lasting one minute, for an hour then I needed to go to the hospital. My contractions never got any closer than 7-10 minutes apart. Some contractions would last 30 seconds and others would last for a minute. I might get a 15-minute break between contractions or maybe a 10-minute break. I couldn’t predict when my next contraction would be. I was exhausted from being up all night (my husband was asleep this whole time).
Shortly after 6 AM, I went to use the bathroom. When I came back to bed hoping to get some rest before getting up for work in an hour, my husband’s 6:15 alarm started going off, and I had another contraction. This time I felt a popping sensation and a gush of water. I yelled “Get a towel! My water broke!” to Scott right as he was groggily getting up from bed. Finally, I thought! I was definitely in labor.
A few weeks earlier, we took a brief labor and delivery class. In the class, the nurse said that even if your water breaks, you don’t need to rush to the hospital, so I naively assumed I had time to get myself ready for the hospital, have a shower, and maybe eat breakfast. Ha!
Scott called my mom to come over to pick up our older two boys, and I got in the shower to clean off so I didn’t feel so gross. While in the shower, my contractions started getting more intense. At first, I sort of laughed through them because I was excited that I was really in labor. Then they became wayyyy more painful! I had to stop and breathe through the contractions.
After I dried off, I called my midwife’s office to let them know we were in labor. I put the phone on speakerphone so I could get dressed while calling them, but was having some very painful contractions. It seemed like they were taking forever to answer the phone!
By the time someone finally answered, I was screaming in pain. The nurse on the other end of the line told me to put someone else on the phone. My husband took over the call, and I suddenly had the urge to push. “We’re not going to make it! I have to push!” I said as I was already bearing down.
The nurse told us to call 911. I started taking my pants off that I had just put on a minute earlier. My husband dialed 911 as I continued to feel the urge to push. I tried not to push because I was worried I wasn’t dilated all the way, but my body did what it wanted.
I clutched the side of my bed and just let myself push. The baby’s head was born, and I had my husband check to make sure the umbilical cord wasn’t wrapped around the baby’s neck. I stood there for a few seconds (probably a little in shock) and asked “what do I do now?!” Scott told me to push!
I pushed one more time, and my husband caught the baby and gently lowered him to the floor. I stood there (again, in shock) looking down at this tiny baby on the floor and didn’t know what to do. Scott helped me sit down and pick up the baby. I put a towel around the baby and held him to my chest as he cried that newborn cry. I was so relieved to hear his little cries!
Meanwhile, my husband ran downstairs to unlock the door for the emergency squad. He came back up and the dispatcher on the phone told Scott to tie off the umbilical cord with some string. Scott cut a piece of string from his college convocation tassel to tie around our baby’s umbilical cord.
Then in walked a bunch of guys from the fire station. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many people in my bedroom before. I was sitting there naked except for a nursing bra, so Scott quickly threw an extra towel over me. My mom walked in at this point, and she was obviously very concerned after seeing the ambulance outside my house.
An EMT cut the umbilical cord where Scott tied the string. Then he took the baby, wrapped him in a metallic-looking blanket, and asked permission to take him to the ambulance to get checked out. Then they brought up a special stair stretcher (we were on the second floor) and strapped me in with a warm blanket. As they were wheeling me out, I asked my mom if she could clean up all the towels and carpet, and if she could text my boss to let him know I wouldn’t be in that day. She’s a great mom!
Side note: My older boys were in their bedroom, awake, this entire time. They heard me screaming a lot (according to them) and just figured I was having the baby and didn’t seem to think much of it. When my middle son saw all the blood left behind after I was gone, he was worried about me. My mom assured him it was perfectly normal, and that I was ok.
The EMTs carefully wheeled me down the stairs and out of the house to the ambulance as Scott gathered up our hospital bags and joined me. The EMT who took my baby placed him in my arms, and then we were off! As they were driving away, the EMT placed an IV in my arm, which was impressive given we were in a moving vehicle! We made it to the hospital and they took me to a delivery room and transferred me to a hospital bed where some nurses were standing by.
One nurse took the baby to check his vital signs. Another nurse checked my vital signs. The on-call midwife came in and asked a few questions about what happened. I explained that my water broke around 6:15AM and I had the baby by 7AM. Since I had yet to deliver the placenta, my midwife got that process started, and I delivered the placenta with no complications.
I finally held my little boy, and he was just so precious and tiny. He weighed 6lbs 3oz, so he was the smallest of my three boys at birth. We moved up to the postpartum floor once a room became available. Of course, I forgot to pack a shirt for myself in my hospital bag, so I had to wear my husband’s t-shirt during our stay (no way was I wearing that uncomfortable hospital gown the whole time!). We spent 24 hours in the hospital before being sent home since my baby and I were doing so well.
Giving birth at home unexpectedly was quite an experience, and one I will always treasure. My husband will never let it happen again, though! We are expecting our fourth baby in a month, and the second I have a contraction, Scott will be taking me to the hospital. He did great under pressure when our third was born, but he never wants to do it again. We shall see…
