MUSIC BIRTH STORIES: Unplanned Home Birth

I received a text around 7:30 am this morning informing me that my client’s water had just broken. I responded like I usually do. I told her to be patient, as it often takes hours, even days, before active labor kicks in. Her midwife lived close-by, so she stopped by the house to listen to baby’s heartrate since there was meconium in the water. The heartrate sounded good and mom was having mild contractions. Off to a good start!

Things quickly progressed. By 8:30 contractions were strong and mom was even throwing up. At 9:00, her husband called to give me the update and asked me to head over to their home. As luck would have it, I was literally loading up my son to head to play group, so I dropped him off quickly and headed over. I received a text on my drive saying that mom was already feeling the urge to push, so they weren’t going to go to the birth center after all, but that the midwives were heading to their home for a home birth!

I drove as fast as I could, and pulled up to their home at 9:40. There was an ambulance and firetruck in the driveway. It was also trash and recycle day, so I quickly moved some cans around so I could find a place to park and then I tiptoed into the house. I walked through the crowd of EMTs and firemen to find mom on her hands and knees on the bed, with her husband rubbing her back.

Baby wasn’t crowning yet, but mom was definitely pushing. Her voice was high and tense, so I reminded her to bring her vocals lower and focus her energy down to her baby.

She was working SO hard. I stepped away to see if I could find a washcloth to put cold water on and cool her off. But as I stepped away I could see the baby’s head was almost out! So I changed my plans and grabbed my camera so I could capture the birth! (I do have photos of the actual birth but did not include them here, but will get them to you.)