After a reasonably easy pregnancy, Soren Michael Parker arrived just hours after his ‘due’ date. My first child was born after less than 6 hours of labor, so we were nervous about the length of labor for this one, our first homebirth. We moved just 3 months before he was born, and had to find a midwife, and fast. I feel so fortunate to have found Karen Webster. She is a truly remarkable woman in so many ways. I look forward to every prenatal visit.
At around 11 PM, I started having some mild contractions. I was instructed to call Karen as soon as anything happened because of my quick labor with my daughter. She said that she could easily sleep on our couch if it was nothing and that she would slowly make her way down. 45 minutes-an hour go by, and I call again because it is now apparent that this is the real thing! She was already on her way.
After I called, things became intense very quickly. It was much more painful than I remembered my last labor, maybe because it was happening so fast. We were doing a waterbirth, so my husband Tom was busy trying to fill the tub. Unfortunately, our hot water heater was not up to the job, and we had to fill lots of pots to try to make up the difference. I was getting some relief while hanging onto Tom, and I wished that he was not so busy with the water.
Finally the water was sufficiently warm and high. I climbed in and immediately had the urge to push. Tom jumped in behind me. I pushed for 8 minutes and Soren slid right into Daddy’s hands. It was 2:20 AM. I brought him onto my chest. It was so incredibly amazing. We waited for the cord to stop pulsing before Tom cut it. A while later I birthed the placenta, which we used for a print before freezing.
We did all the ‘after care’ in the comfort of our bedroom. Karen even performed a quick frenulotomy as Soren was a bit tongue tied. It was so relaxing to be laying in my own bed, with Karen and Laura doing the measurements, weight, etc. I felt so taken care of. Not to mention all the ‘stuff’ in the living room was taken care of too!
Incidentally, my daughter slept through all of the noise I was making which was quite a lot! She was quite surprised to see a little baby in our bed the next morning.
Karen enabled us have the birth we wanted. She was a wealth of information before, during, and after the birth. I needed support with breastmilk supply and she was so helpful. There is no one else I would want to attend any future births. I just love her!
