My husband and I found out we were expecting our fourth baby in October 2012. We were so thrilled to be adding another member to our family, we feel so blessed. This baby was due July 7th and would be our second home birth with the same midwife. I especially feel so blessed to have found the midwife I did when we first moved to south texas two years ago. Having had a first traumatic hospital birth and a unfufilling second hospital birth, I knew it would take someone special that beleived in me and my ability to birth babies. I dont know what I would have done without her support, love and knowledge throughout both of my pregnancies and births, and as a friend.

We had our first visit in January and still agreed upon the edd of July 7th based off my last cycle. I am the type of girl who loves every minute of pregnacy so my pregnancies usually always seem to fly by to me. I was pretty busy this pregnacy finishing up dental assisting school and my husband being gone out of town a lot working the majority of it still seemed to fly by. This time around with three other young children to take care of and the extra load of being a single mom most of the week, I tired a little bit more and started to feel ready around 30 weeks to meet this baby.

My husband and I had tried with our third baby not to find out the sex but caved during an ultrasound. We were both determined this time not to find out what we were having and we stuck to it. We already have one boy and two girls so my husband really wanted another boy in the mix, I wasnt picky but just really thought it was a girl the whole pregnancy.

During the month of June I started preparing for the baby. Doing little things here and there around the house we had put off, organizing and cleaning. The fourth of july weekend I made sure I planned a family outing to the beach since my due date was just a few days away and I wanted for us to get out of the house one last time before the baby came. I thought maybe since this was the fourth baby there would be small chance I would go right before my due date, well it didnt happen that weekend and my husband was back to work on the 7th. I thought then that I didnt want it to happen while he was out of town so I hoped that the baby would hold off at least until his next three days off.

That week came and went pretty uneventful, and hubby was home again on the 14th. I thought for sure it would happen in these next three days at this point cause I was already a week past my edd, and my last two babies I did not go a whole week past my edd. My midwife sent me in for a ultrasound the check on the baby on the 15th. Everything still looked great and they estimated my due date to the 19th!!

So now that my due date had moved almost two weeks forward I was feeling a little exshausted of waiting and wondering when things were gonna happen. I asked my midwife to strip my membranes in hopes to jump start things while my husband was home for one more day. Turns out it wasnt time for the baby to come just yet. I had a few good contractions after but all died down by that night. I felt a little worried that I might go into labor while my husband was gone now seeing it was getting so late in the month and close to my second edd. That week went by again uneventful. I am a pretty patient person but when you have been waiting for almost the whole month it starts to wear thin. and all the comments from well meaning people were not helpful. No, I did not plan on being induced, and no I wold not need a c-section, nor was the baby in danger.

My husband was home again on the 23rd and my midwife stripped my membranes again in hopes of getting things going. At the appointment we talked about doing castor oil the next day if this second attempt at stripping membranes did nothing. I had heard a lot of terrible things about castor oil and was really hesitant about doing it. My midwife couldnt assure me it wouldnt be awful but said that she had only seen one person have an awful time after taking it, and that it would work. So I agreed I would take it if this second attempt didnt do anyting.

After our appointment I had contractions throughout the day, no pattern or increase in intensity, I was so frustrated and lay in bed that night wishing things would pick up. I finally gave up and went to bed thinking maybe tomorrow it would happen, which so happened to be my birthday. I couldnt ask for a better birthday present than having my much anticipated baby.

The next day my midwife texted me and asked if anything was going on yet. Still nothing so off to the store our family went for some castor oil. I took my first dose at 2pm and waited. I cleaned up the house a little and had some lunch. By 4pm it still hadnt stirred up my bowels yet so I took a second dose. throughout the day I had been having the same kind of contractions as the day before and wasnt thinking anything of the contractions. I was having a lower back ache and my midwife suggested going to the chiropractor again. I really tried to hurry while at the chiropractor becasue the castor oil had really kicked in at that point!

I was back home a little after 6pm and the whole family went for an evening walk at 7. We came home fed the kids dinner and got everyone ready for bed. Liz and I had been texting about the contractions for a while and she asked around 8pm if I wanted her to come check on me yet. I didnt feel like they were very intense or getting closer together so I said Im ok for now. I agreed to let her know when they picked up and to try and get some rest. From 8 to 9 they had started to increase in pain but I couldnt really pick up on a pattern of them getting closer together yet so I still decided to hold off on having my midwife come over yet. I didnt want the birth team to come over and then my contractions fade out or it still be hours away before I delivered.

My friend called around 9:30 to see if anything was happening yet and I just told her that I had been having contractions but nothing too intense yet. As our conversation carried on I started having more and more intense contractions and then smaller ones right after it that wouldnt last as long. She told me after I had a couple contractions I couldnt talk through that I should have Liz come over. I explained to her that I didnt notice a certain pattern to them yet and while they were hurting more I wanted to make sure it was closer to avoid everyone waiting around for a long time. After another contraction I couldnt talk through and starting to feel pressure I finally agreed with her that Liz should come over. I texted Liz I thought they were picking up and that maybe she should head over and that we could decided if everyone else needed to come over yet when she arrived. I asked my husband if he could go to the store to get a hose for the birth pool and right after asking him I had another contraction and said no never mind you should just stay home.

I hadnt set up the bassinet yet in our room and just asked him to go upstairs and get it out of the closet and put it in the room. Our other children were in our room watching cartoons, so as he went upstairs I went over to the couch and leaned over on the couch as I felt another contraction coming. At this point I was still in denial that the baby was coming very soon. As the pressure and the intensity of the contractions were very intense at this point I had never labored so quickly so I was just not expecting things to move too fast. As the contraction built I began to vocalize the intensity of it, and then my water broke. That is when I realized the baby was coming now!

I began to feel my body start to push and I quickly took my clothes off and yelled to Brent that my water broke. By the time Brent got downstairs I was so in the zone of the contractions and the baby coming out it was hard for me to respond to brent but I did my best when I could. When he got downstairs I told him to call Liz as he was in a panick and I was already feeling the top of the babies head. Liz told him to keep calm and to let my body do what it needed to, the baby was out in four pushes, Brent caught the baby and Liz told him to make sure to keep tension off of the cord.

We were so caught up in the moment that we had forgot to look and see if it was a boy or girl. Liz asked my husband who then asked me, I quickly looked and said its a girl!! I told you it was a girl!!! They were only on the phone for four minutes, they got off the phone and there we were holding our new baby on the living room floor wrapped up in the towel,in shock and awe of what had just happened. we waited for Liz and everyone else to arrive.

Liz arrived about ten minutes after, then Alysia came who had attended my previous home birth, and the photographer showed up next. I was pretty bummed that we missed the photographer catching the birth but it was still a special birth and I was very happy that it happened fast since I was concerned about having a long labor like I had with my last.

Kinzy Grace Blanchard was born on 7-24-13 at 10:02 pm and weighed 9lbs 14oz and 21 3/4 long. I feel incredibly blessed with a beautiful family and so thankful for the people in my life and so happy to have found such an amazing birth team that are so supportive and loving!

Otero Birth