The Home Birth of James Solomon

(I want to preface this very personal post by saying that there is no wrong way to give birth. This was simply my experience and not only do I not judge people for their births, I don't even feel like I should have an opinion on another woman's experience. I will say that I am passionate about every woman feeling like they were respected, however their baby's birth played out. Home birth is not for everyone but I would ABSOLUTELY do it again if Sol had not been our last baby.) 

I love the process of having our babies. I love trusting my body completely and seeing how each birth plays out uniquely to each of my kids. I love that I was educated, and my body cooperated, to have healthy pregnancies, labors, births, and babies. I love being surrounded by people that believe in the power of undisturbed birth. I love that my husband was an active participant in our babies' births. I love holding my baby for the first time and knowing that it was them all along. And I really love that I ended that chapter of my life at home.

Sol was our only baby that did not come early. He was also the only baby I was temporarily put on bed rest for. We were fully anticipating a June baby but he had other plans, and ended up coming right on his time, 6 days after my "due date." A full moon, thunderstorm and 2.5 hour labor finally brought our baby earthside.

I certainly didn't have much warning with Sol. I was as an uncomfortable as I had been for weeks and around 10:15 pm I was waiting for the bath tub to fill when I realized I was trickling fluid. I told Jameson, and he said he was going to take a nap. I called the midwife and she said to take a bath and call her back when my contractions started. After the bath, I tried laying down for awhile. I had had a couple of very spaced out contractions but noted the time anyway. I had a 12 minute break between, followed by a 7 minute break, then a five minute break, but I knew from already having three babies that these contractions HURT so at 11:45 pm I asked my midwife to come then as she was an hour away. And then they started coming every 2 minutes.

Jameson started filling the birth tub as I paced and eventually jumped in the shower to work through the contractions. My mom had arrived in case the girls woke up and I had called our friend Ashley who was going to photograph for us. I kept asking if the tub was ready when I felt "that" feeling to start pushing. It was sometime between me leaving the shower and jumping in the not quite full tub that my midwife arrived, but I honestly cannot remember her getting here.

As I laid in the pool in our kids playroom, I had a few moments of rest before I instinctively flipped over and began pushing. Jameson had been behind me and when I turned over he held me for the last few minutes of my labor. What I remember most about Sol's birth was, for the first time ever, I didn't feel overwhelmed by what my body was doing. Yes, it f%#&*+! hurt, but I somehow found the ability to channel that and work with my body as I felt my baby moving down.






At 12:53 am, only 13 minutes after my midwife arrived, our baby was born into the water and as I brought him up to my chest, and my hand felt something they never had on one of our babies before, Jameson yelled, "He's got balls!" and we were face to face with our son.

 Holding our boy, I moved from the tub into our bed where Sol immediately started nursing and the midwife checked both of us over. After a shower, a meal, and a clean bill of health, we settled in for a few hours before the girls awoke to their new baby brother.

I cannot put into words how this little boy has changed me and our family. I never knew how much I always wanted a son until I became his mom. He is our last baby and, together with his sisters, we have completed our family. 

All photos courtesy of dKin Photography.