Since this page is about babies, I will tell Matthew's birth story here. Matthew is our 6th child and we decided to birth him at home, for many reasons. We received lots of grief and negative comments about our decision, but we remained confident that it was the right choice for *us*. Once our decision had been made, we called around and found a wonderful certified nurse midwife, Annette. She did my prenatals at her home office, and welcomed the children. She took the time to explain everything she was doing and was very attentive. I always appreciated that I was never hustled in and out like cattle.

After an uneventful pregnancy, I went into labor the evening of December 18th, the date I had been saying all along would be the day . I happened to have a prenatal appointment scheduled for 4pm that day so I went as planned. I had been having some mild cramping earlier in the day but nothing regular. I had also had a couple of annoying braxtons on the way to the appointment, but again, nothing regular. Annette asked me if I minded having her check to see if I was doing anything. I consented, and she announced that I was 2cm dilated, stretchable to 4cm, but not effaced, baby still high, and the cervix was still posterior. She said it could still be days away or it could be that night (little did we know!) so we set up an appointment for December 23rd. On the way home, I had a contraction here and there. Scott and I decided to get the kids some fast food just in case this was the real thing. I asked Scott to drop me off at home while he went to get the food since it was bothering me (or rather, my bladder ) to ride in the car. I was still getting occasional cramps, so I got out the heating pad and sat in the rocking chair with it on my lower abdomen. Ahhhh...relief!

Scott came back home and got the kids settled with their food. About 8pm or so I decided to fill the bathtub with warm water, and whenever I would get a contraction (about 8-10mins apart), I would go sit in it for relief. It felt great! My then 2yo, Kyle, would jump in with me every time. Around 10pm I got into the shower since sitting down was starting to get uncomfortable. At this point the contractions were getting closer together (about every 3-4mins) and were only slightly stronger, but I still thought I had lots of time. I didn't think I was progressing much since I was not in that much pain, which is what I told Scott when he asked me if I wanted him to call Annette yet. I said I would be very disappointed if she came out and told me I was still no more progressed than I had been earlier in the day. I felt that if I were indeed progressing, I should be in a whole lot more pain than I was in. I started getting dry heaves (for me, this is a classic sign that I'm in transition) so Scott decided to call Annette anyway. As it turns out, it's a good thing he did. About the time I started dry-heaving, I also started (finally!) passing some bloody show. Up until this point I hadn't passed my plug or had any show at all.

Annette arrived around 11:15pm and started setting up my bedroom for the birth. She then gently suggested that I get out of the shower, which had by then run out of warm water. It still felt good though, as I knelt on the shower floor, grunting and sneaking in some pushes . She set up my IV antibiotics (which I needed because I had a prior group b strep baby). She then said she would like to check my progress. She announced that I was completely dilated and effaced, with a bulging bag of water. She asked if she could go ahead and break it so that it wouldn't make a big mess in my bedroom. I agreed, and she broke it. Her birth assistant, Candace, arrived during this time, and I started pushing. When Matthew was about halfway out, I remembered to look down, and I exclaimed, "Oh my God!!!" It was a happy exclamation. I had been so into my pushing that I had not been aware that he had come out so far, and I had never witnessed this with my other babies. Annette told me to reach down and pull him up onto my tummy the rest of the way, which I did. Scott and some of the kids helped to cut the umbilical cord. At some point, the kids had come into the bedroom to watch the birth. As soon as Matthew was born (at 12:07am, December 19) they all crowded around to welcome him into the world. Annette allowed us lots of time to cuddle and then she checked him over and declared him healthy. He weighed 8lbs6oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Annette went home around 2:30am and everyone went to sleep. I couldn't sleep though, and just sat there staring at Matthew. I threw in some laundry that needed immediate attention, and started getting things together for my daughter's diabetes appointment later in the morning. Around 7:30am I made french toast for everyone and we headed for the doctor's appointment an hour away. Her doctor (whom I had told weeks before that I would deliver my baby on the day of her appointment) was amazed when we walked in the door with newly born Matthew . He said, "Oh! You had your baby!", and I told him, "Yep! This morning!" You should have seen the looks we got from people when they asked how old our baby was and we told them he was 12hrs old.

His birth was by far the easiest. My recovery was excellent and I felt great. The only regret about homebirth that I have, is that I didn't do it sooner.