Earthside.
Welcome Earthside
Elena Linda Boddy
6lbs 4oz
August 16th
11:37am
Wow! I was so excited when Adriana reached out to me a few months back about photographing her birth. I had never photographed a home birth before but it was a dream of mine and OH MY was it a DREAM birth. Adriana practices Hypnobirthing and I am not joking when I say she did not let out a peep during the process. She was relaxed and truly work with her body to bring her baby earthside. What a beautiful process and I am so thankful to have been a witness to Elena's entrance to this world. Check out Adriana's account of her labor and delivery below and of course some of the gorgeous highlight photos to follow!
Before we even conceived baby number 2, I knew my second pregnancy would be a home birth. After my experience birthing Gabriel at the hospital I had changed my entire outlook on pregnancy and birth, and life really. I started doing more research for myself and really diving into a holistic, natural life.
With this pregnancy I began to see my midwives around 16 weeks, since that’s when we moved back to NY. But I didn’t feel the need to seek prenatal care before that mark anyways. I must admit, it was very different not rushing to the doctor right away to “confirm” pregnancy, hear the heartbeat, or get that first ultrasound most woman get these days, but I knew the life inside of me was happy and healthy and exactly where it needed to be, and that is what my story is about.
My pregnancy progressed wonderfully, with minimal “prenatal care”. I saw my midwives once every month or so, and we mainly just talked and got to know each other, listened to baby with the fetoscope, and made sure I was healthy. It was so great and relaxing, I actually looked forward to my appointments! I wasn’t forced to do any testing I didn’t want and I had one ultrasound the entire pregnancy. I found it important to do this one ultrasound, the anatomy scan, because we were having the birth at home and knowing anything crucial before hand would be important, plus we found out we were having our baby girl!
So, fast forward to the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I was thoroughly enjoying the remaining time I had with her inside my womb. I wasn’t wishing this time away; I was eager to meet her, yet perfectly content to be exactly where I was. We all had a fun time trying to guess what birthday she would choose, and we were all excited and waiting in anticipation about when I would go into labor. We had nothing to judge it from since I was induced for my last pregnancy (at 39+5 yuck, but that’s a whole other story.) This time, I was SO excited and set on having a completely natural birth; no rushing, no induction, no interventions, just letting my baby and body tell us when it was time. Seems easy, right?
At 39+6 I lost part of my mucus plug and I was having a lot of contractions, or uterine waves as us hypnobirthing folk like to call them. I thought, “Ohhh maybe it’s starting tonight!” As the night went on though, they faded away, and so we waited.
Then, at 40+2 is when things started to get interesting. In the middle of the night, I got up to go to the bathroom and when I stood up, I felt a little gush of water trickle down my leg. I ran to the bathroom and out came a lot more mucus plug! I said to myself, “Wow, did my water just start to break?” Again, I was getting regular uterine waves so I went back to sleep hoping to be woken up by labor. When I did wake up in the morning, I wasn’t feeling much, but I rolled out of bed and another small gush of water came down my leg! I called my midwife and she said, “Well, it sounds like your water! Slow leaks are normal and I suspect you’ll continue to leak fluid and your contractions will continue throughout the day, call when they become more frequent and intense!”
A few hours later, nothing was happening and my water was not leaking AT ALL! So again I called the midwife and she said to keep an eye on it and keep her posted. Like I said, nothing. We decided to go into the office the following day and get a swab to see if it actually was amniotic fluid. There was no leaking, the PH swab was negative but under the microscope showed ferning (amniotic fluid pattern as I understand it). So we had a little dilemma on our hands. We decided to say my water sack sealed back up from a high, small leak. To be safe, I considered myself “ruptured” and went into infection prevention mode being very careful to stay clean and clear of anything that could possibly cause infection, I took my temperature every day and listened to the baby’s heartbeat regularly.
Two days went by, with nothing much going on but I stayed strong, and continued with watchful waiting, no interventions. I did have two acupuncture sessions with my sister in law, mainly focused on meditating and knowing everything will be ok.
Then, in the night on Saturday at 40+ 4, I was having some stronger uterine waves and I felt a sort of bubble, then a leak of water, I got out of bed, and again, it leaked all down my leg! It was a little more this time so I thought, “OK this is it, my water definitely broke this time!”
So I climbed back in bed, a little more hopeful, expecting to be woken up by strong waves.
Wrong. Again.
The exact same thing was happening! No continued leaking, no progress with waves.
Both my midwives and I were pretty stumped- either it wasn’t my water, or it truly was a very high leak that is sealing itself back up.
Either way, I told myself, she is not ready yet, I need to wait. I was proposed the idea of taking castor oil to help things along, and I admit it was tempting. Since I was induced before the thought creeped into my head, “maybe my body just needs help starting true labor, maybe it can’t do this.” I’ve heard my own mother’s labor stories time and time again and how she was induced with all 3 of us because her body “just didn’t want to go into labor.” Isn’t it genetic? Am i destined to have interventions? But, I spoke with my family, and also reached out to the community of like-minded mothers whose advice and opinions I value. The people I found after delving into this holistic journey. They reminded me that my body and my baby know what to do, this is what we were made for. I felt safe and healthy, and at every checkup, my baby sounded healthy and I could feel her happily moving around. I put my mind at ease and decided to just wait; wait for my baby to signal my body. It doesn’t need help and I will go into spontaneous labor.
Both of these episodes were very confusing, my hopes were high, both times thinking, “this is it! I’m going to meet my baby today!” It was a bit of a roller coaster to say the least. I spent the next few days meditating, reading, and listening to my birth affirmations. Coming to peace with what was going on. Kind of a fresh start, letting go of what happened and just waiting for THE MOMENT.
And when that moment finally did come, I knew I was going to meet my baby that day. Something felt different.
Wednesday night at 41+2, Dave, Gabriel and I slept at our camper, it’s our peaceful place. We laughed and watched movies. I was feeling the stronger uterine waves, much like any other night, they were 6-8 min apart and very consistent. We quietly drifted into sleep, but when I woke up to use the bathroom, the contractions were still there, I didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep. I was woken up around 5 am with more of an achy feeling, along with the uterine waves, that radiated down my legs. The waves now felt more like a sensation of pulling and tightening down, and were now 3-4 min apart. That’s when I woke up Dave, “I think we better head over to my moms house, it’s starting, my contractions are not very comfortable now.”
He replied, “hmm, well not to sound like a jerk, but, good!” We laughed, packed up and went to my moms.
We got there around 6:30 am, my mom said, “hey what’s going on!” (She doesn’t check her phone) She didn’t believe me when I said, “today’s the day!” until I went to the bathroom to find the “bloody show”- a good sign!
I texted my midwives to let them know and that I would call the labor line when I was ready for them to come over.
Things were getting real, and my waves were picking up in intensity.
My sister arrived at the house shortly after us and the next time I timed my uterine waves, they were every two minutes. I found I now had to stop what I was doing, breath and sway through each one. We decided to call the labor line, as things were going pretty fast!
Our photographer arrived at the house and between waves we were still laughing and chatting but they were very close together and getting stronger by the minute. We could all see my belly slowly dropping more and more, it was amazing!
The Midwives arrived, asked me how it was going and listened to the baby. I walked around, swayed, ate, drank and labored how I felt I needed. The midwives sat back and observed, checking on baby’s heartbeat with the fetoscope every so often, when I allowed, and always asking permission.
My favorite thing to do was walk around the wonderful birthing suite, aka my parents bedroom :), look at all the things we prepared for the day, read my cards, and lean against a wall or dresser and sway with each wave that came and went. I hardly noticed any one else in the room, I was in the zone.
I never once got an internal exam to check effacement or dilation, I just listened to my body.
I got in the tub to see how it felt in there, but honestly I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Plus, getting out to go pee was super annoying!
But while I was in the tub, Gabriel had come up stairs to tell me he was going to the store with Nonno to buy a new dinosaur, he told me he loved me, gave me kisses and said he was so excited to see Elena when he got back! I couldn’t help but start to cry as my first baby walked out of the room, to return to me later as a big brother. It was a beautiful moment touched by a little bit of sadness but I knew he couldn’t wait to take on this role, he had been waiting so long for. He has the sweetest heart.
At this point, it was getting very intense and all I wanted to do was move and sway. Squatting felt really good so they grabbed my birthing stool as i got out of the tub. My midwife was amazing and sat behind me as support to lean, push and sway against. She told me, “let go, let every contraction be powerful, let them bring your baby down, go with them not against them.”
That’s what I did, I continued my hypnobirthing breathing, filling my belly like a balloon, swaying and letting the waves crash into me, telling myself “let go, let it be.”
I got off the stool and back into the tub when I felt no clear breaks between waves any longer. I said to myself, “this is it, she’s almost here.”
I kept right on breathing and swaying, floating, eyes closed, listening to the words of the people who loved me.
We all finally knew it was time when the compulsive need to “push” came over my entire body. I said to myself, “ok, it’s time to breathe her down and out.” I tried my best not to hold my breath, but use quick inhales and strong, powerful, grounded exhales to bring my baby down. I did this 4-5 times, using one wave at a time. Using each wave to its fullest potential. All of a sudden I felt her head drop right down in position. I said out loud, “Her head is right there!” I felt down with my hands and there it was, I knew with my next urge that she would be coming earth side! I felt my water break, which showed she had released meconium at some point (it happens!)
My next urge brought her head out easily, everyone gasped and said “there she is!!!”
Dave said “I want to catch her!” - he was very opposed to the idea before but I guess he changed his mind when he saw his baby girl :).
I waited for the next wave to breathe the rest of her body out, and just like that, at 11:37am, the moment finally arrived. We all smiled, laughed, and cried, Elena was here!
They placed her on my chest and we had this moment, time stopped and we just locked eyes. Our souls had met before but now our physical bodies met. It was pure magic.
We waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing, ensuring all the blood from the cord go right to the baby. The midwife then asked my permission to clamp the cord so Dave could cut it. She and I had some more moments of skin to skin and then I handed Elena to her dad so I could start to get up, as I felt a light cramping sensation and felt it was time to release the placenta. As soon as I sat up the placenta gently released into the tub and I made my way into bed. There was no pushing on my uterus, or tugging at the cord as we often hear happening. I remember that uncomfortable moment in the hospital, they even turned the pitocin back on to “help the placenta expel itself”. So unnecessary!
The Midwives took extra TLC of her as she did swallow some of the meconium fluids, but my girl just needed mommy and a peaceful day to recover from her journey.
They stayed a few hours post birth keeping a close but respectful watch on me and Elena, then left us for our wonderful quiet first afternoon and evening.
My absolute favorite part about her birth was that I was so in tune with everything going on. I fully felt and experienced every single moment. Gabriel’s birth experience feels like a big fog, I can’t remember a lot of it, even though I didn’t have pain medication with him, the other induction drugs cloud my memory. I’ve held a lot of regret with his birth, and part of making Elena’s birth so wonderful was to let that go. I heard someone once say, you need to feel in order to heal, and I couldn’t agree more. Compared to my first birth, my postpartum healing has been incredible, at 4 days PP I feel amazing, I didn’t need a single stitch, I didn’t have even a tiny tear. I don’t feel sore, it doesn’t feel like I ran a marathon just days before like it did with Gabriel. I felt what was going on and my body opened up exactly how it needed to. My body lead the way and it did not let me down.
Another favorite part of birthing at home is that while I was laboring, life around the house basically continued as normal. The boys were playing downstairs, my mom was cooking in the kitchen and there was a landscaping crew in the front yard! Everyone was excited yet there was perfect serenity throughout the house. It wasn’t seen as a huge medical event but a warm welcoming of our new family member.
The first 24 hours of her life couldn’t have been more perfect. Our few closest family members met her that day. It was actually restful and peaceful, there were no middle of the night interruptions by hospital staff, poking and prodding, but my midwives were just a call away if I needed them. Dave and Gabriel slept right with us, not on a hospital chair in the corner. My mom and sister were able to be with us through the night to help me with anything I needed, no rules about “visitors”.
It was honestly the most relaxing calming, grounding experience of my life. The trust I had in myself manifested into the perfect birthing experience for me and my baby.
-Adriana Accordo-Boddy
