another boy, second HBAC

My client who had come into town to birth her third at my house - her second planned home VBAC with me - birthed her baby last night.

She came over with her husband around 11am, saying they wanted to get things going. Two weeks over her due date, swelling and feeling generally ripe and ready, she wanted to try some things.

We did homeopathics, a stretch & sweep of her cervix, then moved to castor oil. Two doses later, she was contracting every five minutes or so, but the contractions were not lasting that long. Around 8:30pm, I gave her some homeopathics to hopefully regulate the contractions some and around 8:55pm, she was sitting on my couch when she said, "Oh, that was weird. I just heard a pop."

"Did your water break?" Her mom asked.

"No, I don't feel anything," she said as she reached down towards her crotch.

"Sometimes women hear the pop, buit the leak doesn't become noticeable until they stand," I told her. She stood.

"Oh, yeah, there it is!" She exclaimed as she went to the bathroom.

Within an hour and a half, contractions were stronger and she was making noise with them. We filled the birth tub and she got in. Soon she was pushing.

After about 15 or 20 minutes of pushing, her baby's head emerged (she told us, we couldnt't see it) and then her 9lb 5oz baby boy slid into the water. She scooped him up, her two other children were beyond excited and relieved that the noises their mama was previously making were over with.

I tucked them into my bed and left the house around 1:30am, all of them asleep in my bedroom.