JUNIPER BEA

The birth of Juniper Bea

Born on: 09/20/19

Time: 4:01 am

Weight: 6 pounds 12 ounces

Height: 19 1/2 inches long

Labor: 11 hours

Pushing: 1 hour

a couple days before she was born I was losing little pieces of my mucus plug and on the night of the 18th there was a bigger chunk that came out but Nothing felt different though. On the 19th during the day my husband found out he had to work third shift so he was gone all day and suppose to be all night... Lol well little miss Juni had other plans. Earlier that day I was feeling pretty crampy and had painful pressure in my pelvic area. My sister had me get in the doggy position and move my hips back and forth and that relieved some pain. I decided to go lay down for a bit and rest. While I was doing that I felt a gush I water while lying down and realizing my water had broke... I then stood up and more came out and I thought to myself holy moly this is happening. I called my husband and told him my water broke and told him he can probably work for a bit it would probably take awhile for things to get going. Yeah he didn't listen to that so he raced home. I then called my midwife Jennifer to tell her my water broke. It was all so exciting and scary at the same time. My whole body was shaking because I was just in shock that my water broke. My nana and mom came up to my house to help me get around to get to my parents house where I was going to give birth. That might sound weird but their house was a lot bigger and they have shared their old home for my sister to give birth so it wasn't weird to us lol. So about 45 minutes after my water broke I started light contractions but some made me stop and grab a wall because the pain was pretty painful. They were very erratic at first but no more than 5 minutes apart. My husband got to our house and we packed up and went to my parents house. Once I got there the contractions started picking up and the pain got so much stronger. I labored around the house for a bit and my family started filling the pool so I could try it and see how it felt. Once they did that I got in and totally didn't see it happening but the water made my pain a little worse... Idk why it was a bummer but I still tried laboring in it to try and relieve some pressure. I had back labor 2 hours into it and it didn't stop until I had her... I won't lie it hurt sooooo bad. My back felt like it was breaking and I maybe had 45 minutes where I wasn't in constant pain. Every contraction I had basically all I felt was in my back. I was a little uncomfortable in my lower belly but it went straight to my back. Not fun but I did it. Jenn D got to the house first to check me out and see how everything was going and I believe the first time she checked me I was at a 3. I still had awhile to go so she left to go home and shortly after she left everything started picking up more. She ended up having to turn around and come back and just stayed. Juni was in a weird position so she has me do positions to help get Juni aligned better.

The positions were not fun it hurt me more but I knew it was supposed to help so I had to make myself try and stay there. I did those positions for awhile until I couldn't stand it anymore. I was constantly moving all over during labor I couldn't just stay in one position. My favorite laboring position was squatting either on my knees spread apart or squatting on my feet. It made it feel so good!

During that I felt urges to push and my body would just do it and during those pushes it was uncomfortable but after it happened I felt a relief. I remember Jennifer getting there and checking me and I think I was only at 5 and I remember thinking to myself there's so much to go I just want her here. I think I said I want her hear a few times. I was so exhausted but I knew it was part of the process and I had to listen to my body and feel Juni doing what she needed to do. It started getting towards the end where I started pushing and I ended up in the bed because that was the most comfortable place. I remember my mom having one leg and my husband having the other leg and I'm pretty sure they went up past my ears. Pushing was the hardest part for me even more than the back labor. I believe I pushed for about an hour and she was coming out. What I didn't know was when they checked her heart rate while she was about to come out they kinda knew there might be a problem... Juni's heart rate started racing faster than it was doing. And what I didn't know was that they were getting the cookie sheet with all the stuff to help of there a problem ready. Juni came out and Jennifer laid her half way on me and right away she knew something was wrong. She wasn't breathing on her own when she came out. Her heart rate and Oxygen never went down she just didn't want to breath on her own. So that's when the midwife's step in... And let me tell you how amazing they are. They went right into go mode. The student midwife Anna called 911 just in case and the ambulance came but during all of it the midwife had full control and the EMTs stayed there just in case. They respected my midwifes so much and that made me feel so good. I didn't get to have her on my chest right away. They had me lay her down below my belly to use the bag to give her breaths. And while that my other midwife Jenn was rushing the blood from her cord up to her for her to get all the blood and Oxygen from it to her fast. Junie would make a couple gasps but not real breaths. Her face was so little the mask wasn't working well... So quick thinking my midwife Jennifer gave her breaths with her mouth and let me tell you that it was a lot better then the mask. Shortly after her doing that Junie breathed her first breath. The sigh of relief hearing that gasp and cry was the best sound ever. After all that my body decided to hemorrhage... My placenta did not want to come out so they had to give me two shots of pitocin which shortly after that it came out and I stopped bleeding. Throughout all this I felt fine and calm. I know right? How could I be calm through all this? I just had a feeling that everything was going to be ok and God was in control. I was nervous sharing my story for awhile but I have to remember this is MY beautiful birth story that had bumps in the road but in the end brought me my beautiful girl.

Some of the images are hard to see but to me so beautiful. I'm glad my amazing photographer photographed the scary parts. It reminds me how strong Junie and I were and how amazingly trained my midwifes are. I wouldn't do anything different and I wouldn't have my birth any other way. My Midwifes Jennifer and Jenn and student midwife Anna was absolutely amazing and a great team. I hope everyone enjoys my birth story I know some things in my story sounds and looks scary but I loved my homebirth and I knew God and the midwifes were in control. Their level of trainings and knowledge was just perfect and I wouldn't have it any other way.