The Birth of Asher Anakin (written by his Mom, Tera), (an at Home Water Birth of an 11 pound baby)

It all started the night before the big day. I was thinking I might be in labor and texted my doula to tell her, she told me she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t think it would be wise to attend my birth if I were actually in labor, and that she had a backup for me.

I was immediately heartbroken and turned to my backup photographer who is also a doula and a friend, Shanna. The photographer I hired had an emergency and had to go out of town and that broke my heart too. I was telling her I couldn’tbreathe from crying so much and how I had been visualizing my birth and Meredith (doula) and Tiffani (photographer) had always been present. Shanna walked me through breathing, put my mind at ease and told me to use my Breathe essential oil to, yeah, you guessed it, BREATHE!

Thankfully it helped and I was calm enough to get to bed. I should add that I had been pretty confident about this birth and so very excited from the start, but started having little doubts creeping in. Thankfully my midwife, Liz Derry, talked to me days before to put all those fears to rest. She kept assuring me that everything will happen as it’s meant to and that she knew my birth would be amazing!

I woke up at 2:30 AM on December 14, 2013 feeling some stronger contractions. Still unsure that I might be in labor, I started timing contractions and discovered that they were coming three minutes and 30 seconds apart on average. I had been having contractions on and off for a couple weeks before the big day, so that’s why I was unsure. I woke up Travis, my husband, to let him know I was “feeling something.” Shortly after, I went to the restroom and had some bloody show and then I knew that this was it!

Around 3:30 AM I texted my midwife asking her to head on over. I called Meredith begging her to come. She said she had just woken up and suddenly felt better and then made sure that I was okay with her coming over even though she had previously felt ill. I was. While waiting on them to arrive I put out the birth affirmations that my doula and I had made, got some candles out, and put some clothes and makeup on (I had to get my mind off of everything-why not put some makeup on, right?).

Travis and I spent some alone time together and were so excited that the time had come and we were soon going to meet our new baby. Meredith walked in the door at 4:30 to find me laboring on my birth ball. At this point I was handling contractions very well and could still talk through them. She immediately gave me a big hug and started massaging me and guiding me through contractions. I had planned on us playing connect four during early labor for fun, so we sat down and played a couple rounds of the game. I won both rounds and Meredith teased me saying something about me having supernatural powers because I was in labor.

When I became unable to focus on the game anymore, we decided this was definitely active labor. During this time Travis was busy setting up the birth pool and getting last minute things ready. The air pump was pretty loud, but not loud enough to wake up my snoozing 2 year old, Zayne Rex. Meredith lit candles and placed them throughout the room and dimmed all the lights.

At this point I was laboring in our living room floor in front of the Christmas tree. The atmosphere in our home was so peaceful and warm. The scent of my favorite essential oil blend, Elevation was in the air and the candlelight mixed with the Christmas décor was so nice and cozy. I remember saying something like” I don’t know why I was so excited to do all of this” and Meredith reminded me that this is an amazing rite of passage and that soon I would be meeting my baby. Her encouraging words throughout labor always put me back on the right track.

My photographer, Shanna (who is also a doula) came over just after 5:00 and sat down in the floor with us. She started rubbing my feet while Meredith played with my hair and massaged my top half. Having both of them pampering me was amazing and I felt like I was having a spa day. We decided on a change of scenery and stepped outside in the backyard. The fresh, cool, crisp air felt so wonderful and the grass between my toes grounded me. We spent a few contractions outside with Meredith applying counter pressure to my back.

It was great being surrounded by people I felt safe and comfortable with, I could be myself, crack the jokes I wanted to, and just be free. I remember telling them in a very serious manner “I like it when there’s not a contraction” and they just laughed.

I started feeling a lot of pressure and needed to go to the bathroom, so back inside we went. It ended up just being a turd, not the baby, bummer. Then I decided I wanted to lie down and relax on the bed. I now realize that this was my body resting up before going through transition.

I got comfortable on my side with a pillow between my legs to leave my pelvis open. Meredith and Shanna began massaging me all over again. It was taking a lot of focus to get through each contraction which I am guessing my doula could see because her voice and words were able to take me to a comfortable and happy place inside, so happy I was smiling a lot and even laughing during active labor.

We had taken hypnobirthing class together and it really paid off. I had previously taken a Bradley method class with my first child which also helped. I started having more intense back labor and Meredith applied Deep Blue essential oil blend to my back while rubbing my lower back and hips. All along I just kept saying “I can do this, I got this, I am doing this!”

Liz walked in the bedroom door around 6:15. I was so relieved to see her. She got all set up and took my vitals, which all looked good. She listened to Asher’s heart rate and it was perfect too. Since my midwife was finally here, we had a little gift giving ceremony where I gave Liz and Meredith each an engraved necklace that symbolizes birth, one saying “midwife” and one saying “doula”. I wanted to give them something special that signifies the important role they played during my journey. I also wore a similar necklace during the birth that reads “support without fear”.

Afterwards, I got up from the bed and the pressure intensified. Liz was right there and had me hug her and she supported all of my weight. Her arms made me feel so safe and taken care of. I had no fear. I started feeling “poopy” again and Liz encouraged me to labor on the toilet through a few contractions.

This was awful. Laboring on the toilet was the most uncomfortablefeeling, but did help bring Asher down and helped me progress. I started saying things like, “I don’t want to do this anymore” as if I could stop it! The birth team knew I must be in transition. 

 I told Meredith that I needed some pain relief and so she and Liz suggested that it was time I get into the warm water in the birth pool. I was hesitant because I thought I was going to be in there forever and wanted to wait. All of a sudden I got this urge and I yelled out “I want to get in the pool now!!” and stripped down to my bra. As soon as I got into the pool, I felt immediate pain relief.

These feelings of relief were quickly followed by me feeling like a caged animal. My doula, photographer and husband were right there touching me, putting cold rags on me,wafting oils under my nose and giving me water, but they all felt very far away from me. A switch went off and I suddenly feltvery independent. I felt like it was all up to me, my body, and my baby at this point. Nobody was going to birth this baby but me.

Soon after I started to feel the urge to push; I started pushing at 7:25. I looked at Liz and said “I feel pushy” and she just smiled, nodded and said “uh huh, push when you feel like it.” At the exact moment that I started to push, we heard Zayne cry out from his crib and my mom and sister walked in the front door. Perfect timing!

My mom had Zayne and let me give him a kiss because for some reason that’s all I wanted to do while pushing his little brother out. It was better than what I was doing seconds before, slowly and harshly saying the F word repeatedly. Oops!

Zayne made it so sweet and must have given me a boost of oxytocin with that kiss because just a moment later at 7:37 AM, Asher Anakin Peeler was born. Daddy caught him and passed him between my legs and up into my waiting arms. I brought him in close to revel in all of his beauty. I was simply amazed to be holding my BIG, 11 pound 2 ounce baby so soon.

He came into the world so gently that he didn’t even cry. He automatically opened his eyes and saw me and his daddy smiling down at him. It was truly an AWE moment. My jaw dropped with amazement and my mind was flooded with thoughts. I was in shock that I just had such an easy birthing experience (yep, I was calling it easy minutes after it happened). It was fast, about 4 hours of labor, and I was astonished by his size and beauty.

I got out of the tub and walked over to my bed to deliver the placenta which was later encapsulated by my husband. We sat there and Zayne was so excited to kiss and get close to his little brother. I felt whole. I felt complete. I always thought that sounded cliché, but at that moment, I felt it. It was real. My baby was finally here, and everything went smoothly.

The ooh andahh’s were nonstop, and one of my favorite memories was the weigh in. I heard the gasps from everyone who saw the number that showed up on the scale and I couldn’t wait to hear it. My midwife was telling me that he was her biggest baby, her trophy baby! Eleven pounds and 2 ounces was mind blowing, but even more mind blowing to me was that I did not tear, like at all!!!

We went about our Saturday morning with much love and appreciation. I was surrounded by my family and the awesome birth team (including Becky who is a student midwife and showed up right after the birth) who got to experience such a glorious time while getting pictures of all those first precious moments. From the first latch, to our first herb bath, and our family cuddling on the bed, everything was simply perfect. Perfect! 

maternity image provided by tiffcphotography 

all other images provided by Shanna Wright Photography  

The Birth of Seraphina: A Soundbirth (Written by her Mom, Sandra)

     Two days before the birth of our daughter,(September 30th), Spirit was trying to send me messages, in the form of dragonflies. A lot of dragonflies flew through our yard and the meaning of dragonflies is that change and transformation is about to happen. I also had decided on a name for our baby that same day, which we had not known the gender. Seraphina, that is all I had decided on, no name if it was a boy. She knew and agreed and thus was ready to embark on her journey with us on earth.

Midwife Liz listening to baby's heartbeat with a handheld doppler.

Image provided by Shanna Wright Photography

        When my water broke on the 1st of October at 10 pm, I really felt the need of nesting and making sure my house was tip-top. But I did go to bed and slept very well until the early morning hour, arising with the sun, and feeling some mild contractions. Liz came by early to check on me and the little one that was about to enter this world. Around 4 pm I could feel that my contractions were different and I was called away, becoming less present during my contraction that were not mild anymore but a little stronger. Whapio states that the waves of contractions repeat with increasing intensity and frequency and the Mother is swept toward the Unknown. I was still very talkative in between my contractions but wanted peace during my contractions. I was ready to get into the birth pool and by this time, Shanna my doula had arrived and Shar, who played her crystal bowls next to me has had also arrived.

Shar plaing the crystal bowls

I entered the birth pool at 5:55 pm (the meaning of 555 is that a change in your life path has just occurred and it is time for you to change too) and heard the crystal bowls playing and immediately went into a meditative state. Sitting on the raised part in the pool, with my legs apart and a relaxed body. I wanted to travel this stage by myself and was breathing through each contraction while listening to the crystal bowls, helping me enter this other realm of the altered state. While traveling this journey by myself, and needing this peace, everyone in attendance was so calm as well; I did not even realize they were there. I felt as if I was the center of the day, until Seraphina arrived. It was so primal, like in a Native American tribe. I was surrounded by all the wise women and I was in the center, feeling safe. I felt a shift, I knew something changed. I opened my eyes and visualized the area in front of me.

Sandra relaxing through labor in the birth pool moments before Seraphina was born

image provided by Shanna Wright Photography

I became aware of the shift, got on all four and then held on to the side of the birth pool. My doula at this point knew as well and put my hair up, stroked my shoulders. This was the most intense part of this whole journey, and at one point I wanted to yell out that I cannot do it anymore (I think I did yell out, unaware of what was said). But instead I remember all the toning I practiced during my pregnancy. I moaned and did not care! A woman should not care, as toning is so helpful during labor. The moaning really helped! I was so thankful for Shanna to have read my Mantra “I’m opening up in sweet surrender to this beautiful baby in my womb. I’m opening up in sweet surrender to this beautiful baby in my womb. I’m opening. I’m opening”.

​I knew at this point, this is it, and knew baby is about to arrive. I was told to reach down and feel baby’s head; I did and felt her head. Had a contraction, I felt her head emerge and with another contraction I felt her body come out, at 6:20 pm. Instinctively, I turned to ‘Welcome’ our new baby. Pulled her up onto my chest and was relieved that this stage was over. Dad was right there and watched as his daughter entered this world.

moments after baby was born... "It's a girl!"

image provided by Shanna Wright Photography

I was speechless; when we found out she was a GIRL. The love hormone surrounded me and our new daughter and I was in so much LOVE with her. I sat there quietly for a few minutes, called my mother in Germany. Shar continued to play her crystal bowls and it was so beautiful. The boys came into the room to welcome there new sister. Tears of joy and awe filled the room, as they observed their sister and touched her.

big brothers meet baby sister for the first time

image provided by Shanna Wright Photography

The placenta was ready to be delivered. After the delivery of the placenta, I got out of the pool and our little family was sitting together in the corner of our tiny bed, in awe and in love. From here on Seraphina has been showered with pure LOVE only.

Some reflection on my birth. I truly believe that I was meant to search the web for Soundbirth and find Nicole Lloyd, who is the owner of Soundbirth, which is based in Australia. Even though she lives that far away, we still connected, talked on the phone and are friends on Facebook. As I had a traumatizing childhood, and I was afraid that I would not open up and relax enough to birth our baby, I really believe that Spirit has lead me to Nicole and through Nicole, who encouraged me to have someone there to play crystal bowls live. I know Shar and she was the first person to come to mind and I am so happy that she agreed, this was her first time playing her crystal bowls at a birth. She brought different kinds of bowls, and one of them was the sacral one. I know my sacral chakra had been blocked and I did not want this to be in the way of the birth. I was happy that she brought the sacral bowl. I believe wholeheartedly that it helped me open up and relax to the core.

Kinzy Grace's Birth Story (a planned midwife home birth turned unplanned unassisted) written by her mom

My husband and I found out we were expecting our fourth baby in October 2012. We were so thrilled to be adding another member to our family, we feel so blessed. This baby was  due July 7th and would be our second home birth with the same midwife. I especially feel so blessed to have found the midwife I did when we first moved to south texas two years ago. Having had a first traumatic hospital birth and a unfufilling  second hospital birth, I knew it would take someone special that beleived in me and my ability to birth babies. I dont know what I would have done without her support, love and knowledge throughout both of my pregnancies and births, and as a friend.

We had our first visit in January and still agreed upon the edd of July 7th based off my last cycle. I am the type of girl who loves every minute of pregnacy so my pregnancies usually always seem to fly by to me. I was pretty busy this pregnacy finishing up dental assisting school and my husband being gone out of town a lot working the majority of it still seemed to fly by. This time around with three other young children to take care of and the extra load of being a single mom most of the week, I tired a little bit more and started to feel ready around 30 weeks to meet this baby.

My husband and I had tried with our third baby not to find out the sex but caved during an ultrasound. We were both determined this time not to find out what we were having and we stuck to it. We already have one boy and two girls so my husband really wanted another boy in the mix, I wasnt picky but just really thought it was a girl the whole pregnancy.

During the month of June I started preparing for the baby. Doing little things here and there around the house we had put off, organizing and cleaning. The fourth of july weekend I made sure I planned a family outing to the beach since my due date was just a few days away and I wanted for us to get out of the house one last time before the baby came. I thought maybe since this was the fourth baby there would be small chance I would go right before my due date, well it didnt happen that weekend and my husband was back to work on the 7th. I thought then that I didnt want it to happen while he was out of town so I hoped that the baby would hold off at least until his next three days off.

That week came and went pretty uneventful, and hubby was home again on the 14th. I thought for sure it would happen in these next three days at this point cause I was already a week past my edd, and my last two babies I did not go a whole week past my edd. My midwife sent me in for a ultrasound the check on the baby on the 15th. Everything still looked great and they estimated my due date to the 19th!!

So now that my due date had moved almost two weeks forward I was feeling a little exshausted of waiting and wondering when things were gonna happen. I asked my midwife to strip my membranes in hopes to jump start things while my husband was home for one more day. Turns out it wasnt time for the baby to come just yet. I had a few good contractions after but all died down by that night. I felt a little worried that I might go into labor while my husband was gone now seeing it was getting so late in the month and close to my second edd. That week went by again uneventful. I am a pretty patient person but when you have been waiting for almost the whole month it starts to wear thin. and all the comments from well meaning people were not helpful. No, I did not plan on being induced, and no I wold not need a c-section, nor was the baby in danger.

My husband was home again on the 23rd and my midwife stripped my membranes again in hopes of getting things going. At the appointment we talked about doing castor oil the next day if this second attempt at stripping membranes did nothing. I had heard a lot of terrible things about castor oil and was really hesitant about doing it. My midwife couldnt assure me it wouldnt be awful but said that she had only seen one person have an awful time after taking it, and that it would work. So I agreed I would take it if this second attempt didnt do anyting.

After our appointment I had contractions throughout the day, no pattern or increase in intensity, I was so frustrated and lay in bed that night wishing things would pick up. I finally gave up and went to bed thinking maybe tomorrow it would happen, which so happened to be my birthday. I couldnt ask for a better birthday present than having my much anticipated baby.

The next day my midwife texted me and asked if anything was going on yet. Still nothing so off to the store our family went for some castor oil. I took my first dose at 2pm and waited. I cleaned up the house a little and had some lunch. By 4pm it still hadnt stirred up my bowels yet so I took a second dose. throughout the day I had been having the same kind of contractions as the day before and wasnt thinking anything of the contractions. I was having a lower back ache and my midwife suggested going to the chiropractor again. I really tried to hurry while at the chiropractor becasue the castor oil had really kicked in at that point!

I was back home a little after 6pm and the whole family went for an evening walk at 7. We came home fed the kids dinner and got everyone ready for bed. Liz and I had been texting about the contractions for a while and she asked around 8pm if I wanted her to come check on me yet. I didnt feel like they were very intense or getting closer together so I said Im ok for now. I agreed to let her know when they picked up and to try and get some rest. From 8 to 9 they had started to increase in pain but I couldnt really pick up on a pattern of them getting closer together yet so I still decided to hold off on having my midwife come over yet. I didnt want the birth team to come over and then my contractions fade out or it still be hours away before I delivered.

  My friend called around 9:30 to see if anything was happening yet and I just told her that I had been having contractions but nothing too  intense yet. As our conversation carried on I started having more and more intense contractions and then smaller ones right after it that wouldnt last as long. She told me after I had a couple contractions I couldnt talk through that I should have Liz come over.  I explained to her that I didnt notice a certain pattern to them yet and while they were hurting more I wanted to make sure it was closer to avoid everyone waiting around for a long time. After another contraction I couldnt talk through and starting to feel pressure I finally agreed with her that Liz should come over. I texted Liz I thought they were picking up and that maybe she should head over and that we could decided if everyone else needed to come over yet when she arrived. I asked my husband if he could go to the store to get a hose for the birth pool and right after asking him I had another contraction and said no never mind you should just stay home.

I hadnt set up the bassinet yet in our room and just asked him to go upstairs and get it out of the closet and put it in the room. Our other children were in our room watching cartoons, so as he went upstairs I went over to the couch and leaned over on the couch as I felt another contraction coming. At this point I was still in denial that the baby was coming very soon. As the pressure and the intensity of the contractions were very intense at this point I had never labored so quickly so I was just not expecting things to move too fast. As the contraction built I began to vocalize the intensity of it, and then my water broke. That is when I realized the baby was coming now!

I began to feel my body start to push and I quickly took my clothes off and yelled to Brent that my water broke. By the time Brent got downstairs I was so in the zone of the contractions and the baby coming out it was hard for me to respond to brent but I did my best when I could. When he got downstairs I told him to call Liz as he was in a panick and I was already feeling the top of the babies head. Liz told him to keep calm and to let my body do what it needed to, the baby was out in four pushes, Brent caught the baby and Liz told him to make sure to keep tension off of the cord.

We were so caught up in the moment that we had forgot to look and see if it was a boy or girl. Liz asked my husband who then asked me, I quickly looked and said its a girl!! I told you it was a girl!!! They were only on the phone for four minutes, they got off the phone and there we were holding our new baby on the living room floor wrapped up in the towel,in shock and awe of what had just happened.  we waited for Liz and everyone else to arrive.

Liz arrived about ten minutes after, then Alysia came who had attended my previous home birth, and the photographer showed up next. I was pretty bummed that we missed the photographer catching the birth but it was still a special birth and I was very happy that it happened fast since I was concerned about having a long labor like I had with my last.

Kinzy Grace Blanchard was born on 7-24-13 at 10:02 pm and weighed 9lbs 14oz and 21 3/4 long.  I feel incredibly blessed with a beautiful family and so thankful for the people in my life and so happy to have found such an amazing birth team that are so supportive and loving!