Pricilla and Steven Forsythe's Homebirth Story
Empowered by God

Joshua Steven

born after 1 hour and 27 minutes of labor

December 2, 2006 at 7:27am

She weighed 10 pounds and 5 ounces and was 22 inches long

I had an ultrasound done to determine the gender and found out that we were having a little boy. I was very excited because my youngest boy was 10 years old, and I looked forward to having another little boy again. My girls did not share my excitement. My oldest girl cried the whole way home from the doctor’s office. I would have been worried about this overreaction, but she was very tired and our van didn't have air conditioning at the time and it was in the 90's that day. I think these things contributed to her heartbreak. My little girl, who was 2 at the time, sang "Baby boy, no, no, no." on the way home. My boys were gloating that we were having another boy- a tiebreaker.

My only concern during my pregnancy was my almost total lack of appetite for the last 6 weeks or so before my son was born. Food was really repulsive to me. The only thing I could stand to even look at was unsweetened raisin bran. I had to force myself to eat that. I tried to make up for my lack of nutrition by taking herbal supplements like alfalfa pills, yellow dock root, and prenatal vitamins. I also drank lots of nettles, red raspberry leaf, and dandelion teas. I was kind of worried about his health and did a lot of praying on his behalf.

His official due date was the 26th of November. The date came and went. I couldn't stand the waiting! I asked the Lord to give me patience and He help me by giving me some practice at waiting. I had been having intense Braxton-Hicks contractions for a couple of weeks, but I had gotten so used to them that I didn't pay much attention to them anymore. The big day came on December 2nd. It was a Saturday and my husband had to get up to go to work. I mumbled a "Goodbye. I love you, Steve." as he went out the door, and rolled back over to go to sleep. Then, I realized that I had to go to the bathroom and stumbled into the bathroom. It was then that I realized that I had the long-awaited "Bloody Show!" I woke up in a hurry, and then I paged my husband and called my midwife. My midwife said that she was on her way. She had even been sleeping in her pants, so that she could be sure to make it in time. She said that she would call my doula and that I didn't have to worry about it. Then my husband called from work. He had just walked in the door and went straight to a phone to call me. I told him that it was time for him to come right back home. He said he was on his way.

While I waited for everyone to arrive I walked back and forth across my home. I tried to be quiet so that I wouldn't wake the children. In the last 2 weeks or so of waiting, my husband and I had been watching a lot of homebirth videos that we had borrowed from my midwife. I had heard the ladies on the videos saying how they felt so empowered giving birth and I told myself that I would be a "strong, empowered woman." I couldn't wait to be tough. I was going to give birth like a soldier going into battle. I was also very impressed by the water births. I loved the thought of my little boy being born into a tub full of warm, comfortable water. Steven was the first to arrive. He immediately began to pace. He was getting in my way, but I could see that he was nervous, so I didn't shove him or anything. I just asked him if he would be more comfortable sitting on the bed. He just continued to pace.

My midwife was the next to arrive. I was so relieved to see her. I had been worried that she might not make it in time. We had all been thinking out a birth plan that mostly included my doula. We really expected her to be the one to catch the baby since she lives so much closer to me. I was surprised that the midwife arrived first. When my midwife arrived, she checked Joshua's heartbeat and asked a few questions and then asked if I was ready for the tub. I said I was and someone ran a bathtub of water for me. My contractions were getting pretty intense by this time. I took off my gown and stepped into the tub with only a sports bra on. It was instant relief! At first I was afraid that my labor had stopped. That is how much of a difference the water made. After I was reassured that this was normal, I heaved a huge sigh of thankful relief. But it was to be short-lived.

I soon discovered that I was no roaring, tough, empowered woman. I was a big wimp and I was in a lot of pain. It was then that I stopped depending on my own pitiful resources and asked the Lord to help me. As the pain got more and more intense, He was the only thing I had to cling to. Especially at the end, I knew that I would not be able to do it without Him. I tried my first push while squatting in the bathtub but the baby didn't move. I tried one more push while squatting and it still didn't work. Then I decided that it was time to stand up. Standing up seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do right at that moment. I heard my midwife say, "Here we go, now." So, like my last birth, I stood up and clung to my husband, while my midwife got ready to catch the baby. When I pushed again, I could feel him move. Hooray! The second push, and he started through the birth canal. It really hurt! I wasn't expecting this. During previous labors, the pushing part felt great, like being able to scratch an itch that had been bothering me for a long time. This time, it felt like I huge amount of pressure. I felt like I was going to explode. With the next push, I felt Joshua's head come out. I also lost control of my bowels at the same time. This was something that I had been hoping would never happen. I had dreaded it, because at my first birth in the hospital, this had happened and the doctor had gotten furious and yelled. He had expressed disgust and wanted to know why in the world I hadn't been given an enema. It had been humiliating and I didn't want to relive it. I was so thankful when no one seemed to care or even think it was out of the ordinary this time around.

My first sight of my sweet little boy was of his back and bottom. It seemed that he looked a little bigger than I remembered my other babies looking right after birth. I was really hoping that he would at least match my biggest babies at 8 lbs. and 5 oz. As always, when I got to hold my newborn baby for the first time, it was one of the sweetest moments of my life. Imagine meeting someone face to face for the first time and loving him enough to die for him within seconds. He was beautiful.

It was time to move to the bed. Everyone helped Joshua and me to the bed. There were already fresh chuck pads waiting for me. My placenta had not been expelled yet. I was a little nervous about this part, because at my last birth, it took an hour and 5 minutes for the placenta to come out. I was so happy when it slipped right out! Then my midwife and my doula clamped the cord, so that Steven could cut it. They cleaned up for us while we both bonded with each other and with our new son. Then came the measuring and weighing part. My midwife had Joshua in her hanging scale and said, "Guess how much he weighs." I said hopefully,"8 pounds, 5 ounces?" She smiled, "Nope.” I tried again." 8, 4?" She shook her head “Try again." Steven said " 9 pounds?” She smiled really big and said "10 pounds and 5 ounces!" We were both really surprised! Joshua was our biggest baby yet and to think that I had worried about him being too small because I had trouble eating.

After everyone and everything was cleaned up, Steven went to wake up our other 4 children .In the previous weeks, I had worried about whether or not to wake Bethany up to see her new brother or to let her sleep. But everything was timed so perfectly that it was close to her regular time to wake up anyway. All of my children got to see their baby brother for the first time all together. Everyone just wanted to touch him and marvel over him. The girls fell instantly in love with him. They were more excited than I had ever seen them before. No one was heartbroken over this baby brother anymore!

My second homebirth was as beautiful as the first one. I just wish I had trusted God more during my pregnancy. All of the things that I had so foolishly worried over turned out beautifully and I wasted so much time by worrying. I am so thankful to my dear husband and my midwife and doula. They were both so nice to me. My doula had continually offered me water through a bendy straw during my labor and even cleaned out my gross bathtub. My midwife was very competent and knew exactly what she was doing, even though, technically she was still an apprentice and had a more experienced midwife as her adviser. I hope to give birth to any future children at home, and I hope to have the same wonderful ladies to help us again next time. I am so grateful that my husband could be there for each of our births and labors. He is the best and I can't even imagine going through childbirth without him. Most of all I am thankful to a great and loving God who knew exactly what He was doing when he created my body to give birth and stayed with me every step of the way!