Anna’s Birth Stories with the CBC

Birth #1 - A Christmas Gift

I found out I was pregnant right in the middle of Covid in 2021. I had always assumed I would have a hospital birth, at least with my first, but all the rules surrounding the virus made me hesitate. Would we be exposed to the virus at a hospital? Would I be separated from my baby if I tested positive? Would family even be allowed to be with me?

I started to explore home birth as an option and started researching the best midwives in my area.

Enter Meghan, a calming presence whose knowledge about all things childbirth set me right at ease. Prenatal appointments at the Cincinnati Birth Center offered a serene, tranquil environment, and I was so happy with my decision to have a natural birth at home.

Fast forward a few months to Christmas Eve night when I thought I was feeling signs of early labor. When I woke up at 12am Christmas morning, I KNEW today was the day! My doula and mother-in-law came over right away to give their support and we worked through contractions together. 

After a couple hours of pacing, swaying, and using an exercise ball, I felt we should call Meghan - in my inexperience, I thought that these contractions were intense and meant baby was almost here! Meghan came over right away to check me out…  and I was disappointed to learn I was only 3cm dilated. 

Meghan left with instructions to call her when labor ramped up more and I tried to catch some sleep between contractions (easier said than done!). My husband never slept more than ten minutes during my whole labor - he massaged my back, helped me take a warm shower, and held my hand as the pain got worse.

Mid-morning marked the turning point as labor definitely progressed, prompting us to call Meghan again. This time she arrived with her birth assistant, India, and they immediately prepped for the delivery of my little girl. Reality started setting in! But I barely had time to process anything with contractions stealing my focus at only 1-2 minutes apart. I labored on the bed and tried different positions, but didn’t feel the urge to push yet.

At some point, I stood up to encourage the baby’s descent - and my water instantly broke. Two intense hours of pushing followed – and believe me, it’s nothing like in movies! It turns out that the baby was in a compound presentation, where her hand was next to her head in the birth canal. This caused some difficult pushing and delivery. But the moment my baby girl was placed in my arms, I just felt the relief and joy of holding Lily Renae, my little Christmas gift.

Birth #2 - Born in the Water

Two years after my first was born, I found out I was pregnant with my second little girl! I knew I wanted to have the midwives at CBC perform the delivery again, and called them up right away.

Since I had already experienced a home birth, I felt much more confident this time around and decided I wanted to experience water labor with this delivery.

Two weeks before my due date, I started having regular mild contractions that lasted all day - I was sure I was going into early labor and alerted Meghan. My in-laws picked up my toddler for a “sleepover” and I waited all day for the labor to progress. After a full day of mild contractions, they finally petered out that night. False alarm - I had been tricked by prodromal labor and baby girl didn’t have any plans of making an appearance yet.

The next two weeks seemed to drag on, but finally my due date came… and went. That night I ate the spiciest food I could handle and did lunges, stair walking, and bounced on an exercise ball. Did any of that induce labor? I’ll never know for sure, but the next morning at 6:45am I woke up with very real contractions.

They progressed quickly within the next hour, so after we got our toddler some breakfast and packed to go hang out with grandpa, I called Meghan knowing I would need assistance soon.

Around 10am, I knew things were going much faster than they had with my first birth. Meghan was already at another birth that morning, so India came over with her assistant. India is wonderful, and instantly put me at ease with her encouraging presence.

We got our birthing pool set up - unfortunately, it was defective out of the box and wanted to leak air. But it was nothing my husband, mother-in-law, and duct tape couldn’t handle! I couldn’t believe how RELAXING the water was, and I swore I’d never labor any other way in the future!

A couple of hours passed, and the contractions intensified much faster than I expected. When I saw India and her assistant sharing a nod, I knew we were almost at the finish line. Sure enough, I got a massive urge to push. A few minutes later and the baby was crowning and we could see her head! After a couple more pushes that didn’t do anything, India had me change positions to hands and knees, which instantly brought the baby down and out with the next push.

The relief post-birth was just as great as the first time, and it was just as magical having Evangeline Rose placed in my arms. Every birth is unique, but it was especially exciting to find out she was born “en caul”, meaning she had the amniotic sac still intact over her head - a rare event that only occurs every 1 in 80,000 births!

I couldn’t wait for her and her sister to meet later that day - my two home birth babies, a route I’ll always be so thankful I took.