Johnathan Arthur Mersinger was born at home, in water, on February 2^nd at 7:46 a.m. He was 9 lbs 6 oz and about 20 inches long. We are all doing well and Kathrine loves her new baby brother. She is very concerned when he cries and lets him lay on her when they nurse together.

My water broke at about 7:30 on Wednesday evening. I called Hans at work to let him know and then called Joy (my midwife) to give her a heads up. My contractions hadn't started yet, which made me a little nervous, since my contractions took 5 days to start after my water broke with Kathrine. After some debate, I also called the people who I planned to have at the birth to give them a heads up as well. I decided to believe that they would start soon and tried to get some things ready before Hans got home. At about 8:30 I called Hans again to tell him to hurry home. My contractions had started, and although they were still far apart we had plenty to get ready, and I wanted to get some rest before they picked up in intensity. I made some energy shake to have around during the labor and after and then while nursing Kathrine, I made a list of things for Hans to do while I rested.

At about 10:15 we called my mom and asked her to come and to watch Kathrine. We told her there was no hurry, but we didn't want her to need to drive in the middle of the night. I went to bed and listened to the Hypnobabies Fear Release CD. I was thinking I might fall asleep as it had been fairly common for me to do as I listen to the scripts, but I stayed awake and after the script I decided to get up and see how Hans and Kathrine were doing. They were doing fine, so I decided to take a shower, hoping it would relax me enough that I could sleep for a while before things picked up. It didn't work that way.

When I got out of the shower my birthing waves were coming about 6 minutes apart and lasting about 2 minutes each from start to finish. I thought we should wait a bit before calling Joy, but Hans called her anyhow and she decided to come right then. I nursed Kathrine again while waiting for my mom to arrive She came not much later and Kathrine went upstairs with her. Hans made the bed as suggested with 2 layers separated by a plastic sheet and started to blow up the pool as soon as Kathrine went upstairs. Around that time I also started using my light-switch (a Hypnobabies technique), turning it to off during each pressure wave. I really did not feel discomfort at all during these early waves.

Joy arrived a little after 1am. Shortly after she arrived, Hans started filling the pool with water. I had been sitting on the I decided to get up more for a while and sat on my exercise ball during a few contractions. While I was on the exercise ball, Joy asked if I wanted pressure on my back during contractions. I suggested a hand on my shoulder (another Hypnobabies technique) instead. It helped a lot. Eventually, I moved back onto the chair. By the time Joy arrived I really had lost all sense of time. I was completely aware of what was going on around me, but I was totally in my own world. At some point I had Hans switch CD's from the birthing day affirmations, which I had been listening to, to the birth guide CD. I had ordered the new CD, but it had not arrived, so I played the CD I had through repeatedly from that point until the baby arrived.

Around 3 am, I went to the bathroom and started shaking uncontrollably. Joy suggested getting into the pool at that point. It sounded warm and nice, so I did. I would say I was probably entering transition at this point. I was still very relaxed and having comfortable birthing waves when I entered the pool. In retrospect though, I made the mistake of not continuing to pay attention to the Birth Guide CD or my light switch. Theresa arrived shortly after I entered the pool and at 3:40 Hans called Peggy (a good friend) to come over. It seemed possible that the birth was imminent, but it was not yet. I do think if I had continued with the CD more consciously it may have been quicker, I also think that I may have been subconsciously waiting for Maryrose and Dad to arrive. They were driving back from Chicago together. They arrived around 5:45 am. By then things were feeling very intense. I had begun feeling the urge to push a bit at the hight of each contraction some time before, but I was not feeling any progress and I was getting frustrated. I tried to keep my thinking and words positive, but I was starting to think and say that I couldn't do it. I was always able to at least start saying positive things again, but

Around 6:00 Joy asked if I could feel the baby moving lower. I said I couldn't tell, and she asked if I wanted her to check my dilation. There was a lip of cervix left, and during my next contraction she helped me dilate farther and the baby moved to first station.

At this point I also realized that I had not been paying attention to the birth guide cd's or using my lightswitch. I asked someone to turn up the cd player so I could hear the birth guide better and I started consciously using my lightswitch again. My birthing waves spaced out a lot and I was able to totally relax for about an hour. Joy called this the “Rest and be thankful stage of labor.”

A little after 7:00 my birthing waves began to get more intense again, but I was using my lightswitch and I really did only feel pressure, not pain. I continued to use hypnosis to relax as the intensity built over the next half hour. At some point I knew I needed to change positions and moved from laying back in the pool to squatting and leaning against the side of the pool. I'd say that was the point at which I started pushing. Pushing was very uncomfortable, it really did feel like I was trying to have a really hard bowel movement. This was the second point at which I started to doubt myself. Again, I started to say I couldn't do it, but I quickly changed what I was saying. I think a quote was “I can do this, I need to do this, I am doing this.” I didn't really think I was pushing out the baby until I reached down and felt the head. When I felt the baby's head, everything changed. I suddenly felt a new focus and completely felt like I could easily finish giving birth without problem. I'm fairly certain from talking to those present that my pushing time was about 15 minutes, amazingly quick in my opinion. I probably should not have pushed as hard as I did at the end, I knew I would tear if I didn't slow down (I could feel it), but I chose not to slow down anyhow. The good news is that it was not a bad tear.

In any case, as I was pushing, Joy told me that as the baby came out she would guide him forward and I could reach down and pick the baby up as I turned around to sit down.

I need to admit, this made no sense to me until it was happening. Catching my baby as he was born and bringing him up to my chest was the most incredible experience. As he was born, Kathrine said “That's my baby brother,” which made me think of checking, thankfully she was right, we have a wonderful baby boy. I moved to the rocking chair as soon as I had the strength. That is where I delivered the placenta and started nursing Johnathan. Kathrine joined Johnathan and I on the chair and informed me that I had two breasts, so she and the baby could both nurse. Since it was hard to argue with that logic, I let her nurse at the same time for a minute or two, the start of a great tandem nursing relationship.

I still am amazed by how wonderful this birth was. I am very thankful both that I used the hypnobabies program and that I chose a home birth.. This was definitely the way birth was meant to be.