The birth story of our son Vlad Omuka

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Jan. 5th After a long day of butchering rabbits and doing the final clean on the baby room, I was so tired and my hips were feeling sore. It was so uncomfortable sitting on the wooden chairs at the table because I could feel the baby’s head so low. I sat on an exercise ball for supper. After I went to bed, I could not seem to get any good sleep. As the night went on, I felt kind of crampy and like I was getting my period. I went to the bathroom so many times during the night which wasn’t normal for me.

Jan. 6th In the morning I finally decided to just get up and try to eat something to see if that would help me feel better. Around 10:00 a.m. I went to the bathroom and saw a lot of bloody mucus! I got very excited and told my husband, Jason, that I think this is baby day! He excitedly started setting up the pool and getting everything in the room prepared. I was so glad I had completely finished getting ready the day before!

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I decided to take a shower around 10:30 a.m. and while I was showering, I started feeling contractions on my low back. They were around 5 min apart. As the day went on, the contractions got closer and harder. I drank some water and sipped on red raspberry leaf tea all day. I called my mom and she came over in the afternoon. I had more bloody mucus and started having diarrhea. In the evening, Jason came into the living room where I was breathing through contractions and he sat me on his lap and prayed that the labor and birth would go well for the baby and me. It was a special time. I soon had a contraction that was much harder and had me in tears so I asked Jason to fill the pool with water.

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Dot and Lydia came around 7:00 p.m. They checked the baby and everything sounded wonderful! I was surprised by how active the baby was! I soon went to get in the pool which felt so good. The contractions weren’t nearly as painful in the water. Mom sat in the room with me and timed the contractions for a while to see if they were staying consistent in the water. They continued to get stronger. It was so relaxing and peaceful to sit in the water and listen to soft music and breath in the aroma of the essential oils diffusing in the air.

Around 9:00 p.m. Dot checked my dilation and I was at 4 cm. I continued to labor in the pool on my hands and knees or in a sitting position. I was definitely feeling more pressure. Around 11:00 p.m. she checked me again and I was a stretchy 7 cm. I was so happy about the progress. During labor, Jason was such wonderful support sitting beside the pool holding my hand, or hugging me. The contractions were getting a lot harder now and I was so thankful to have someone rub my back. Another assistant, Violet, arrived late at night to help with the birth. It was so nice to have her there to rub a cool washcloth on my head because I was sweating so much!

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Jan 7th Around 1:00 a.m the contractions were very intense and getting stronger. I started feeling like I wanted to soon push. I laid on my side and I asked Dot to check my dilation one more time and she said there was only a tiny lip of cervix left to open and that I could start giving gentle pushes whenever I was ready. I was getting extremely nauseous with each contraction. I never did end up throwing up. I was so grateful for the breaks between contractions! I started pushing around 1:45 a.m. It was so wonderful to be able to kneel down and rest my head on the edge of the pool during labor. At 2:14 a.m. my water broke while I was pushing. I was starting to feel like I couldn’t finish. I was so exhausted and wondered if I could do it. It was such a blessing to have the midwives, my mom, and my husband all there to be such an encouragement. I would say, “I can’t do it!” and Dot would tell me, “you ARE doing it!..and so well!”

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Around 2:30 a.m. The Baby’s head started to come. I was giving gentle pushes and blowing while Dot put counter pressure on the head. It was so wonderful to have her hold her hand down there to give me support to prevent tearing. At 2:35 a.m. baby’s head was crowned and I was feeling intense burning. I reached my hand down and touched its head. It was so special, but at that moment, I was so eager to just have the baby out!

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At 2:46 a.m. our precious baby was born! The head and body came right out into the water and Dot caught the baby and brought it up on my chest. Oh, what a most wonderful moment of my life! It was such a marvelous joy to hold my sweet baby. After a few moments, I opened the baby’s legs and saw that it was a boy!! We were thrilled! My husband and I gazed in awe at our precious child! We named him Vlad Omuka. We sat there and enjoyed some time with our little boy while I delivered the placenta. Jason video-called Mama in Kenya and she sang a hallelujah song for us as she milked her cows. It was special!  The midwives patiently relaxed there by the pool while I waited for more contractions to come to deliver the placenta. I soon started having soft contractions and started pushing out the placenta while Dot held on to the cord. The placenta came out very well and it looked very healthy. We waited a while to cut the cord. Jason cut the cord at 3:36 a.m. and then held Vlad while the midwives helped me out of the pool and into bed. I was incredibly weak and shaky but so very happy to have the baby out! Vlad is a very healthy strong baby and opened his eyes so much after birth. He cried some but soon was ready to nurse. He is such a beautiful and perfect baby! He weighed 6lbs 12oz and was 21in long. I was so thankful that I didn’t have any tearing!

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I am very grateful for the kind, caring, patient, and professional midwives! They made such an amazing team with helping us bring our lovely child into this world! I just loved having my baby at home in my own space where I could relax and be cared for so well! I definitely felt like the midwives always had the best in mind for me! I was able to make my own decisions on how I wanted things done with myself and the baby which was wonderful! My husband and I truly thank the Lord for such a lovely beautiful blessing of a son and such an amazing birth experience at our home! 

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