Beautiful unplanned home birth
TODAY, WE WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO Madison Zahrt.
Thank you so much for giving us all the chance to learn more about your birth story Madison!
Before we jump into your birth story is there anything you want to share?
First I want to say I have recommended you and your course to so many women because the emphasis you put on the mental prep work needed to successfully labor unmedicated, to be able to relax and let your body do what it was designed to do was more valuable to me than I realized it would be. Visualizing my birth and the kind of birth I wanted and what was important to me was so vital, the most important things to me were that I felt in control of my surroundings and that I felt safe. During labor, having my affirmations read to me, scripture and connecting with the Lord was so necessary in getting through the waves/surges. Knowing beforehand what words served me and what ones did not, my husband knowing my desires for birth, what to say and when to say it, how to help during surges, all of these things you talk about in your course not only helped me during labor but my husband also felt confident going into it and his confidence and calm demeanor was exactly what I needed! He was also confident in his ability to advocate for me and my desires for birth!
Wilder was born Wednesday 2/22/23 at around 1:30pm in the afternoon! We don’t know the actual time because he ended up being born at home and not the hospital as we were planning!
I felt so confident going into birth even though I had so much fear that I was working through about not having a provider, what birth was going to look like and if I was going to be able to mentally handle it all.
To learn more about how you and your partner can become prepared for birth, check out my virtual birth coaching here.
OKAY, WALK US THROUGH YOUR birth STORY!
I woke up Wednesday morning around 5am and went to use the bathroom and my water broke! I had been having inconsistent surges all night and was mentally working on ignoring them and trying to sleep instead of getting worked up. By 6:30 though they were much more consistent and I told my husband I was pretty sure this was labor so we kept the blinds closed and used soft lighting. He got some of my labor snacks/drinks and I labored in our bedroom, changing positions, and getting in and out of the shower for a few hours.
I decided not to look at my phone and completely get into my birth zone as some of the waves were so intense if I didn’t focus my breathing and my mind on getting through them then I completely started to unravel mentally. When you said birth was more mental than physical that could not be a more true statement. When my breathing was good and focused and I was in my zone the waves seemed to pass significantly easier and if even for a second I was brought out of my zone I felt like my whole mental state was unraveling and the tension would set in and I would start to feel very intense pain. There were a couple of times my husband didn’t even realize I was in the middle of a surge because I was so calm and peaceful when I was able to stay in my birth zone. He quickly picked up on not speaking to me and noticing the waves were happening and offering me snacks/drinks after and letting me follow my body and what it needed. The whole experience was so instinctual, from the positions and movements to the sounds I was making that I didn’t even realize could come out of my body.
My husband was timing the waves at one point to see when to leave for the hospital and I have no idea what time it was but I hit transition then, it happened way quicker than I expected and I didn’t even realize until after - that was what that was! I was expecting transition to be and feel like I was unraveling completely and I would be telling my husband I couldn’t do this anymore but I never outwardly did any of that, I inwardly to myself said that I couldn’t do this anymore and I wanted to go to the hospital immediately for the epidural and a nap and even started praying that the Lord would stall my labor so I could rest! But I didn’t express any of this to my husband and continued laboring through that, the surges started stacking on top of each other and I realized I was bearing down. With each surge I would lean over the sink and then get into a deep squat without even thinking about it! The thought of getting into the car to go to the hospital at this point terrified me and brought me out of my birth zone to where I started to feel so unsafe. We were in our bathroom at this point and I felt like if I left even the bathroom I was going to mentally unravel and would not be able to get back into the zone and that I wouldn’t be able to do this! My husband asked me about heading to the hospital and I told him I think I already went through transition and now I’m bearing down in the shower.
He looked at me so calmly and said well I guess we’re having a home birth. I didn’t want to call 911 because I was so scared that any change was going to break my focus and all I could do was breathe through the waves that had no break in between. He told me later he didn’t want call 911 until after he was born either because I was so focused and he didn’t want to break that focus either!
I filled up the tub with the shower water and leaned over the tub and could feel my body pushing with each wave, I told my husband I was pushing and then I went to sit on the toilet to use the bathroom and could feel his head coming out with my hand. I was praying this whole time that the lord would give me the strength to keep going and that everything would be fine. Pushing was the most relieving part, my husband said I was even smiling! It felt like my body was doing most of the work and I was just aiding it by breathing and releasing all the tension! I knew I was almost there! I got down on all fours and with the next surge his head came out and I yelled to my husband to catch him. There was a pause between the waves where his head was just out and both my husband and I were so calm as we waited for the next one and with two more waves his whole body was out! He caught him and handed him to me and I couldn’t believe we just did that all by ourselves! He cried immediately and I rubbed his back and he got me a towel for us. I think my first words after birth were just “I did it!” over and over again!
He called the paramedics after a few minutes and they showed up and we got to see the cord turn white and stop pulsing, naturally birthed the placenta and then my husband cut the cord! All things I wanted that were in my birth plan!
This was by far the most difficult and hardest experience but also the most rewarding experience I have ever had, the days leading up to birth I was genuinely questioning my mental capacity to get through birth and if I was going to be able to but the mental prep work that I did beforehand and then my complete reliance on the Lord, that he created my body for this, was everything!
Again I just wanted to say thank you for this course! Thank you for putting it together with all of the research, resources, and positive birth stories!
If you want to go into more detail and hear from Madison herself, go watch our live on Instagram!
This could be your story too. Apply here.
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