VLOG | HOME BIRTH | HIGHLY RECOMMEND | BIRTH STORY | 2021

Hi guys and welcome back to my channel. If you are new, welcome. My name is Hannah and I'm the mom with muscle. And in today's video guys, I'm telling you all about my home birth, birth story. So if this is something that you're interested in watching, just keep on watching. But if you have not already, be sure to like comment and subscribe. Make sure to hit that bell button for every time I upload a video. And if you are not already following me on Instagram, I would love to have you over at mom with muscle. Without further ado, let's get into this video. First and foremost, this is the first day in the last five days that I've actually put makeup on. I also removed my false lashes for the first time in four years. So I'm feeling a little bit naked, but I just wanted to hop on here and explain to you guys my birth story. I've had a lot of people ask me how it was. And as you guys know, I was, I had already told you guys that we were doing a home birth. So I wanted to be a, you know, source for anybody that is contemplating doing a home birth. So I wanted to give you guys my experience firsthand, if I liked it, if I didn't like it. So just keep watching if this is something you're interested. So this past Sunday, after I woke up from the nighttime, I had some early signs of labor. All throughout Sunday, I was having some contractions, things that kind of reminded me of Braxton Hicks. They have, we're coming on about every 25, 30 minutes, nothing I was really concerned about. Colin and I decided to go out and do grocery shopping, especially once I got that sign of like early labor, him and I were like, okay, this is getting real because keep in mind I would have been a week early. I wasn't due until July 19th and my daughter was born on July 12th. So she was exactly one week early. So we were kind of like, holy ----, we actually need to start getting prepared because this is coming a lot faster than we thought. So Colin and I went out, we went grocery shopping, we got laundry done. And we got all the things that we needed for like last minute preparation for our home birth. And then towards the end of the evening, contractions were getting a little bit stronger, but nothing again, nothing that I was concerned about, nothing I was going to call my midwife over. And then it wasn't until Monday morning, I started actually timing my contractions. So Monday morning would have been July 12th, started timing them. They were about 15 minutes apart, bearable, again, they kind of reminded me of Braxton Hicks. Colin had gone to work. And I actually dropped Ryder off with my girlfriend, Tiffany, who watches her on Mondays. So I was in, as you guys will see from the last vlog, I was just home alone, I was in my element, kind of just getting ready because things were happening quickly. And by about 1.30, I had called my husband, I said, things are progressing. My contractions were about seven to eight minutes apart at this point. I said, I think it's time for you to come home. I was in this weird moment of, I don't want to be that person that either waits too long to help, call for help, but I also didn't want to be that person that's calling for help too early and then people are just sitting around. You hear those stories of women going to the hospital and they're like, oh yeah, you're one centimeter dilated, you need to go back home. So I just didn't want to waste anybody's time. So I really waited until I was like, okay, this is serious, people need to come. So Kong got home about 1.30 and then my doula and my mom showed up about two o'clock. At this point, contractions were very, very, I say at this point in my labor, this was where active labor was in full effect. Contractions were taking my breath away. I really had to get into a mental headspace for every contraction that I was having. We ended up getting me into the bathtub where I was able to labor a little bit in the bath, the hot water was really good for kind of counteracting the pain that I was in. And then I had also the help from my doula and my husband doing counter pressure on certain areas of my body to help me kind of distract myself from the pain that I was feeling. So by about four o'clock, we had my midwife check me to see kind of where we were as far as centimeters dilation, whatnot, and I was at about a nine and a half. At this point, these contractions were excruciating. To get me to that half, to get me to 10 centimeters, I walked down and up my stairs once. Going down and up that flight of stairs was the most excruciating walk I've had to take in a very long time. So once I got upstairs, I had the sensation that I had to go use the restroom, I had to go pee. So I went and sat on the toilet. When I had a contraction, I was like, I feel her right there. My midwife checked me, she's like, we need to get you on the bed, it's time to push. So literally that half centimeter of going down the stairs and back was what pushed me into being able to actually have our daughter. So by the time we got to the bed, everything was already set up, everybody was in position. I pushed for, are you guys ready for this? Collin's right next to me listening to this whole recording, but I pushed for nine minutes, three pushes and she was out. My midwife at one point was like, Hannah, you need to slow down because at that point she didn't want me to tear, which I did not tear, but she's like, you need to slow down and I was like, I can't, I physically can't stop me from having to push her. Three pushes, nine minutes, she was born. Sway Elizabeth Naylor was born at 4.36 PM in the privacy of my own home. She weighs eight pounds, two ounces and she was 20 and a half inches long and it was such a cool experience. Collin got to deliver her, Collin got to cut the cord, you know, he did everything. My mom was right there. I just, I felt so supported by everybody in the room. There was so much love. It was quiet. I had my essential oils going. I had my curtains did, but I was telling my husband today, I'm like, even though it was really painful in a weird way, I don't even remember what it feels like because the second she's born, the pain is gone. It's 100% gone and then you're holding your baby and it's like, that is crazy. This just happened. So it's weird. It's just like, just like that. All that pain that you were going through for the last however many hours is just gone. So overall, the home birth was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I can't believe like when I look back at the pictures that my mom took, like I did that and it's such an empowering thing that I was able to have my own daughter in the privacy of my own home with all of my loved ones like around was just amazing. So if you were contemplating doing a home birth, do your research, find a midwife, find a doula. It is 100% worth every moment of the pain that you go through to have natural childbirth and I could not be happier with how my experience worked out. Luckily my delivery and labor was very, very quick and it was very, very seamless. I know not everybody's situation is the same as my own, but I have to think that working out and staying active and healthy throughout my entire pregnancy really helped for this home birth to be a success. Now with postpartum, we are struggling a little bit. Con and I are struggling a little bit, not so much with Sway. We are struggling more so with Ryder and her behavior. It's really difficult. Sway is perfect. She's actually a very, very good baby. But Ryder is definitely acting out what she is. Her emotions and what she's feeling is 100% valid. It went from all the attention on her to all of a sudden it's being split 50-50 between Con and I. But we are just struggling on how to handle it and I know it's only been five days since Sway's been born, but it's challenging. Going from one to two is definitely challenging, so Con and I are kind of going through our growing pains here with how to fill everybody's cup, including our own. So that is the one struggle that we are working on. Being five days postpartum, I'm already down 22 pounds, which I'm excited about. I still have a ton of work to do. My overall weight gain for this pregnancy was 43 pounds, same weight gain with Ryder. So I'm already almost halfway there, so I'm happy about that. Again, have a lot of work to do. So once I'm cleared to start lifting weights, I'm going to be going back to the gym, probably doing walks here in our neighborhood to help kind of speed up that and kind of feel, get active and off my feet a little bit. But other than that, we are extremely happy. Sway is such a great baby. You forget how tiny they are until you're holding them in your hands. She seems so tiny to me, even though she was actually bigger than Ryder all around, weight and length. So yeah, we are happy, everybody's healthy, and yeah, I just wanted to make sure I documented this and if any of you guys are contemplating doing a home birth and you have other questions for me, please leave them in the comments. I'd be more than happy to talk with you, let you pick my brain, but like I said before, I would without a doubt recommend home births. I hope they start normalizing home births because it's a night and day experience from the hospital to having your child in your own home. And even though Colin and I had a great experience with Ryder in the hospital, that was also a really simple, straightforward birth of Ryder, but this just does not even compare. Whole nother level and we are just, yeah, just kind of in like this euphoric cloud nine, I guess, of just reliving this past week and having Sway in our home. But that is it, you guys. I hope you guys enjoyed. Again, if you have any questions for me, please leave them in the comments. Thank you so much for all the love and support over these last nine months from my pregnancy announcement to my gender reveal, to my baby shower, to now this, it's all coming full circle. I will still try to continue to do as many videos as I can for you guys on a weekly basis and yeah. Love you guys. We'll see you guys in my next video. Peace.