homeBirth Story Of rory andrew

July 1, 2024 at 5:34pm

On July 1st, 2024, I decided to go into work for just a few hours to make sure my maternity leave replacement had everything situated. I also wanted to finish up some last minute things at the office. It was me and my husband’s third wedding anniversary! I was overdue by 2 days and had nothing better to do anyways. I work at Billing Chiropractic and had been receiving incredible prenatal chiropractic care by Dr. Billing weekly, at minimum, throughout my entire pregnancy. I knew I needed adjusted anyway. After deciding I’d leave work around 10:00AM, when the book died down some, I asked to be adjusted, said goodbye, and headed home to my daughter Hattie. I already had my 41 week prenatal appointment scheduled with Emily that evening and figured I’d go home and rest until then.

My sister was babysitting Hattie and asked me to grab her a coffee on the way home. Moments after leaving the office, I had a contraction while driving in the car. I didn’t think much of it and just brushed it off. I had another one about 10 minutes later. I decided to go ahead and time them just to see if this was the beginning of anything. Another one followed about 10 minutes later. I made it to the coffee shop and had another contraction while standing in line waiting to pay. I made it home and had another one in my car before I even made it inside. I walked inside, greeted my daughter, sent my sister on her way, and start cleaning all of the last minute things on my list “just in case.” As I’m cleaning, the contractions are getting closer together and staying consistent at about 6 minutes apart. This had been happening for an hour now, so I decided I should probably let Emily know that labor had probably begun.

I was still not convinced I would be having a baby that day because Hattie’s labor was about 18 hours. My husband Riley made it home from work about 1:15pm, after asking me multiple times if he needed to come home “right now.” I assured him that it wasn’t time yet. But, I did need him to put our toddler Hattie down for her nap because contractions were too uncomfortable for me to do it. So, after he got home to help with her, they went upstairs to start the naptime process. I thought that I would try to take a nap too.

After laying down, I had one contraction that was SO uncomfortable! I jumped out of bed and knew I probably wouldn’t have much time to rest anymore. The next contraction came 3 minutes later! Each one was about a minute long. They quickly started coming hard and fast like this. I had been in communication with Emily this whole time and she was definitely in go-mode at this point, as our home is 1hr 15min from her office. She let me know that she was leaving in 10 minutes once her assistant arrived. She even offered to just leave right away without her. She knew, better than I did, that this baby was coming FAST!

Riley casually came downstairs from putting Hattie down for her nap. He asked me what needed to be added into the roast that I had planned to get started. I simply said, “There is no time for that.” I think this is when he realized how close we were to having our baby. As Emily was communicating with me via text, while speeding fast to me, she asked me if I could rest, seated on an exercise ball until she arrived. The contractions were 1-2 minutes apart at this point. Again, she knew how fast this baby was coming! I told her that it wasn’t comfortable to sit like that and asked if I could lean over the ball with my arms, while resting on the floor on all fours instead. She told me that I definitely can, but that I may have a baby without her if I stay like that. This is when I finally came to terms with the fact that our baby would be here very soon.

I asked her to share her location with me to put me at ease! She sent it immediately.

My mom left work at lunch when I informed her that I was having contractions (even though I totally played it off like they were nothing). She came to pick up Hattie once I told her that Emily was on her way. She arrived to wake Hattie up from her nap and take her to her house. They planned to play there and be ready to come back to visit as soon as baby was here. Emily arrived as fast as she could, about 3:15PM. She came right in to check on me. At my request she got the birth pool set up, and began filling it as quickly at she could. That’s a whole other story (lol!). Our hot water heater is a beast so we were getting scalding HOT water ONLY, but after she grabbed some ice and cold water, we got the pool to a perfect temperature and I was able to hop right in. This was the very best part of my labor in my opinion. It was the most pain relief I got from a completely unmedicated birth. It felt so incredibly good to just melt into the water!

In the water, I labored from about 4:00 to 4:30. Emily asked me to remind her what time I had Hattie, to which I respond “about 5:30pm” and then she said, “You’re not going to be pregnant in another hour. You’re doing so good.” That was very reassuring to hear! Those words gave me one last push to power through! I asked Riley to turn some worship music on my phone. It felt so quiet and different from Hattie’s birth (she was breech so there were 4 birth attendants), I needed something to distract me…more noise. (lol) This labor felt so entirely different than Hattie’s. I was so calm, breathing through every contraction in the water. I was never physically checked for dilation by Emily…just breathing wisely and using the motivation within me to remind me it was almost over. I never ever pushed. I just breathed.

About 5:25pm, Emily said she was going to get a quick snack. She had attended back to back births each day prior and was in prenatal visits when I let her know that I was in labor (she is seriously such a rockstar!). Riley explains to her where the snacks in our house are and tells her to help herself. I remember opening one eye (I was in the zone with my eyes closed, head resting on the top of the birth pool breathing at this point) and thinking “that’s not a good idea” because I thought I had felt my baby’s head prior. As she’s in the kitchen, I have a contraction and I say “the baby is coming” and her assistant is by my side instantly, then calmly says “yep, you’re crowning!” So Emily quietly walks right back… It’s show time!

I breathe baby’s head partially out slowly. After a minute, Emily quietly tells me that my baby just needs some help, and ever so calmly asks me if I can get on my hands and knees in the water - or just to get out of the water so she can help him. I instantly say “No” to both options. lol. She kindly, but firmly says “Yep, let’s just go ahead and get you out of the water.” (love her and her knowledge, knowing what’s best for me and baby!) She asks me to get on hands and knees on the floor. This happened to be the EXACT same spot I birthed Hattie, which I think is so cool!! She assisted my baby’s shoulders out, which were both very stuck (in the anterior-posterior diameter of my pelvis). She told me I would feel a bit of pressure, and I did. Then she sat back and let me breathe my baby completely out, peacefully.

As soon as baby was earthside, she helped him and our baby cried. Baby was showing signs of great health! Emily was getting ready to hand our baby to me. Riley looks down and informs me that we had a baby BOY (we wait to find out gender and we were hoping for a boy, as we already had a girl and planned for this to be our last baby). Riley was already crying, I start tearing up and Emily handed me our perfect boy. She let me know that he was a big boy, but I thought he felt like a feather in comparison to our 40lb toddler.

Once I delivered the placenta, we got our baby ready to do skin-to-skin with Riley. I tend to bleed a lot after my births, so this felt like a good idea until I was stable. Once I was all cleaned up and able to get in bed (very soon after), Riley gave him back to me, so I could breastfeed him, do skin-to-skin time, etc.

My mom was notified that our baby was here. My mom and my sister brought Hattie right over. Nobody wanted to know the gender until they showed up, so that was fun getting to surprise everyone! Hattie was obsessed with “baby” and was instantly the best big sister! The rest of our parents visited later that evening, upon our approval, and all took turns taking quick snuggles with him. He was adjusted about 2 hours after birth by my chiropractor father in law when they visited, Hattie was taken to my moms for the night so we could rest and I could recover.

I truly had the most dreamy birth. We didn’t tell anyone besides my mom I was in labor, because we truly didn’t think we were having a baby that day. It was calm, it was peaceful, it was quaint, and it was perfect. I never knew you could just breathe your baby out and be so at peace giving birth, but his birth was proof that this can be done with a focused, clear mind and calm atmosphere.

Emily and her assistant made everything a breeze from labor to clean up. Emily is truly the most amazing human I know and I would not want to birth my babies with anyone else present! It brings me to tears knowing we don’t plan to do this again, and likely won’t get this opportunity with her again, but I know it leaves the door open for so many other amazing mothers to birth their babies with her. Having her as part of our pregnancies, births and newborns lives is truly one of the best gifts I could ever give them; to be in the care of someone so incredible. We love you Emily, and thanks for making my second and likely final birth…phenomenal!

Rory Andrew Huffer July 1st, 2024 9lbs 3oz, 21in