He’s Here! Avishai’s Home Birth Story
Born on the full moon…
I’m so excited to announce the birth of my first child and son, Avishai Amir Berk. Born on the first full moon of the lunar year Sunday 3/28/21 at 11:36pm.
I was carrying him high so we all thought he would be late, but he was born 3 days before his due date. The day before he was born I was feeling great, no symptoms out of the norm. That day I was super active. I did a prenatal yoga class over zoom, went for two walks doing lunges uphill and curb walking to get him to lower (which he didn’t), did a Passover seder over zoom, and got my hair cut and colored. I was having sporadic period-like cramps towards the end of the day that cut our evening walk short. That night at 2am I woke up with really bad cramps that felt like horrible menstrual pains. Looking back, I realize these cramps were actually contractions. I was up all night, in and out of the bathtub and on and off of the floor trying to change positions to manage the discomfort. In the morning my husband Yoni and I contacted our midwife who said they could be pre labor pains and suggested I try to sleep and nourish myself throughout the day. I took her advice and slept, but was in so much discomfort I took another bath and called my sister to tell her I was having pre labor pains that could last a week or a couple days. I was unable to eat anything all day and my bowels kept emptying all morning and early afternoon.
After the bath I went back to bed and was waking up for each cramp, which were lasting 30 sec to a minute and increasing in intensity. The cramps were so uncomfortable I really had to breathe through them and it was taking a lot out of me. I slept in between but was in a daze and could barely eat, drink, or keep my eyes open all day. Around 2pm I started having a bloody show and we realized labor could be coming so we got our birthing team covid tested with. Our doula stopped by after around 4pm then left. At 5:15 I was super nauseous and puked. I could barely walk so my husband Yoni would walk me back and forth from the bed to the toilet all day while I held on to him for support. Yoni was tracking my cramps which we now realize were contractions and they were coming regularly so our doula came back around 7pm and I lost my mucus plug shortly after. We put on my hypnobirthing tracks around this point. I wish we put them on way earlier because it was the only way I could really focus and manage the pain.
Around 9:00, I got up from the bed and I thought my water broke because I felt a gush, so she walked me to the bathroom and I labored on the toilet. Turns out my water didn’t break, but I could feel something bulging out. I reached down and felt something large coming out of me and thought “omg the baby’s head, he’s coming!” My midwife wasn’t there yet but I was feeling the urge to push. Turns out it wasn’t his head, but it was the amniotic sac in tact. We called our midwife who said it will probably break soon, so we waited but with the next couple waves it started coming out and was just hanging out of me! This was probably the most uncomfortable part of labor because I couldn’t move because the sac was hanging out of me and I was super uncomfortable sitting on the toilet. At this point we called our midwife and said she should come over. She got there soon after and then the sac fell on the floor and water broke! Yoni started setting up the bed and our midwife started checking our vitals then setting up the tub. I was really looking forward to getting in the tub as they were setting up and kept asking the status. I was in a complete daze, barely opening my eyes and had no concept of time. I was super uncomfortable and couldn’t move and was feeling the urge to push with each wave so I labored on the toilet with my doula and hypnosis tracks helping me breathe until the tub filled up. The tub was ready at 11pm so I got in and it helped with the discomfort so much.
I felt like I had been laboring forever but was determined to get the baby out, so was having a talk with him in my head. At this point things got really primal and I was super vocal with each pressure wave. I remembered to keep my jaw loose with each wave as that’s directly related to the pelvic floor and was vocal through each wave to help distract from anhy discomfort. I reached down and could feel his head which really motivated me. I was on my knees leaning on the end of the tub holding onto Yoni’s hands with my head pressing onto the edge of the tub totally in my own zone. I kept pushing for 30 minutes then my team instructed me to breathe out of my mouth in short bursts with the next push to slow things down as he came out. I changed my breathing to the way they said and the entire baby came out and floated underneath me in the water! My midwife exclaimed, “your baby’s in front of you!” I scooped him up from the water and cuddled him while they checked the cord and placenta. Avishai Amir Berk was born super health at 11:36pm at the very end of a long 22 hour labor. We are so grateful for the incredible experience to have birthed unmedicated at home and in water.
