As told by mama, Nikole.

I woke up from a dead sleep at 1:30am on June 13 with contractions. I didn’t know for sure if this was the real deal yet, since I’d been having Braxton Hicks and I had 7 days til my actual due date. I got out of bed, went into the kitchen and grabbed the island as my contractions started to get stronger, already a couple of minutes apart. I texted my midwife Brea, Carey, and my mother in law to let them know I was having contractions. Carey and Brea asked how far apart my contractions were and suggested that I should start timing them. My husband started to fill the birthing tub while I bounced on my ball to help with contractions. My mother in law informs us she is heading over, and at this point my contractions are 20-28 seconds long and are getting super painful. My midwife let me know she was just finishing up with a birth and would be on her way soon and that she texted Maddison (another midwife) to head over.

Once Maddison got there I felt relief, and then she helped me get into the birthing pool so I could try to relax my body. Right after that, Carey got there and immediately set her things up. Not going to lie my contractions were getting so hard to deal with I don’t even remember seeing Carey take pictures or film, she was like a secret ninja. Now it’s about 2:30am and I just remember trying to get out of the birthing pool because my contractions were killing me! Maddison grabbed my arms and in a soft spoken voice said “if you get up you will have to get out and go to your bed, you can’t be half in or half out of the water.”

I then remember saying “I think I’m gonna poop!” I went to the side of the pool my husband helped hold me up and I could feel her coming! Maddison checked and realized she was already coming. I put my hands near my vagina and I felt the top of her head, my heart got excited but my body was in pain! At this point I remember letting out a couple loud screams and my midwife told me to hold them in it will help push her out.

At 2:46am Leilani made her way out and was placed on me! Then the front door opened and my oldest daughter and mother in law walked in. I was so overjoyed with emotion I felt like crying and was so happy that she was finally out.

I didn’t even notice that she was not crying or moving a ton. But then she started to make some grunting noises, I thought that was normal I didn’t think anything of it. Then my midwife Brea got there and her and Maddison helped me out of the pool and onto the couch.

I am now laying on the couch with my youngest daughter on my chest, I was so happy and I had my husband right next to me telling me he’s so happy and that I did amazing!

I remember my midwife Brea holding her up and she was purple and limp, then she said they needed to call 911 and we needed to go to the hospital. My heart sank and I just cried while my husband said “of course, do what you need to do!” Then within minutes the fire department and ambulance gets there. I am literally naked on the couch, with my daughter on my chest.

I felt like I was in Grey’s Anatomy because all these good looking guys came walking in and it just felt like it was some thing out of a TV show. Now I really never thought this many people would ever see me naked but oh well lol. My husband helps put my night gown on and then my midwifes help put my adult diaper on and I load up on the stretcher with Leilani in my arms and we have an oxygen machine on her to help her breath. I remember them loading us up into the ambulance and once we got in I noticed that the oxygen was helping her and her skin tone was starting to get pink. My heart was still sad because hi couldn’t help but think this was my fault, as I feel any mother would.

The guys in the ambulance were asking questions and all I could think was I didn’t want to be in there and this was not part of the plan. I remember just really only paying attention to my daughter on my chest and seeing my husband driving right behind us.

We finally got to the ER and the entire place was lined up waiting for us, I felt so weird I didn’t understand why so many people were waiting for us. My husband is finally right next to me while I am being moved to a wheelchair and they put her into a little mobile crib, one nurse asked us if we had her in the ambulance and I told them no I had her at home in a birthing pool. She then looked at me with confusion and said are you sure which I then looked at her with a confused face and said yes I’m positive. She said OK someone must have mixed it up they thought you gave birth in the ambulance. Which makes sense why so many people were there waiting for us.

They finally take us up to a room to have me checked out, everything looks fine and they told me I could either get checked in or we could go up to the NICU where they had Leilani. I said I want to go to the NICU since nothing was wrong. The nurse wheels me up into her room and she is already hooked up to oxygen, a heart monitor and a feeding tube down her throat.

My heart just broke because I just didn’t want to see her in any pain. But my husband and nurses reassured me that this was normal and it honestly happened because she came so fast. It made me feel a little bit better, but until we were home I wasn’t going to feel that great.

For the next four days we would go back-and-forth from the hospital to the house to check on her other children. I am not going to lie I always thought I was going to be able to birth in my birthing pool and have all my kids right there with me. I always imagined that once she was born we would all be in the bed together looking at her, watching my midwives put her in the sling to weigh her, Laying her flat on the bed to measure how long she is. but instead of doing all of that our experience was a little bit different, we would FaceTime our kids so they could see their new sister.

They put her on a scale to let us know that she was 8 pounds even and the nurses measured her and she was 20.8 inches long. Even though this was not in my birth plan I am just so happy we had our amazing midwives who helped me deliver and made the call to send us and nurses in the NICU who made Leilani’s stay there bearable.

My midwifes and photographer were amazing and always checking in on us, I am forever grateful for them! After our four day stay we finally got to go home and start our new life of a family of 6!

…And that is the story of Leilani coming into the world.

I love sharing the real side of birth with the world. Sometimes home birth becomes a transfer to the hospital. It isn’t always emergent, and it isn’t always the midwife’s decision. Other things like maternal exhaustion, preeclampsia, and infections can sometimes lead to a transfer. This is NOT anything bad against home birth. We as professionals recognize that there is a place and time where medical establishments are needed and we are grateful to have them in those times of need. Birth is a natural event that SOMETIMES needs medical attention.