Have you heard the term 'rainbow baby' before? It's typically used to describe a child born after the loss of another baby through miscarriage, still birth, or infant loss. If you follow the blog, you may have read our daughter's birth story or about the loss of our son at twenty-one weeks. This is our rainbow baby Lincoln's birth story and how his entrance into this world was both redemptive and incredibly fast.
My Rainbow Baby Home Birth Story
My pregnancy with Lincoln was hard emotionally and physically. I was hoping that because I was measuring big I'd go into labor early but no such luck-even though I would have been thrilled to have him at thirty-seven weeks he wanted to hang out until past his due date. At forty weeks and one day I woke up and lost part of my mucous plug so I was hopeful labor would start soon. I texted my midwife and birth photographer just in case and my midwife suggested we fill up the birthing pool. I was thinking "Ugh, we'll fill it and then we'll have to drain and clean it because this baby is never coming!" How wrong I was!
I had a couple light contractions early in the morning but they eased up which made me really crabby. I should have realized that these were signs of early labor but didn't at the time. The rest of the day was uneventful besides some strong lower back pain. I messaged my chiropractor to see if she had any tips for me because I wasn't in the mood to drive into town for a visit. She gave me some ideas for relief and said "it could be labor related!" She's also a doula so I should have believed her but I was still in denial.
When my husband Tyler got home from work we started filling up the birthing pool. I was feeling occasional aches but nothing strong or consistent. We were getting ready to go to bed and I had a feeling labor would start that night, so I called my mom and sister to have them come to the house. I figured it was better to have them come at a decent hour and get some sleep before I went into real labor since I wanted them both to be there for the birth.
Around 9:30 PM I started having contractions that were about ten minutes apart and were fairly strong. I called our midwife Vanessa and gave her a heads up but told her she didn't need to come out yet because I was convinced it would be awhile before labor got more serious. After less than a half an hour my contractions started coming every four to six minutes and I called our photographer and midwife back. I think Vanessa could tell how serious things were because she said she was getting on the road immediately. I was still in denial that I was in active labor!
Our daughter Harper was still awake and really wanted to snuggle but I couldn't handle lying down. Tyler tried to get her to sleep on the couch and I started listening to Hypnobabies tracks so I could block out their voices because contractions were getting very strong and close together. At some point my mom and sister arrived but I couldn't even say hello to them. I was laboring against our kitchen table and the contractions seemed to be coming non-stop. Looking back now I realize I was in transition but I didn't think it was possible because of how short my labor had been. I kept thinking "open, move down" to help my body and the baby effectively work together-maybe I shouldn't have been quite so encouraging because labor was going fast enough as it was!
A few minutes after my mom and sister arrived, I felt a strange sensation that started as a trickle and ended as a huge gush as my water broke. Harper was born en caul so I had never experienced my water breaking and it felt SO weird. As my water broke I could feel the baby's head move down and I knew I needed to get in the birthing pool if I wanted to have him there. Tyler and my mom ran over at the sound of my water breaking and as Tyler cleaned up the water my mom helped me out of my clothes and into the birthing pool.
Upon entering the birthing pool I immediately had to push. Just like with Harper's birth, my body did what it needed without even giving me time to think. Tyler had gotten Vanessa on the phone and was telling her that I felt "pushy" and the next thing I knew, the baby's head was out! One more push and his body was out, and my mom helped me bring him up to my chest. He cried a little but not very hard and curled right up on my chest. I think both of us were shocked at how fast my labor had been. The clock read 11:04 PM when he was born which was only an hour and a half since contractions had started, and only two minutes of pushing!
Birth photos courtesy of Peace Love Babies | Twin Cities, St. Cloud birth, newborn, family photography
Vanessa was still about forty minutes away and Brooke (our photographer) was about twenty minutes out, so I just stayed in the birthing pool and snuggled our new baby while we waited. I started to have terrible contractions for the placenta which was also new to me because the afterbirth contractions for Harper's birth didn't feel like anything. These felt like real contractions all over again and they were awful. Thankfully I was able to mostly push the placenta out so I stopped contracting.
Brooke and Vanessa both arrived and Vanessa helped me fully deliver the placenta. I had quite a bit of clotting and bleeding but nothing uncontrollable. I did have a tear which wasn't surprising considering how fast he came out. Tyler had the honor of cutting the cord after it stopped pulsing and Lincoln got all of the blood from it. We moved over to the pull-out couch (our family bed for the next couple weeks) and told everyone that we had decided on the name Lincoln. Brooke took photos and a video for us and I'm so thankful for the memories captured of those first couple hours following his birth.
I was excited to see how big he was because I knew he felt larger than Harper (and looked it, too!) but I had no idea how much he'd actually weigh. He was TEN pounds on the nose and twenty-two inches long! Vanessa told me that she'd thought he was going to be about a ten pound baby but that she hadn't wanted to scare me. It's kind of fun to hear people's reactions when I tell them I had an unattended birth with a ten-pound baby at home-it makes for a great story!
Ever since his birth, Lincoln has really completed our family. He has not replaced our son Beau but has helped to lessen the pain of Beau's loss while also bringing us so much joy. He's such a happy baby and turned a year old on December 8th-crazy how time flies. We are so thankful for all three of our babies and love to tell their stories. I find birth so fascinating and I love to hear about all of my friends and family's kid's births.
Share your birth stories with me in the comments-I'd love to read them!
Cindy B says
Hugs and congrats! Both mine cleared ten pounds, welcome to the moms of big babies club. Glad Lincoln is such a wonderful addition to your family.
Amber says
Thank you Cindy! Big babies are awesome 🙂
CASSANDRA HUBER says
What a beautiful birth story! I'm happy that everything turned out so well for you! I want a home birth with baby #2 so bad, but am not sure if I will be a good candidate for it.
Amber says
Thanks so much Cassandra! The first step would definitely be interviewing some midwives in your area--they will tell you whether they'd be willing to take you on as a client or if there would be anything they'd consider too "high-risk" 🙂
Linda Manns Linneman says
What a beautiful baby. This birth sounds awesome. I am so happy such a big baby was delivered as easily as it was. I wish you the best. God Bless. I never have heard of the term Rainbow Baby before. Thank you