Living a Changed Life: Matilda's Home Birth Story

My deepest desire that the Lord would receive all the glory for His incredible faithfulness throughout my labor and delivery. There were so many details that we were praying would come together. It was amazing to watch the Lord bring everything together in His perfect timing.

Our precious Matilda Kate

To be completely honest, we all thought that Matilda would come early, just like Sophie. One of my biggest fears is that I would be all by myself with the girls when I went into labor. Each night as I went to bed, fear would rise up within me, hoping that I would wait a few more days until everyone arrived. To my delight, I did not go into labor until after Jon’s Mom, Lisa, and Jon arrived!

With Jon and Lisa at the house, I was all ready to go into labor. However, Matilda had other plans. As the days passed, we tried to fill our days with fun things to do while we waited for Matilda to arrive. We couldn’t believe it when I finally reached and then surpassed my due date!! Again not knowing when I would go into labor, continued to fill me with fear.

Thursday, October 29th, 2015
Thursday was one of our busiest days of the week. We started the day out with a special donut breakfast. We also had errands to run so we went to several stores. One of the last things we did on Thursday was go to the library. They were having a Lego building night, so we took the girls to get books and build Legos. It really was a wonderful day.

All day long, I had been experiencing period-like cramps in my lower abdomen. I was not having contractions, just cramping.

Lisa had rented, “The Vow” from the library. After we got the girls to bed, we decided to relax and watch a movie. Halfway through the movie, I was feeling really tired. I decided to head to bed, but not before I spent sometime reading my Bible and praying to the Lord.

I was able to pour out my heart before the Lord. I asked Him to help remove any fear and doubt in my heart that might be keeping me from going into labor. I read verses that the Lord had given to me all throughout the year. He knew I would need these verses to help get me through my labor and delivery. Even as I went to sleep, I had my notecards in hand with some of my favorite verses on them. As I tired to sleep I kept repeating one verse over and over in my mind Psalm 73:26.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” – ‭Psalm‬ ‭73:26‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

Friday, October 30th, 2015At 12:30am, I felt like I had to go potty, so I got up out of bed and headed for the bathroom. On my way to the bathroom, I felt some liquid gush into my pants. Once on the potty, I called for Jon and Lisa to help me. Lisa told us that she believed my water had begun to leak. She went on to explain that labor might begin right away or it could be a few days before I started having contractions.

We also called my midwife, Lincey, to give her an update and tell her that may water was leaking. Lincey said that we would wait to see if I started having contractions. She also encouraged me to go back to bed and get some sleep. I told her that I would do my best, but it’s hard to sleep not knowing when my labor would really begin. So, we all went back to bed to try to get more sleep before my labor began.

I tried my best to relax and sleep, but it was almost impossible. My period-like cramps only got more and more intense as the night went on. The pains, which began in my abdomen, began to spread to my hips. They got so bad that I was having a hard time breathing through each cramp.

Finally, at 3:00am, I got up and asked Lisa if she could massage my hips. I was hoping that it would help relieve the pain and allow me to sleep the rest of the night. To my surprise, even while I was standing up, the cramping kept coming and would not let up. In an effort to let Jon sleep, I lay down on the couch in the living room, so that Lisa could help me.

While laying down, Lisa quickly noticed that my cramping was becoming more and more intense. At this point, I was not having traditional contractions. However, Lisa decided to track my cramping for a little while to see how frequently they were coming. It did not take long for Lisa to realize that my cramping was coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting for almost 1 minute.

About 3:40am, Lisa called Lincey to give her an update. Knowing that Lincey had a 2 hour drive from Dallas, we asked her to get in her car and begin driving to us. Lincey also said that I should not be up and moving around, because gravity would help the baby come more quickly.

Each time my stomach would cramp, my hips felt like they were on fire. Laying down only made it worse, so after I went potty, I decided to try laboring on my birth ball. However, sitting up only made my contractions come more frequently. During one contraction, I tried to lean forward and rest on Lisa, but it hurt so much. It took my breathe away.

After one really strong contraction, I asked Lisa if she wanted me to move back to the couch. To which she quickly responded, yes! Lincey was still an hour and a half away, so we tried everything we could to stall my labor. Which included me laying down on the couch. My labor was coming and coming fast!

By 4:00am, I wanted Jon, so Lisa went to wake him up. She was honest with him and explained that our baby would probably be born in the next hour or two. Jon had no idea that I was even in labor, because we had tried to let him sleep. However, as soon as he got up, he was ready to help me breathe through my contractions.

Jon and Lisa helped me breathe through each and every contraction. They spoke words of encouragement over me and rubbed my hips, to help relieve the pain. They told me how well I was laboring and that soon I would get to meet my little girl, Matilda Kate.

By 4:39am, Lisa called Lincey again to see where she was and give her an update about my contractions. My contractions were coming almost on top of each other and lasting for up to 2 1/2 minutes. Lincey told us that we would probably have a baby within the hour and maybe even before she arrived at our house.

Quickly, Lisa began to prepare for Matilda delivery. She went to prepare our room for this upcoming birth. However, as my contractions continued to come, Lisa realized that we just might end up delivering Matilda on the couch. Lisa didn’t want to move me to the bed, because she was afraid that as soon as I stood up, we would have a baby. Lisa brought supplies from our room to the living room, so that as soon as Lincey arrived, she could deliver Matilda.

Meanwhile at 4:46 am, Jon called our friend Colleen to ask her to come and pick up our girls. I didn’t want to the girls to wake up while I was in labor, which would mean that Lisa or Jon would have to leave to go help them. I needed Lisa and Jon to focus on helping me, so we thought it best for the girls to leave before I delivered Matilda.

Our friends arrived to get the girls, as soon as they left and Jon walked back in the door, I was screaming that I needed to push. I had been feeling the urge to push for a while, but again we were trying to wait for Lincey to arrive. With Lincey still 20 minutes away, Lisa knew that it was going to be up to her to delivery Matilda.

At 5:19am, all I needed to do was push Matilda out. Lisa called Lincey to let her know what was happening and have her on hand to help walk her through the delivery. Lisa helped me to focus on my breathing and control my pushing, so that I would not tear.

On our couch, in the living room, Matilda was born at 5:21am. She was 19 3/4 inches long and weighed 8 pound 0 ounces. Lisa put Matilda on my chest and we waited for Lincey. All I could say was, “Thank you Jesus!“

Matilda Kate

While waiting I called my Mom to share the good news about Matilda’s birth!! Lincey finally arrived and immediately began caring for myself and Matilda. Lisa explained to Lincey that Matilda was born face up, which explains why I had such painful contractions. Typically, it’s hard to deliver a baby face up, but Matilda came without any problems at all. Thankfully, we were both healthy and doing very well after labor and delivery.

Daddy and Lincey weighing Matilda

From the time my contractions started to when Matilda was born, was less than 2 hours!! Because my labor was so fast, it took a while for the shock to wear off and for us to begin to process the fact that we just had a new baby.

In the first few hours and days with Matilda were wonderful! We had her at home, so I could sleep in my own bed and not have to worry about who was going to come into our room at all hours of the night.

My dream team!! I could not have done this without them.

We are so thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness to us during Matilda’s labor and delivery. He was faithful to answer my prayers and bring together all the details of Matilda’s brith for His glory! We are also thankful to Lisa for being with us throughout my labor and for delivering Matilda!!

Newsham family of five!!

I’m thankful to the Lord for helping us to be obedient to what He had called us to do, even if it didn’t make sense to us or our friends. I’m thankful that we delivered at home, because otherwise we might have had Matilda in the car on the way to the hospital.