Macie & Porter: A Perfect Waterbirth

Macie is a beautiful example of a strong wife and hard-working mama. She and her husband made a leap of faith by moving all the way from their home state of Maine to North Carolina. She has an unwavering strength and commitment to her family. So it came as no surprise to me that her birth story revealed the same qualities. If you are considering all-natural birth this is a must-read!

Hey there! My name is Macie. I'm wife to Greg and mom to our sweet baby boy Porter. For as long as I can remember my biggest dream in life was to be a mom. I feel so blessed that God answered my prayers and blessed me with my sweet boy on March 11, 2014. Here is the birth story of Porter David Perreault.

From the moment that we officially started trying to get pregnant I was a research fanatic. I read all of the books. I googled like crazy. I wasn't even pregnant yet but I knew exactly what I did and didn't want for my pregnancy, labor and delivery, and even my "parenting style." (Haha) I guess you could say I'm a planner. It's true. I knew that I wanted to do a 100% natural birth. I am not against epidurals or any other form of modern medicine used during labor and delivery- I just felt that a natural birth was something I really wanted to (and could) do.

It was our seventh month of trying to conceive when we found out that we had earned the new titles we longed for- Mom and Dad. The day that my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first baby was by far one of the happiest days of my entire life. We had already decided that our baby would be born at Carolina Community Maternity Center in South Carolina. 

I had a very normal pregnancy in most ways. At our 8 week ultrasound I was told that I had placenta previa. I would be lying if I told you that it didn't worry me a little. But I resisted the urge to google it. We asked a few close friends to pray, we prayed, and we didn't speak another word about it. At our 15 week ultrasound the tech told us the problem was completely gone! Thank you Lord for answered prayers! The next nine weeks were smooth sailing for us. The baby measured perfectly, I was gaining enough weight, and every test came back normal. It was such a blessing to be one of those people that loved being pregnant. But at 34 weeks I got the flu. I am talking the REAL flu. I began vomiting and couldn't stop. It got to the point where I couldn't keep an ice chip down. I was so dehydrated. I was crying telling Greg I was just SO thirsty and weak. We tried everything to stop the vomiting, but finally I had to go to the ER. Thank God we went. When we arrived my heart rate was insanely high and the baby's was in the 180s. To make a long story short I went into pre-term labor. I was contracting every four minutes and was 3 cm dilated. I was devastated because this meant I wouldn't be able to have my baby at my birth center because I wasn't full term. Greg prayed over me in the hospital bed and we asked God to please give us four more weeks of pregnancy so we could go with our original birth plan and so that our baby would be bigger and stronger. God answered us with a "yes" again and I was on strict bed rest until I was full term- and I stayed pregnant until the day before my due date! Yay!

March 10th at 1030 p.m. 

We were at a business meeting. I was due two days later and I felt great! I didn't have any signs of labor but I was so ready for the baby to come. We went home and went to bed at about midnight. At 2:30 a.m. on the 11th I woke up with very strong contractions. I knew from the second I woke up that this was the real deal. We timed them and they were three to four minutes apart. I tried to sleep but the contractions were so intense that I couldn't. My plan was to do a large portion of my labor at home so I decided to get in the tub to try to relax. No early stage of labor for this girl! I guess God was making up for all of the relaxing I had gotten while on bedrest. :-) After ten minutes in the tub I started vomiting and shaking. I was already in transition after being in labor for just a couple of short hours. We called my midwife and she told us to get to the birth center ASAP. We packed up and hit the road.

I'll never forget how relaxed I felt when I arrived at the birth center at 6 a.m. It was still dark out, my midwife let us in and we went in to our birthing suite. It was a beautiful relaxing room. The lights were very dim. She already had the tub full of warm water and lavendar essential oils in the diffuser. She checked me and found that I was already almost 8cm dilated. I got in the tub and labored there for the next few hours. My contractions stayed steady. They were consistently 3-4 minutes apart and very intense. We had taken the Bradley method classes and that really helped me. I had worship music playing and just stayed silent for hours while I labored. I would breathe through my contractions then try to rest in between them. I loved how peaceful the birth center was. No beeping machines, no IVs, no nurses checking on me all of the time. I was able to stay relaxed, stay in my head, and focus on not letting the pain overtake me. There were times when I would begin to wonder if I could do it much longer but I never spoke it. Instead I would ask Greg to read our confession cards we had made. I would speak that I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength. My body was made to give birth. Greg continually prayed for me and spoke truth over me. At 12 pm I was finally at 10cm. People say when your body is really ready to push IT will push. This is SO true. There was literally nothing I could do to stop it. Our bodies are so amazing! I pushed for an hour and at 1 pm Porter was born in the water.

It was such an amazing experience all around. I loved being in a birth center as opposed to a hospital. I loved being able to have such a special, intimate birth experience with my husband. I loved the personal relationship that I built with my midwife throughout my whole pregnancy. I loved the way that our sweet baby boy was brought in to this world. I have such fond memories of his birth. And reflecting back on the whole thing I love that I can see the Lord's hand moving over us. Every prayer that he answered. Every nerve that he calmed. Our pregnancy, delivery, and our sweet Porter are all blessings from above!