My Third Home Birth: The Fastest One Yet

My midwife missed my second birth entirely. She walked in right as I was holding my baby, still in shock that it was over. (To be fair, I had a different midwife back then. We lived in a different city.)

So when I got pregnant a third time, there was one thing I knew for sure: I labor FAST. And this time, I wanted my midwife to actually be there for it.

Spoiler alert: she made it. Barely.

This Pregnancy Was Different

In many ways, it was similar to my previous two. But there was one big difference: the nausea.

REAL nausea that started at the end of week 5 and stayed through week 11. I wasn’t throwing up, but I felt queasy ALL day. The kind of queasy where you’re lying on the couch at 2pm wondering how you’re going to make it to dinner. The kind where even THINKING about certain foods made your stomach turn. I would open the fridge, see a piece of steak, and immediately close it. Nope. Not today.

This was a completely novel experience for me since I didn’t have this with my first two pregnancies.

I often wonder if the nausea was because I had 3 pregnancies in a span of 4 years, and my body was simply more metabolically depleted going into this one. I eat very well, but pregnancy and breastfeeding are incredibly demanding on the body. Add in my activity levels with dance, lifting, and walking, and I can imagine my body was more strained this time around.

But here’s the paradox: I felt the BEST I ever felt going into this pregnancy. I thought I was metabolically healthier than ever. So who knows, honestly. Pregnancy nausea is hard to explain.

I created a YouTube video breaking down what causes nausea if you want to dive deeper. The short version: nausea is a protective mechanism. Your baby goes through crucial development in the first trimester, and your body is trying to mitigate any risk of toxic exposure through food. It’s also working overtime to create your baby’s organ systems from scratch, so it doesn’t have the metabolic capacity to digest complex foods. That’s why bread and simple foods are the thing women crave in the first trimester.

The Food Aversions Were… Something

Because of the nausea, I had a ton of food aversions. I didn’t want to get anywhere near a piece of steak. Chicken was fine once in a while. I craved a lot of fish, especially raw fish. But as soon as I ate fish, I felt like throwing up.

I even had an aversion to milk. Anyone who knows me knows that I consume milk around the clock. It is a staple in my diet. So it was bizarre to suddenly hate it. I was drinking banana milk in place of real milk. LOL.

The only dairy I could tolerate was cottage cheese and yogurt. Thank goodness, because if I couldn’t tolerate those, I’m not sure what I would have done. Dairy is such a huge part of my diet.

I also wanted everything bland. Anything with flavorings (like flavored whey protein) made me want to vomit. And I couldn’t fathom any drinks or foods with stevia. It made me sick to my stomach.

I survived on bread and lots of starchy foods. In hindsight, my body was being smart.

The Nausea Timeline

The nausea was pretty bad from week 5 through week 11. There were 3 days during week 8 where it let up, and rather than feeling relieved, I started getting nervous. Was something wrong? Why did the nausea go away? But that fear was short-lived. The nausea came raging back for another 3 weeks before finally dissipating in week 11.

What’s crazy is during this whole time, we were in the process of closing on a house. I remember sitting on a plane to Austin with two toddlers, feeling so grateful for this privilege. We were about to close on our dream home! Meanwhile, I was also wishing I could just lie horizontal and not do anything. The nausea was relentless! 🙂

Second Trimester: The Golden Period

By the time the second trimester rolled around, we closed the house and were ready to move in. It was a wild second trimester managing a move + pregnancy + 2 toddlers + a business. But I made it happen.

I felt great after the nausea dissipated in week 11. Good energy. My workout routine was back to what it was pre-pregnancy. I wasn’t too big yet, so I didn’t feel heavy and slow. It was truly the “golden” period of pregnancy.

Third Trimester: Slowing Down

Then the third trimester came, and the desire to slow down slowly inched in. It came gradually at first, then suddenly increased a lot by week 34. At that point, I had to ease up on my workouts because I was feeling heavy and my energy for intense activity just wasn’t there. I was still doing everything—dance, yoga, lifting—but at lower intensity with lots of modifications.

Then Week 36 Happened

In week 36, I had a big health scare. My varicose veins were getting worse and worse due to heat, my high activity levels, and being pregnant. I had varicose veins in my second pregnancy as well, but each pregnancy, they tend to get worse.

I was reckless in not wearing compression socks all day to help slow down the progression. This led to a small superficial clot in my right leg in one of the veins. I had to get ultrasounds and see a specialist to confirm it was superficial and not deep. Those few days of waiting were nerve-wracking. A deep vein clot during pregnancy is no joke…it can be life-threatening. Luckily, mine was superficial.

I managed it at home by taking a break from dance for 2 weeks (which was the biggest stressor on the veins) and using heat compression 3-4x a day. I also wore compression socks from the minute I woke up to the minute I fell asleep. This one change helped SO much. My veins started looking a lot better by week 38/39.

If you are pregnant with varicose veins, do not skip the thigh-high compression socks. They DO work and make a HUGE difference. I was skeptical of them, but I learned the hard way that they are critical.

Preparing for Birth

Here’s the thing about your third pregnancy: you don’t have time to prepare. You just… don’t.

With my first, I listened to every homebirth podcast and read as much as I could. With my third? I was so busy with 2 toddlers, dance training, and running a business that I simply did not have time to overthink it.

The only preparation I did was the mandatory stuff: getting birth supplies, a few newborn onesies and blankets, diapers and wipes. But besides that, very little prep work.

In hindsight, the best prep work I did was continuing to dance, doing yoga a few times a week, and doing Ballet Beautiful workouts a couple times a week. As my practice continued to deepen, my understanding of my body deepened with it. By the end of my pregnancy, I felt more in touch and in tune with my body than I ever have. This helped immensely in birth.

My midwife even said she loved how deeply I trusted my body and intuition throughout the whole process.

The Week of My Due Date

With my first baby, I had him 8 days early. My second came only 1 day early. With my third, it was a wild card. I had no idea if he would come early, late, or right on time.

By 38 weeks, I was READY. I felt so slow and heavy. My mind finally started to think about birth, and I was getting a little nervous. I just wanted the day to come so I could conquer it and transition to life as a family of 5.

But at the same time, I found myself cherishing every day and moment as a family of 4. Paradoxical, I know. I would miss these days with just my two toddlers. I wished I could bottle up time and come back to it later. But alas, that is impossible.

I managed to cherish those last days while also feeling a bubbling sense of excitement for the new baby. But I hadn’t had a single Braxton Hicks contraction in weeks. I wasn’t sure if this baby was ready to come out or was too comfortable in there. Perhaps I’d go past my due date this time?

Once I hit 39 weeks, I mentally prepared like it was game on. I knew the baby could come any day.

1 day passed. 2 days passed. Nothing. 3 days passed. Nothing.

Then in the middle of the night after day 3, I woke up to a familiar sensation. A cramp. Not a Braxton Hicks. Not gas. A real, unmistakable, period-like cramp.

I lay there in the dark, completely still, waiting. Another one came.

Okay. This is it.

The Birth

3:00 AM – It Begins

I used the bathroom and the cramp went away. But I knew what this was. This is exactly the type of cramping I had the night before I had Sithara.

The cramping continued on and off until my alarm rang at 5am. I probably woke up 4-5 times in those 2 hours to let each cramp pass. Then I got up as usual to start my day.

5:00 AM – Continuing On

I usually start my morning with a walk. It was too cold outside, so I decided to stay indoors and walk on my walking pad while getting some work done. I went much slower than usual because that is what my body was asking me to do.

I started doing some work and lost track of time. An hour passed and I was still having cramps every 15-20 minutes. I would pause, get through it, and get back to work until the next one came.

I texted my midwife to alert her that I think it was starting.

I knew I wouldn’t be working out that morning after breakfast as I usually do, so I decided to extend my walk until the kids woke up. I kept walking for another 30 minutes, and now the cramping was becoming more intense. I had to pause each time to either go to the bathroom or lean over and let the sensations pass.

In a span of 2 hours, I had pooped 5-6 times. My body was emptying my bowels to prepare for labor. I was excited.

6:00 AM – Timing Contractions

I started timing my contractions around 6am. They were coming on relatively quickly and steadily growing in intensity.

When my midwife asked if I thought this was the real thing, I told her I was pretty sure it was.

7:00 AM – The House Wakes Up

The kids woke up around 7am and I told my husband what was happening. With Sithara, when I gave him the warning in the morning, he took his time to “prepare.” He went to HEB, got coffee, and took his sweet old time. He walked in the door just in time to catch the baby. Literally. So this time? He was mentally preparing right away. No HEB run. No coffee detour. He knew how quickly things could go.

7:30 AM – The Team Arrives

Around 7:30am, my midwife asked if it was time for her to head over. I told her yes. She said her ETA was 8:40am but she could have her backup midwife come earlier if it would be helpful. Since the contractions were getting stronger, I accepted her offer.

Drea, the backup midwife, showed up minutes later because, as I found out, she lives just 20 minutes away from me. She checked in on me and baby and assured me everything was fine.

Funny thing: she told Margaret (my midwife) that she thought I was still in early labor. Boy was she wrong. Just because I was handling the contractions well doesn’t mean they weren’t INTENSE. 🙂

Soon after Drea came, my midwife’s assistant showed up. Drea dismissed herself while the assistant did another checkup on me and the baby and assured me we were both fine.

By this time, my contractions were VERY STRONG. I really was hoping my midwife would show up soon. I couldn’t focus on anything but my body. I told my husband to get the kids out of the way because I needed to focus. I totally lost track of time. The world outside my body just… faded away. All I could feel was the contractions. All I could do was breathe through them.

8:45 AM – Margaret Arrives

Then I heard the doorbell and knew it was my midwife. Thank goodness, I thought. My previous midwife had missed Sithara’s birth entirely. She walked in right as I was holding my baby, and I did NOT want a repeat of that.

As soon as Margaret showed up at 8:45am, I felt my whole body relax just a little. She’s here. Okay. We can do this. She did a quick check on me and the baby and reassured me everything looked good. She saw I was intensely focused on getting through the contractions. They were getting very, very intense, and I asked if she could put counter-pressure on my back.

Boy, did that make a HUGE difference. Luckily for me, Margaret had a heavy hand and knew exactly where to push to give me relief. I asked her to do the same for every contraction after that.

I was starting to get very vocal, and my husband knew I was getting close, so he started to bring the kids inside. But my midwife assumed I’d be laboring for at least another 1-2 hours and kept telling me I was getting closer but not quite there yet.

9:15 AM – “I FEEL BURNING!”

Then I told her, “I FEEL BURNING!”

She paused. Looked at me. And calmly said it was unlikely it was the ring of fire and that I probably had more time.

But I knew my body. I had felt this exact sensation twice before. This was NOT “more time.” This was NOW.

The next contraction that came on, I bore down and started pushing. My water broke.

9:30 AM – He’s Here

The next contraction after that was so, so intense that I was screaming and saying, “I can’t do it. I can’t do this. I can’t, I can’t.”

And then somewhere in my brain, a voice cut through: Yes, you can. You’ve done this before. You know how to do this.

I got into a half squat, took a deep breath, and pushed. And guess what? The head popped out, and with a little nudge, the rest of the body slipped out as well.

Oh. My. God. I did it.

I couldn’t believe it. I was beaming from ear to ear as I heard my new baby cry for the first time. That tiny, furious wail. The warmth of his body against my chest. The relief washing over me. It was over. He was here.

I held him closely while the midwife and her assistant helped me get into bed.

It was exactly 9:35am on Thursday when Simha was born. 

I was in early labor for roughly 3-4 hours and then transitioned to active labor for about 2 hours. It was QUICK. I felt relieved.

I got into bed and just laid there for hours feeling so calm and serene, while my birth team cleaned up and checked on the baby. 

The Recovery

I felt great afterwards. The bleeding was not too bad. I had a first-degree tear that healed on its own within a couple of days. I rested a lot on the day of birth. By the next day, I was walking around the house. Slowly, taking it easy. But I felt good.

My recovery from this pregnancy has been the speediest yet. Being physically active throughout and continuing to dance and lift until the very end made a huge difference.

But more than that, I felt so much more in tune with my body with each pregnancy, and so I knew exactly when to push.

With my first birth, I pushed too early, which led to a slower recovery. With my second, I pushed just a little bit too early, so my recovery was good but I still had some minor pelvic floor issues that I had to remedy later on.

This time around, I pushed EXACTLY when I needed to, and my pelvic floor feels amazing.

Now That Baby Is Here

We are over the moon with our little one. Shiva and Sithara adore their new baby brother.

Of course, it has been a very challenging transition. I won’t sugarcoat it. Going from 1 to 2 was extremely hard for me. I’m hoping 2 to 3 follows the same pattern: brutal at first, then easier around month 4 once the baby starts interacting with the world and isn’t reliant on me for everything.

For now, I am embracing the “hard.” The regressions. The tantrums. The jealousy. The lack of sleep. The tiredness. The foggy days. It is hard, but I also know it’s just a season.

While I’m in it, I’m cherishing the newborn grunts and squishiness. I love hearing all his little noises and seeing his involuntary facial expressions. I love his soft cry and how frustrated he gets when he doesn’t get a boob right away.

I’m cherishing all of it, while also living in survival mode.

Three kids in four years. Shiva, Sithara, and now Simha. It sounds crazy when I say it out loud. But honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you’re preparing for your own home birth or curious about the journey, feel free to read my first and second birth stories for more context. Every birth is different, but one thing stays the same: trusting your body is everything.