I continued to study about homebirth, reading books on this topic. Twenty seven months after the birth of our fourth child, our little girl was born at home with only five hours of labor. I tore a little and had do some herbs to stop postpartum bleeding, but this was a piece of cake compare to all the others!! My uterus did prolapsed. The midwife put it back in place and I did Kegels like crazy! My uterus was right were it was suppose to be by the time I conceived my next child. This little one nursed for over 2 years.

Our next little girl was born 2 1/2 years later by Emergency Cesarean. Oh, the long and winding road of birthing. I had planned on another homebirth, this time with 2 lay midwives. Again, insurance was an issue, but preference was a stronger motivating factor. The pregnancy went great and labor pursued at midnight with mild contractions. I woke at about 5 AM to go to the bathroom and was bleeding some. I called the midwife. She came. We consulted with a Naturopath and a seasoned midwife. We all felt I was safe as long as my bleeding stayed within certain guidelines, the babies heartbeat stayed strong and my blood pressure was stable, that I could continue with the homebirth.  I continued to labor until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. At this time I had dilated to a 6 or 7 but then stalled. I began to have a bulge on the side of my tummy. We thought it might be a distended bladder. We tried to empty with a catheter to no avail. I was really praying.

I had read a certain book about the "spiritual" aspects of childbirth. I really wanted to honor the Lord and trust Him totally with the birth of this baby. I think I was deceived to some degree, thinking that transporting to the hospital would mean a lack of faith, so I hung on, pleading with the Lord to show me a sign as to what to do. The midwives were in the hall praying also. About that time, I heard an internal pop, hard to describe. I began to bleed profusely. I said, "let's go" and we hopped in the van, and headed to the hospital. When we got to the hospital the preparation began for an emergency section. The Doctor on call was the Doctor who had called my midwife and threatened her. I refused to have him do the surgery.  I felt he would not be as  compassionate with me as possibly another doctor.  I did not want a hysterectomy nor to be chastised by him for attempting another homebirth. The nurses then called for another Doctor. It was a female. She came in a said we were probably looking a rupture. She wanted me to sign for a hysterectomy. I refused, but she said it might be the only way that she could save my life. My husband demanded that I sign it, so I did, but I pleaded with the Doctor not to take my uterus.