Beautiful homebirth story of baby Everest's birth, July 29, 2022

Thank you to parents Ainsley and Dan for sharing their firsthand account of baby Everest's birth story with us! Mindful Birth had the pleasure of supporting their first birth 3 years ago and we are thrilled to have been a part of Everest's birth as well! Congratulations to proud parents, big brother Forrest, and their 5 fur-siblings!

"After having a wonderful home birth experience with our first child, Forrest, we knew that a

home birth for our second child was definitely the right choice for us. We immediately hired Kristin

Schuchmann and the rest of the LifeSong Midwifery team as our home birth provider. We also

reconnected with Christine Ghali of Mindful Birth Services and were very excited to have Tara as our doula.

Our baby was consistently in a posterior position during the third trimester. We were regularly

trying different spinning babies exercises to encourage our baby to turn to an anterior position. Also, we

anticipated that our baby was going to be quite large. Forrest was a large baby, and the measurements

for our second child indicated that he would be a large baby as well.

We anticipated that our second child might be born after our due date, since Forrest was born

11 days past his due date. But we were hoping that this baby might be born earlier. At around 4 AM

during the morning after our due date, Ainsley’s water broke. Knowing that Dan would be excited and

unable to sleep any further if he learned of this, Ainsley returned to bed and went back to sleep.

At around 6 AM, we both woke up. Ainsley told Dan that her water had broken earlier in the

morning. Dan then reached out to both Tara and Kristin to let them know the exciting news. We each

went about our morning as we normally would, including a peaceful family walk. Ainsley tried to rest as

much as possible as we patiently waited for labor to progress. We stayed in touch with Tara and Kristin

as the day continued.

Once early afternoon hit, Kristin suggested trying a smoothie to help encourage labor to

progress. Dan immediately headed to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and began preparing the

smoothie for Ainsley. Shortly after drinking the smoothie, Ainsley took a nap with our beloved dog,

Pluto. She woke up around 4:30 PM and was experiencing stronger contractions. We knew that active

labor had started. Ainsley took a bath with Pluto by the side of the tub to comfort her. Dan reached out

to Tara and Kristin, asking them both to come to the house.

Tara arrived to the house first and joined Dan in performing hip squeezes on Ainsley during

contractions. During the time between assistance with contractions, Tara also played with Forrest,

calmed our dogs, and did many other helpful tasks. Shortly after Tara’s arrival, Kristin and her birth team

arrived and instantly (and seamlessly) began preparing for the birth, monitoring Ainsley and the baby,

and also helping to entertain Forrest. Rose, Kristin’s daughter and a student midwife, checked on the

progression of the labor and informed us that we were at 6 cm. Realizing the importance of comfort

during labor, Kristin and the birth team left the bedroom to give us some privacy.

Dan and Tara continued to perform standing hip squeezes on Ainsley during contractions. By

this point, the contractions were more significant than they were before. As the contractions continued

to intensify, Tara suggested that Ainsley might want to try the birth pool. Ainsley thought that was a

great idea and entered the pool, leaning over the edge and kneeling. The warmth of the water helped

Ainsley to cope with the pain during contractions. Tara used the pool’s hose to pour warm water across

Ainsley’s lower back while Dan continued to perform hip squeezes. A member of the birth team came in

periodically to check the heartrate of the baby.

During the transition stage of labor, Dan and Tara simultaneously performed hip squeezes on

Ainsley with each taking one side. This approach really helped Ainsley cope with the increasing pain of

the contractions. By this time, Ainsley could tell there was a lot of pressure on her pelvis. After a number

of very painful contractions, Rose was able to see the baby’s head and asked Dan to feel it, which he did.

The excitement of the pushing stage could be felt throughout the room. Dan was beginning to tear up at

the beauty and courage of his wife, as well as the anticipation of the moment his second son would be

born. Ainsley continued to push with all of her strength for several more minutes. Rose announced that

the baby’s head was out, and within seconds, our baby entered the world! The birth team rotated our

child twice under the water to unwrap the umbilical cord from around his neck. He was then quickly

placed by Rose on Ainsley’s chest for her to hold and comfort.

On Friday, July 29th at 10:21 PM, Everest Daniel was born. He weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.25

inches long. We are thrilled with our healthy, big, cuddly boy. Forrest was so excited to meet his baby

brother and was very sweet with him, exclaiming “baby, baby” when first seeing him. Everest’s parents, brother, and five furry siblings love him very much!"

Thanks again to Dan and Ainsley for sharing their amazing story of Everest's homebirth! With support, many things are possible!

Our doula best,

Tara + the Mindful Birth Doulas