PREGNANCY

It was a beautiful summer morning, just after eight o’clock. Although the August sun was shining in Shira Farber Brook’s Toronto neighbourhood, inside her home the shades were drawn and the light was dim. Shira soaked in the bath while Justin, her partner, moved around the bathroom quietly, lighting candles and cueing the stereo.

Shira had gone into labour at around four that morning, but the couple waited several hours — until Shira’s contractions were good and strong — before picking up the phone. Still, the hospital nurse told Shira her contractions were too far apart, and to stay put. Emily, Shira’s doula, said she would have a shower and then come over to the house to be with them until it was time to go to the hospital. Everyone was pretty relaxed. They all thought Shira had a long way to go.

So, Shira and Justin spent a couple of hours in their candlelit bathroom, calmly breathing, not really speaking. While Shira concentrated on making her body open up like a lotus flower, Justin rubbed her back and fed her ice chips.

At around 10:30 am, Emily showed up and let herself in to the quiet house. She found Shira and Justin in the bathroom and suggested they move to the bedroom. But as soon as Shira settled onto her king-sized bed, Justin could see that the baby was crowning. “I saw Justin mouth to Emily, ‘I can see the head,’” Shira recalls. Moments later, Kaleb Alon Brooks was born.

If you think all this sounds too good to be true, consider the back story: Before Kaleb arrived, Shira, our blissed-out, accidental-homebirth-sans-doctor-or-midwife mom, was afraid of having a baby. She was afraid of the pain, she was afraid of needing a C-section, she was afraid of losing control, afraid of epidurals and drugs and episiotomies and, yes, afraid of giving birth at home.

Originally published in Today's Parent Pregnancy & Birth, Autumn 2006