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Dad tweets 11-hour story of his baby's home birth

Dad tweets 11-hour story of his baby's home birth

A first-time dad tells his baby's birth story tweet by tweet

Jessica Gibb

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Before you start - there are a few swears in this story, so if you're not keen this might not be for you

If you were writing your birth story, Twitter's 140 character cap might seem rather too limiting. But new dad Marco Rogers has managed to tweet the entire 11-hour story of his daughter Noemi's arrival.

After his wife Aniyia spent 11 hours in labour, the couple attempted an unsuccessful rush to hospital and their baby girl was born at home.

But the drama wasn't over there – when she was born, baby Noemi wasn't breathing.

Afterwards, the couple shared their whole amazing story – tweet by tweet.

It begins like this…

"I've got about 10-15 minutes before she wakes up. So it's time to tell the story of how I delivered my own baby girl.
"She was born in our house. In our bed. Just me and @operaqueenie. With my father-in-law also there in the house. No, this was NOT planned," he explains.

Marco says that his wife Aniyia was "pretty apprehensive" about labour but "really wanted to have a natural birth" and planned to "labour at home for most of the process" – midwives told them first-time labour is expected to take up to 24 hours so they'd have plenty of time to get to the hospital for the birth.

But, of course, that isn't what happened.

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"So early Saturday morning, my wife wakes up with contractions. This is about 5 days early. But that wasn't entirely unexpected."

The couple kept track of Aniyia's contractions and registered them on a scale from 1: very mild to 5: very strong.

"Let me fast forward a little, because she laboured normally for about 9 hours. We went from very mild to mostly moderate contractions."
"Then strong contractions. Number 4 on the scale. I remember because it was the first time a sound involuntarily escaped my wife's mouth."
"It was scary. But @operaqueenie is a trooper. She just grunted and breathed and said. 'I'm fine.'"

Now, Marco explains that his father-in-law was staying with the couple, and helped with the birth.

"When the strong contractions started coming, he was pretty freaked out. I don't know what it's like to hear your daughter like that.
"Okay, so we've done some solid laboring. We're all proud of ourselves. But things are getting hectic. Time to go into the hospital right?"

Wrong. When Marco tells the hospital his wife's contractions are 5 minutes apart, they tell him to wait until they are 2-3 minutes apart.

"I'm a little worried. But we still think we have time. It's only been about 10-11 hours. Plus my wife is still hanging in there."

They get her in the bath to help with the pain, but then things start happening quickly.

"And then it happened. All of a sudden my wife says she felt 'a pop and a gush'. Her water had broken."
"So at this point, we know it's going down. Kaiser says if the water breaks, call immediately. We need to get the hospital STAT.
"I start gathering the stuff. We've got the 'go bag' ready. I tell my father in law who had tried to lay down and rest. 'We're going. Now.'"
"She is totally out of it. F*ck breathing. F*ck counting. Mind you it has been 5-7 minutes since first getting her into the bath."

Marco struggled to get his wife out of the bath, dressed and into the car.

"Earlier I was worried about what I was gonna wear to hospital.. tryna be cute," Aniyia tweets.

But it's too late.

"My wife stops. She's wailing. "I can't. I'm gonna have this baby right now. I can feel the head." She starts to *sit down in our foyer*."
"OH MY GOD YOU CAN'T DO THAT STOP PUSHING WE CAN MAKE IT WHAT DO I DO?"
"My wife is the only one with clarity. "Call 911. Get the What To Expect book. There's a section on emergency delivery.""

Aniyia gets back to the bedroom while Marco struggles to flick through the What To Expect When You're Expecting book.

"I walk into our bedroom. My wife is on all fours. I can see the top of my baby's head. I don't have time to read sh*t."
"I rush over. No idea what to do. She says "it's happening". I don't even have the mental capacity to think "no shit"."
"At the same time, I'm hyper focused. Tunnel vision. She wails again and my baby girl's head comes out. I see her face for the first time."

Marco encourages Aniyia to push but she needs help.

"I can't. I can't push. Can you grab her? Can you reach in and get her?" OHSH*TOHSH*TOHSH*TOHSH*TOHSH*T"
"I can't do it. I was so afraid that I would hurt her or my wife. Probably both. She feels so fragile. I can't. But I have to. What do I do?"
"Then it became a moot point. A fresh contraction starts. Wailing. Pushing. And Noemi Rose Rogers pops right out into my hands."
"I've got her. She's in my hands. My baby was just born. In our bed. In our house."
"Right then is when my tunnel vision broke. I realized my father in law was on speaker phone with 911. They were "talking me through it"."
"The only thing I actually remembered this woman say was right at that moment. "You have to hold her tight. She's going to be slippery.""

But then the 911 dispatcher asks Marco if the baby is crying – and she isn't.

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"I shift her a little. Move her into my harms. I bouncer her a little. I try to pat her back. I need her to cry, yell, burp, spit, SOMETHING."
"She spits out some fluid. She wriggles just a little. And then she lets out one sharp, clear yelp. And breathes."
"She has just been through the most intense ordeal. And she's just like her momma. A trooper. Breathing. Handling it."
"And that's when the EMTs decide to show up. Yeah come on in I guess. But we good here."
"One last thing. The What To Expect book did sort of come in handy. The EMTs assisted me in cutting the cord. And we used it as the surface."

Both mother and baby are now doing well – and are incredibly proud of what they achieved.

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Congratulations both!

Read more:

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'Something just dropped out of me' - woman gives birth on plane unaware she was pregnant
Mum has baby 1 hour after finding out she's pregnant

Authors

Jessica Gibb