This week’s birth story comes from the lovely couple Amy and Dave who attended TCBS with Anna Owen from Rock Your Birth in Worcestershire. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us.
“We are happy to share with you all we welcomed baby Arthur into the world on the 1st October and this is our positive home birth story.
Where to start?! At 41 weeks pregnant and two nights of teasing surges the Tuesday morning I woke up having mild surges.. hooray it hadn’t stopped this time. My lovely midwife was due to visit for my 41 week check (a sweep would of been offered). My husband took our little girl to school, I had a bath, listened to some calm spa music, listened to my recordings, shut the blinds, set the ambiance, lit my lavender candle my beautiful friend bought me and my husband gave me some relaxing massage he had been shown by Anna, he then got the birth pool ready so I could take a dip (it had been up a few weeks so just needed water!). Things started to build, by the time the midwife & student midwife arrived at 1.30 pm (I told her to put her gloves away ha ha) I was rotating using my ball on the floor through each surge using my wave breathing, at one point I vanished to the back door, stood looking outside at the rain and listening to the thunder. I didn’t like being watched.
The midwife checked my blood pressure and babies heartbeat and said to update them later on, she was confident baby was coming that day. We decided to arrange for our daughter to be picked up from school. I actually went to bed and caught up on some sleep only to be woken by powerful surges that seemed to be coming one after the other, I spent my time between the ensuite toilet and the end of the bed rotating and breathing through. Just thinking maybe we should call triage and then at 4 pm my midwife called to see how I was doing… we hadn’t been counting the contractions or timing them to even say but I put her in loud speaker and Dave took over the conversation… needless to say she said we will be with you soon!
Within 20 minutes community midwife Anna arrived at our door, followed closely by my midwife Debbie and student midwife Beth. So happy my own midwife was able to come.
They monitored how I was doing and were just there in the background, Beth crouched beside me, all extremely calm quiet and reminding me to breathe it away and breathe through the surges. Whilst Dave decided he had better top the hot water up in the birth pool, Debbie held my hand and Beth remained by my side and Anna in the background. It felt like I had private healthcare cover.
They monitored babies heartbeat regularly but were not invasive. My birth plan was on the table so they knew my wishes without asking.
I relocated to the pool and enjoyed the warmth in the comfort of my dining room, being offered a drink regularly.
They couldn’t hear babies heartbeat on the doppler and after several failed attempts in between surges they asked if I minded getting out so they could have a feel. I lay on the sofa in the conservatory so they could feel my tummy, I could feel baby moving but they needed to check, it wasn’t easy in between surges but they changed the doppler and it picked up a perfectly calm heartbeat the water had got into the other.
Once up I needed a wee so went off to the toilet.. that was when by body started to push! I had a wobble and shouted my husband in (didn’t want a toilet baby) then he reminded me of my calm breathing which calmed me down quickly and he guided me back in the conservatory to the sofa which the midwives had covered, I had my head hidden on his lap breathing through my surges with just a towel draped over me. By this time by body had took over and started to push so I didn’t feel like I wanted to get back in the pool, my waters broke (lucky those wilko shower curtains were there or our new sofa would of got it) I still had my head buried on his lap and was knelt on the sofa, lights low and I think the spa music was still playing! Had my lucozade on the window sill. I could see it was starting to get dark.
I had already had some sensations so I knew crowning had begun earlier but this time was extremely powerful surges that took me by surprise but again with gentle reminders to just breathe and calm voices around I continued.
Before I knew it my back was opening up, midwife Anna suggested I lift one leg up to allow more space for baby and before I knew it they asked if i wanted to feel babies head…. I said I could already feel it thank you and we all laughed. Next thing babies head was out followed by an upwards push feel like the were pushing baby back in ( nobody touched me though) but our baby came out, we heard crying straight away I could feel them navigate baby out (had their hand up on their face) and I was given my beautiful baby on my sofa in the conservatory (also playroom) and lay back cradling my baby. I then asked what we had… they said they don’t know have a look… it was a boy! My little pumpkin was actually a boy… Daddy looked in shock and happy tears started to flow, he was wide awake looking up at me. The midwives looked emotional too.
Dave called his parents to bring our daughter Ava home to meet her new sibling.
I lay cuddling baby whilst we waited for the cord to finish pulsating. They then clamped it and Daddy got to cut it.
Arthur weighed in at a healthy 8 lb 3oz and I had him at 7.53 pm.
Big sister came in to meet her baby brother. She then went with Daddy into the lounge whilst I delivered the placenta. After moving slightly & a little push out it came. I was happy to hear I hadn’t torn and my active labour was just 2 hours 35 minutes.
I relocated to upstairs to clean up and get my pjs on. The midwifes stayed a while to ensure all was well and they cleaned everything up.
It also dawned on me after I had zero vaginal examinations during my labour and zero pain relief! So happy we didn’t need to go to hospital. I got my perfect relaxing home birth.
I would highly recommend Anna at Rock your birth for private hypnobirthing classes which gave us more knowledge and my husband the confidence to say he wanted to deliver our baby at home. I also enjoyed listening to my hypnobirthing recordings daily.
Thank you Anna and go all you mommas out there you CAN do this!”
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
