Anna’s Birth Story: A homebirth

My birth story started at 2am on a Tuesday morning in October. I was woken by a long awaited for, painful tightening. At this point I was already 41 weeks and 2 days and I was hoping to avoid an induction. I had tried everything I could think of to get my labour started and make my birth as straightforward as possible. It took the best part of each day of my maternity leave to tick off all the “birth admin” tasks that included; a walk, drinking my 6 dates smoothie, taking raspberry leaf tea tablets, using the aniball for perineal massage, doing my hypnobirthing practice and a birth preparation yoga sequence. Our plan was to have everything set up for a homebirth and decide once I was in labour whether or not to go into hospital. My two requests on my birth plan were that, once in early labour, I did not want to know how many centimetres dilated I was, unless I was not progressing within the normal range. I knew I would need to know in order to make an informed decision before intervention was advised however, being a midwife, I did not want to fill my head with “cervix maths” and be either disappointed or falsely reassured when my cervix inevitably did not dilate in a uniform trajectory. We had also decided not to find out the sex of our baby. I had enjoyed getting to know my bump as a little life force with no preconceived ideas of gender and so I had asked that I meet my baby and see their face before I found out whether we had a little boy or girl. I wanted a moment to get to know them, and the way they looked before the big reveal. Other than those two points, I wanted as little intervention as possible while keeping myself and my baby safe. I wanted Ed and I to be fully informed of any concerning symptoms and for my decisions to be respected.

I had told myself and probably many other women to try and sleep if you can in early labour, to give your body the energy it needs. I still use this advice and believe it can be vital for the longevity that is so often needed during labour. Did I follow my own advice? Nope. From that first tightening I was too excited. I almost immediately jumped out of bed, sneaked downstairs and got onto my birthing ball, watching as many rom-coms as I could find. Ed came down in the morning to find a cheshire cat grinning from ear to ear. That day, the tightenings never quite took hold. Ed went to work. I went for a walk, patted some horses, listened to my cheesey uplifting tracklist that I can’t help but dance badly to. I called my midwife Heather, who is also a close friend and told her all the exciting developments. She came round after work for a check up and a hug. All was well.

Early that evening, the tightenings got a lot more intense. Not enough to make me feel in labour but I couldn’t sleep through them. They were every 10 minutes or so and the back pain was overwhelming. Ed’s support and constant attendance to the warm compress on my back and legs were invaluable. I used a TENS machine also which I couldn’t have done without. After a few hours Ed wanted to call Heather for reassurance. Heather, in all her kindness, came over. She probably didn’t need to based on what was happening at that time and that I was obviously in early labour, but she could tell we needed some support. She stayed for hours. Helping us into positions to help rotate the baby, providing support, massage and hugs. When she finally went home, the tightenings had settled and the back pain slightly reduced.

It wasn’t until about 9am on the Wednesday morning that everything kicked back into gear. My tightenings had gotten much stronger and much more frequent but I could have burst with excitement. I was finally in labour. Even as I reflect on it now, I can’t believe that’s how I felt because it was so overwhelmingly intense but there we have it. The hypnobirthing had done it’s job. I got into the pool but I couldn’t stop midwifing my own birth. Risk assessment after risk assessment kept popping into my head and looking back I was quizzing Heather about all sorts on unlikely scenarios. Heather suggested I try some gas and air and I didn’t look back. I went into myself, had some weird out of body experiences and at 2:15 on Wednesday afternoon, my little boy was born. I had everything I could have asked for. My placenta came on its own and I didn’t need any stitches. I breastfed my son about 30 minutes after he was born and I recovered quickly with no major challenges.

Throughout my pregnancy and birth, my wishes had been respected and the intensity of my labour had been calmed with incredible support from Ed and Heather. At no point did I feel either myself or my baby boy were unsafe. My first birth will always be a source of strength and happiness for me and I owe this to my own preparation mentally and physically, the support from Heather and Ed and for my little one, who finally managed to turn into a good position for birth.