Claire and Ollie’s homebirth experience

When I first discovered I was pregnant I can honestly say that I expected to be requesting all the pain relief possible & had I been told I needed a caesarean, worryingly, I imagine I’d have been pleased. However, at 14 weeks I joined an Active Birth Yoga class and immediately started to change the way I thought about pregnancy and, more significantly, labour and birth, and was inspired by thoughts of the body’s ability to birth a baby as naturally as possible.

Post-birth, each person attending the yoga sessions re-visits the class, introduces their baby and tells their birth story. After hearing various women’s hospital birth stories, mostly entailing prolonged labours, I was really struck by one woman’s home birth experience. Her labour had been comparatively short, she’d not used any form of pain relief and to put it plainly, she looked fantastic! It was so refreshing and inspirational to hear such a positive story and witness the evidence in her glowing appearance.

At home, I recounted the story to my husband, and was not surprised by his point blank refusal when I suggested that we consider a home birth. He immediately panicked at the thought of “what if something goes wrong?’ To allay his concerns, I managed to persuade him to attend a local home birth group. We heard positive stories of other couples who had opted for a home birth and my husband completely changed his mind and agreed to support me in having a home birth.

Throughout my pregnancy I continued to attend a weekly yoga classes which greatly aided my physical and mental preparation for the birth, as well as equipped me with in-depth knowledge about labour, birth and good birthing techniques and instilling in me a complete belief in my body’s ability to birth my baby naturally. Also in helping my husband to understand the importance of his role. In the weeks preceding my daughter’s birth, I listened to a hypnotherapy CD daily and as a result was accustomed to sending myself into a state of deep relaxation and was genuinely excited about the birth. Any fears we had, were completely dissipated as a result of the knowledge we equipped ourselves with in preparation for the home birth.

As for the birth itself, I really can't stress how perfect the experience was, and how fortunate we feel as a result:

My waters broke spontaneously

I had manageable contractions all morning and early afternoon

The 1st midwife came out to me at 5:30 – she was fantastic, really positive, supportive, and happy to let me maintain control over the birth. When Ollie asked if she needed to establish how dilated I was, her response was only if I wanted her to. We were both happy, however, to monitor the progress of the labour by the strength of my contractions and how I handled each. This was really empowering, and undoubtedly a result of the fact I was at home rather than in hospital

At about 6pm the midwife asked if I had a TENS machine & when I told her I had one, she suggested I put it on, although as I had left it so late into the labour, there wasn’t enough time for it to build intensity and be effective

I got into the birth pool that I’d bought from Birth Pool in a Box, at about 7pm and immediately went into 2nd stage. Getting into the water felt fantastic and I was amazed by the primal, innate, manner with which my body told me it was time to push, and how I went ‘inside myself’ – afterwards Ollie told me he & the midwife had been talking to me & it was almost as if I didn’t even realise they were there

The 2nd midwife arrived at approximately 7:30pm, at the same time as the gas & air! I attempted to use the Entonox for 2 or 3 contractions, however having already completed much of the labour without it, I felt that it was more of a distraction and didn’t use it again during the birth

We’ve named our daughter Boo. The whole experience was incredible and quite emotional. Boo was so chilled - her heart rate never faltered during the birth; she was under the water with her eyes wide open as she was born and she didn't cry at all when she came up out of the water and was passed  to me

I was expecting the midwives to take her out of the water (particularly as she didn’t cry) but they were happy to leave her in the water with me, allowing us to bond immediately. Our birth experience was so straightforward and rapid, that the student midwife missed the birth itself entirely, however it was great to have her there for the 3rd stage and afterwards.

Unfortunately I had a 2nd degree tear which required stitches; the suturing was completed on my sofa and I definitely made use of the gas & air at this point!

Afterwards, I had a shower whilst the midwives kindly helped my husband to make our bed. I was in bed sending picture texts of our perfect little girl to family/friends before midnight!

Boo’s fantastic home water birth experience definitely impacted positively on her as well as us; she’s such a chilled out baby. We are both complete advocates of home births and can’t speak highly enough of the benefits of birthing your baby in a positive, relaxed, home environment