Birth Stories

The Birth of Jack William - 5 July 2006

My wonderful homebirth

I think it is fair to say most of my friends and family were shocked when I announced I was planning a homebirth. I am not really that "type". However this is my homebirth story, one of the most positive experiences in my life.

My pregnancy was without incident. Yes I felt tired and a little queasy but on the whole I felt healthy and well. I felt in control. I think in retrospect it was that feeling of control that drove me to pursue a homebirth. Hospital didn't seem to be the right place for a healthy woman. I didn't want people to intervene unless totally necessary and I also wanted to be in an environment where I knew I could relax and feel loved.

To start with these were just feelings, hard to put into words and even harder to see how it could be a reality. So I embarked on project ‘homebirth’. I read and read. I found some positive homebirth stories on the web but none that related to me or my circumstances. Most of the ladies had their first child in hospital and a homebirth was usually an attempt to avoid repeating some upsetting experience first time round. I was starting to doubt my motives and things weren't helped by my very unconvinced husband, Paul. Naturally he was concerned about my care and he thought a homebirth would be too risky.

But it all changed when we engaged the services of two lovely independent midwives, Anja and Andrea. Between them, they had delivered numerous healthy babies at home. Paul was able to ask all those “what if” questions and be convinced that yes we had plenty of time to get to hospital if things weren’t progressing safely. They gave us access to a huge library of information on home and water births. At last having my baby at home looked like it could be possible.

So I focused my efforts on the practicalities, sourcing a pool, reading about and practicing pain relief techniques and trying to stay as fit as possible.

I was 37 weeks exactly when I had a show (homebirths are not recommended before 37 weeks). I have to admit to panicking a bit. The pool wasn't due to arrive for another week. I hadn't practiced my breathing techniques nearly enough. I called Anja and asked for advice. She calmly reassured me that as there weren’t any other signs of labour it could be weeks before anything started to happen. Even so she advised me to try and get the pool delivered a little earlier. The pool duly arrived three days later and was installed in the kitchen. It took a further day for it to reach the optimum temperature of 37 degrees despite the scorching temperatures outside! I went to bed that night thinking that I may just sit in it for the next two weeks to stave off the horrid heat wave.

But my baby had other plans...

3am the next morning my waters went with a pop. Thanks to some maternity mats the bed escaped relativity unharmed. My husband and I got up and changed the sheets and instantly I began to feel mild but regular contractions. Deciding we were too excited to sleep we went downstairs to catch up on some TV. We both prepared ourselves for the long haul ahead.

An hour or so after my waters broke my contractions were getting stronger and seemed to be only 5 minutes apart. I knew it was early on but I decided to use the tens. What a welcome relief, the boost button became my best friend. Half an hour later the contractions were getting even closer so we decided to call in the team, Anja (Andrea was on holiday) and my mum.

50 minutes later they arrived. Anja was busy laying out the baby resuscitation kit. In a strange way I found that very reassuring. Next she gently measured the baby heartbeat. All was fine.

It was now around 6:15am, my contractions were definately becoming stronger and closer together but I was very surprised when Anja asked me to go into the pool. We had discussed many times the optimal time to get into the pool, I didn’t want to get in too early and not feel the full benefit of the water. I was also reluctant to take off the Tens. The thought of going through a contraction without my boost button worried me. But I was coaxed in and what a wonderful relief. The water instantly relaxed me but more importantly I was able to move into a comfortable and fully supported position for each contraction and then sit back and rest in the warm water.

For the next hour or so I just felt out of it, coping with one contraction at a time and feeling more and more exhausted. For some crazy reason I was utterly convinced the surface tension of the water would support my head! Luckily Paul had worked out what I was trying to do and held my head in his hands. I also got immense comfort from a constant stream of warm water being poured down my back (thanks to my kind mum and Paul). Then I started to wonder if I could cope with any more. “Anja I just don’t think I can do this anymore” but back came kind words of encouragement and the reassurance “Helen, we have talked about this haven’t we? This feeling is a good indication that you are getting close to transition”, with that I was promptly sick (another good sign apparently).

Thankfully the bowl was on hand. But all of a sudden I felt much better and then got what seemed like a reasonable period of rest. But it was not to last as I felt a massive desire to push. The pushing seems such hard work. I was already tired and now I expect to do all this pushing. It seemed to go forever (but actually was only 45 minutes) then I noticed things change again. I could feel my babies head, oh and the stinging! It such was a gentle birth, our beautiful baby Jack just slide out at 8:14am. I experienced such a huge range of emotions ranging from joy to exhaustion. I held Jack in my arms whilst the cord stopped pulsating, just marvelling at his perfection (and very vernix-y coating!). My mum cut his cord and then his dad took him for his very first cuddle. I got on with the third stage of labour which if I was honest seemed so unjust, you have just put in all that effort to get the baby out and then there’s more work to do. However 45 minutes later I naturally delivered the placenta on the toilet!

After a very welcome shower Jack, Paul and I snuggled into bed, Jack fed straight away. 6 hours later I was back in the kitchen. The pool had been cleared away by my fantastic team and I sat at the kitchen table eating fish and chips and sipping champagne, our baby boy sleeping peacefully beside us. What a wonderful day, none of which would be possible without the loving support of my husband, mum and Anja the most caring midwife I have met.

So if you get a chance, at least try for a homebirth. I agree there is no medical pain relief but being surrounded by warm water and love can have the most anaesthetic effect.

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