Birth story - Helen and baby girl

I heard about the online course from a friend and having read a lot about hypnobirthing and listened to MP3s with my first labour and had a very lovely birth, I was keen to refresh my knowledge for this labour.

The digital pack was certainly responsible for giving me the confidence to have a home birth, so I borrowed a pool from a friend and planned to sit down with my partner that weekend to plan it all! I was convinced she would be another week!

My waters started trickling out at 10.40pm in the Saturday night so I told my partner my suspicions and went to bed. My surges started about midnight so I called the maternity unit to let them know and I was pleased to hear my community midwife was on call and we got the in laws to come and take our little boy and dog to sleep at theirs.

As my surges increased my other half got the pool ready and at 6 am we called for the midwife to come. I got into the pool and the surges started to slow down. I got out of the pool for a pee and the midwife examined me and I was only 1cm. I was really disappointed as at this point with my first born I was 8cm so my expectations were quite high.

The midwife left us for a bit and I decided to go back to bed to get some rest, at 9.30am I got back into the pool as the contractions had really intensified. I wanted gas and air and so we asked the midwife to came back. Again she examined me and I was 4cm which really surprised me as I was finding it quite intense compared to my first labour and I expected to be more.

I got back into the pool and breathed through the contractions, the labour then progressed quickly, I remember thinking or saying I couldn’t cope and hearing them comment to my other half it wasn’t long, the urge to bear down came and I went with my instincts, surprised then how quickly we had got to that point, with a few more contractions our daughter was born at 11.08.

I had a second degree tear but at the time the midwife wasn’t sure so I agreed to be transferred to hospital for stitches to check, but that was ok as I had my baby in my arms!

The midwives were lovely at helping to tidy up, scrubbing the carpet and everything ( I had a few drips of blood as I went upstairs after the birth)! I was so lucky with the continuity of care I got!

I am so pleased and grateful that I had a home birth, it was lovely being at home. If I did it again I would make sure my expectations were clear that no two labours are the same! Practice my breathing a bit more and would recommend considering another birthing partner for home births, as my other half was run off his feet trying to keep the pool and house warm, be there for me, get what the midwives needed etc.

Thank you positive birth team and everyone who shared their stories!