Birth story - Jacqueline and baby Quinton

This was my second home birth.

My first came at 41 weeks but very quickly. We held off on calling the team, as my pain threshold had been much higher than we’d expected. My surges were spaced apart and I was managing them very well. The team arrived 35 minutes before Halle appeared.

This time, my midwives, my husband and I made a plan to inform the team much earlier on, so that they could keep a closer eye on how I was progressing, knowing my pattern had escalated quicker than we thought it would the first time.

I had been having Braxton hicks from around 32 weeks but started to have real surges at 37 weeks and 6 days (Thursday). They were very irregular, sometimes every 20-45 mins, then nothing again for hours and were manageable so I carried on as normal.

At 38 weeks (Saturday), things were still not progressing, but I wasn't sure if my waters had broken so we called the homebirth team. A midwife came to check on me and agreed these were real surges. After a thorough check, she advised that we go into triage to see if my waters had in fact broken. I was nervous about this, but she reassured me that this wouldn’t mean I would have to stay in. The midwife in triage was so lovely and made me feel relaxed - it turned out my waters hadn't broken so we went home. My surges continued for the next few days and we were all on edge wondering when things might start escalating (and how quickly it might happen)!

On Tuesday, one of our usual midwives came for our scheduled visit and was amazing. She did all of the usual checks and realised that our son’s head was turned slightly. She suggested that my body was probably trying to get him into a better position, protecting us both. She gave us lots of exercises to practice to help move him and relax me. Her main advice was to pretend I wasn't pregnant, stop focusing on what was going on and let my body take control. It worked!

On Friday, my surges (over a week now…) were starting to gain in intensity, but were still very irregular. In the late evening we started to get the room and pool ready. We all went to bed but I was woken every 20 mins with what now were very uncomfortable surges. I started to use my Tens machine to help with the pain. 

We called the homebirth line at around 5am and our other usual midwife happened to be on call which was amazing. She came and assessed us and noted that his head was still in a slightly awkward position, so helped me with some stretches in between surges. This went on for a good few hours, at which point my surges were very intense. I got into the pool a couple of times which really helped but things were still moving very slowly.

I was completely exhausted with having over a week of sleepless nights, surges and my ME and eventually all of those things from the outside seemed to completely stopped. I was in the pool, hanging onto the edge and my husband thought I had fallen asleep. I was very aware of my surroundings but I felt like I wasn’t really there - I was completely relaxed, calm and not at all concerned. 

My midwife suggested that we might consider a catheter to empty my bladder and also a vaginal examination and my husband and I had a short discussion. I agreed reluctantly to the exam but really didn’t want a catheter. That was all the motivation I needed. Seconds later, my body started to powerfully surge - my son was ready to meet us! I truly believe that my body was taking some time to rest and recharge before the big finish and I trusted that.

For the first few pushes, my body completely took over and I panicked. My birthing partners and midwives all encouraged me to stay calm, I checked myself and stopped resisting.

I had a second degree tear and a graze with my daughter which had taken months to heal, so I was very nervous about tearing again. The midwife had suggested when she came the week before that I could try and guide my son’s head out with my hand, to help control how quickly I birthed him. Somehow I remembered this in the moment. Birthing my son myself had seemed completely unobtainable, but it all came together. I guided him out, alone, under the watchful eyes and supportive words of my birthing partners and midwives, with only the tiniest tear on previous scar tissue which didn't even need stitches.

Quinton, was born at 10.09am, at home, in the pool, birthed alone by me, completely contained in the sac. It was so beautiful. Other than the Tens machine and the pool, I gave birth with no pain relief and had practised hypnobirthing using The Positive Birthing Company’s “Freya” app.

In a follow up visit, our midwife said she’d learnt so much from the birth. We had been told by other midwives that labour wasn’t established and they wouldn't come out until I was 3 in 10 minutes (or at least every 5 minutes) but we never got there. Even at the end, my surges were every 20+ minutes. 

Quinton’s birth left me feeling so powerful. The homebirth team were amazing throughout the entire journey and supported me and my family to have the birth that we’d dreamt of.