Birth story - Jeni and baby Ruby

I had used the PBC course for my firstborn’s birth and had an amazing waterbirth at Homerton labour ward with just gas and air as pain relief, so I knew I wanted to use the same hypnobirthing techniques for my second baby’s birth. My firstborn arrived on his due date so I was surprised by to be a few days overdue with #2. In hindsight I don’t think it helped that we’ve had the house full of tradesmen doing works - in fact my early contractions/tightenings only really started to feel like actual contractions once tradesmen left around lunchtime. They were notable enough to track from around 3.45pm (20 seconds, ¾ mins apart and not intense at all).

After our 2.5 year old son was in bed that evening we phoned Lister Hospital triage to advise our contractions weren’t regular or very long yet, but that we were a planned homebirth. They advised that they would need to be ~60 seconds long before considering it time for the midwife to arrive, at which point they said there’s a good chance the midwife wouldn’t be available for us anyway! They asked about reduced movements and I replied “yes, over the past few days which I’d already spoken to midwife about 2 days ago and she was happy with the baby’s heart rate etc.”

They advised I come into the CLU and get baby monitored. I was hooked up to the screen for 30+ mins and thankfully baby was moving fine so I was told I could go home. To be honest I found my visit quite stressful and the opposite of a calm/oxytocin-inducing environment… I was essentially told off for not finding the midwife to give her my green folder “there are signs everywhere” (even though the receptionist told me to stay seated in the waiting area). I was then told I had two names (e.g. my married and maiden name) and addresses (current and childhood home) on the system: “this will cause issues when you give birth”, which I tried to respond to while dealing with contractions. It had not once been brought up throughout my prenatal appointments so I felt stressed as I wasn't advised how to actually fix the issue!

When they monitor baby’s movements you have to lie on a bed. Following the principles of Upright, Forward, Open, I asked if I could move position a bit and was told no... even though a different midwife ten minutes later reconfigured the chair so it was no longer reclining?!

In order to go home, the midwife had to first liaise with the consultant because apparently any overdue baby with perceived reduced movements should be recommended an induction. The midwife at least advocated for me as a homebirth to decline this intervention and go home.

At this point, I was still having contractions but nothing overwhelming. We drove home below that evening’s bright supermoon and were greeted by our doula who had inflated our birth pool and let Ned’s stepmum in (who was keeping an eye on our toddler’s baby monitor while he slept).

I was still very coherent and able to deal with contractions so we suggested that our doula Hannah go across the road to her house to get some rest before things escalated over the next few hours. I didn’t feel close to stage two labour whatsoever!

I went for a shower upstairs and immediately afterwards I felt a need to lean on my birth ball after two or three intense 25-second contractions about 3 mins apart. I asked Ned to phone the doula to get the pool filled up asap and to call the midwife soon. Before he could even make a call I leant forward with my towel underneath my legs and then heard/felt a gush as my waters broke at 22.55pm.

I ran to the loo as I immediately then felt a huge urge to push downwards - at this point Ned could see our baby’s head while he urgently phoned triage. I screamed “help, Ned what do I do? How should I stand?!! The baby is definitely coming!” Ned says at this point he could definitely see baby’s head.

I had the presence of mind to dart downstairs between surges to our living room (I’d read for homebirth downstairs is safest so paramedics can easily get to you if needed). Hannah (who lives opposite!) ran into the room with us and I then gripped onto an armchair and kneeled while baby’s head was born at 23.02. Triage asked Hannah and Ned to check if chin was out (it was) and then I felt a final urge to push. At this point I panicked and made a poor attempt at down breathing by pretending to blow out a candle as Siobhan suggested in the course!

There was little warning that baby would come out all in one push. Baby Ruby slipped through Hannah and Ned’s expectant arms at 23.03 and landed on the towel on the floor slightly behind me... thankfully their quick reaction to her coming helped cushion the blow! I then waddled with the baby in my arms to the sofa, sat down and we checked she was ok.

The paramedics came first about ten minutes later and performed some checks (apgar score 10), followed by the community midwife Bethany who was incredible. Our son woke up so came downstairs to see us. He was very confused by all the strangers and wanted to cuddle me but I was otherwise engaged so he burst into tears.

After delayed cord clamping, I birthed the placenta naturally about 30 mins after Ruby arrived and finally managed to get a successful latch on each boob before we went to sleep. Somehow I escaped with just a first-degree tear.

In summary:

• I was woefully unprepared for how quickly a second birth could move into stage two!

• Don’t necessarily wait for this supposed “45-60 second” contraction length, not one of mine were that long and yet I was watching the Freya app screen like a zombie rather than potentially tapping into my intuition (10pm onwards).

• I am so grateful to have had a homebirth despite it not going to plan; recovering at home has been sublime compared to being on a noisy ward after my firstborn’s birth.

• My experience makes me even more pro homebirth, just give adequate notice to the midwife.

• In hindsight, the slightly stressful treatment I had at the CLU must have made me feel extra relaxed once I got home. Perhaps this then contributed to how speedy the labour process was once I got home?!