Birth story - Jessica and baby Maya

After giving birth in June 2021, I was surprised to learn that I was pregnant again at 6 months PP.

As my first birth was completely natural, with no complications (also after doing the PBC course) I felt completely empowered to have a homebirth and we got in contact with a team of midwives who offered this service.

I was extremely lucky in that both my pregnancies were smooth and without any complications. My birth preference was to have an at home water birth.

At 37 weeks the midwives dropped off all the equipment at home in preparation for Maya's arrival, however 40 weeks passed without any signs of labor starting.

At 41 weeks, after several nights of intermittent Braxton Hicks, I woke up frustrated and did 15 minutes on the Yoga ball. After, when I went to the toilet, I was happy to see my mucus plug and bloody show, (11:22) I messaged my midwives, but at that point I was still not having any contractions. I told my partner that we should go to the supermarket to get in some supplies and so I could walk around, in the hopes of triggering labor.

Whilst walking around I had my first surge. When we got home we had some lunch and I had another surge, I went to the toilet and had another, at this point I decided to start timing them. They were 3/4 minutes apart, I was focused on my breathing but messaged the midwives (16:14) to let them know. They were 1.5hrs away so I wanted to give plenty of time and they advised that they would be on their way immediately.

At around 17:00 I told my partner that I felt like I had the urge to push (surely not), the midwives were still on their way! He inflated the pool but the plastic protective cover wasn't easy to put on alone so I told him to wait until the midwives arrived to fill it.

At this point my surges were very intense, so I decided that I would get in the bath. I got to the bathroom but only managed to lean on the bath before a strong surge came, I told my partner "she's coming", he looked to see and in that moment my waters broke. Luckily we had a mop and bucket on hand!

He put down a towel and advised me to get on all fours, with the next surge her head was out quickly followed by another and she was here (18:10). The feeling was euphoric. Maya was immediately passed to me for skin to skin and I asked my partner to take a photo.

The midwives arrived around 10 minutes later, they prepared and I moved to our bed so they could check me (I only had a small graze) and I birthed the placenta naturally. The cord clamping was delayed until some time after, as per my wish. All in all I was in labor for less than 2 hours. It was super intense and didn't go according to my original plan (there wasn't enough time) but it was such a special way for our Daughter to arrive in the world, delivered by her Dad!