Birth story - Kat and baby Octavia

Our journey into our second pregnancy was slightly different to our first. After experiencing two pregnancy losses during the Covid pandemic then being diagnosed with Low Papp-a levels at the 12 week appointment I felt I’d lost my ability to trust in my body and believe the pregnancy would be safe and successful.

My husband and I completed a hypnobirthing course for our first birth which was incredible, so we felt a top up or refresher of the skills would be useful. I came across a 6 week “calm birth and baby workshop” for myself which delivered a lovely blend each week of gentle yoga and movement, pregnancy and birth education and meditation. I really looked forward to each session and loved falling asleep to the meditation which became my nightly ritual and my anchor of relaxation during my labour which saw me through the entire stage of my up breathing. I also believe the education and meditation supported my belief and trust in my bodies Innate ability to grow and birth my baby and helped me develop positive affirmations that I read each day and had visible during my labour for myself and my husband to read.

We also completed a one day partner work shop which reminded us about the importance of the birthing environment and my husbands key role as the “guardian of my oxytocin” and helped us create the visualisation of the birth we wanted- a water birth at home, surrounded by fairy lights and candles and flowers. This at times, especially as my pregnancy drew closer to the 40 weeks mark, felt a distant vision, as threat of medical induction was encouraged by our consultant.

Despite engaging in activities to relax and promote oxytocin, such as regular reflexology and massage and walks and Pilates, I felt stressed and concerned my cortisol levels were inhibiting natural labour. I ensured I socialised myself to positive induction birth stories and educated myself on positive choices around induction which developed my confidence to question medical advise and advocate for what we personally felt were safe and informed decisions. I truly believe this was what enabled my body to let go and I went into natural labour the evening of the 27th May.

During the early labour, as surges were mild, we set up our lounge exactly as I’d visualised with candles and twinkly fairy lights, my incense diffuser and calming play list, affirmations and inspiring photos of our first labour placed around the room- creating a birthing shrine. It felt great to be in our own home to move around during labour as I needed, without feeling restricted or prevented. It helped my husband to feel he had a large role to play in our labour as he was truly the guardian of my oxytocin and he had a focus on setting up and maintaining the birth pool which kept him focussed also.

Our daughter woke up usual time and came down to “help mummy” - we had prepped her for the sounds and sights she may witness if she was home during parts of labour for a home birth so she joined in with deep breathing during a couple of surges and tucked me in on the sofa. It was adorable. A friend collected her to take her to nursery at 07:30 and as soon as she left it was like my body relaxed and the surges ramped right up!

We called triage and our actual allocated midwife came on shift at 8am so she was sent straight to me! It was so exciting to see her and I adored the continuity of care.

My labour was gentle and quick and I felt in control the entire time. At no point did I question my ability to birth naturally or that I needed pain relief. Instead I felt empowered and trusted all the sensations of birth were safe and that each surge bought me closer to meeting my baby. The home birth midwives were incredible and fully respected my birth choices and remained very much hands off allowing the birthing experience to feel as though it was purely about myself and my husband.

Once I noticed my breathing had changed to down breathing I got into the birth pool. No pain relief was needed at all - just the use of our hypnobirthing and the water itself. I didn’t have access to a birthing pool with my first born and couldn’t believe the relief and soothing sensation the water provided this time round. It was intense and powerful but I felt in control the whole way through- nowhere near as stingy as a dry land birth. Watching our daughter swim out of me and float at the bottom of the pool for a few seconds before scooping her up into my arms was a truly magical experience, one I will never, ever forget and will forever be immensely proud of!

Post birth it was heaven to be able to be wrapped up all cosy on our sofa with baby for the power hour, exactly as I’d dreamed of before any checks on baby were completed. Having full access to our fully stocked kitchen was a real bonus to graze away all day on the food and drinks we had planned and having a shower in my own home and cosying back down on our sofa wrapped in baby and blankets and our own bed was delicious.

It was a truly beautiful experience the whole way through and we feel incredibly blessed to have experienced the most positive labour we could’ve dreamt of! We’ll always be thankful and remember this our whole lives!

I hope sharing our birth story will encourage other Mummas to trust in their bodies ability to birth naturally and consider a home birth if it’s safe for them to do so!