Positive birth story - Samantha’s unplanned freebirth

On the 29th June 2023 my surges (contractions) started at 2.30am. At first I was unsure if they were actual surges or just stomach cramps. After having 5 or 6 bowel movements I realised that this was my body’s way of making space so my uterus could surge efficiently. Time apart between surges were irregular so we held off calling the midwife on call but they were lasting for roughly 45 seconds - 1 minute.

At 3.30am surges started getting more regular (3 minutes apart) we decided to call the midwife. Never in a million years did I think that things would go from 0 to 100 in a short space of time otherwise we would have called sooner! We decided to go downstairs and my partner started to blow up the base of the pool then quickly realised he couldn't find the plug for the pool, panic stations hit because I really wanted a pool birth but with how quick and strong the surges were coming I realised that there would not be time to fill the pool up anyway, so I told him to stop searching for the plug and just sit with me and hold my hand through surges.

My waters broke and I had my bloody show at 4.30am, at this point I knew I was going to have to freebirth because the pressure in my bum was ridiculously intense and my body started involuntary pushing. We called my mother in law at roughly 4.25am, luckily enough she lives 2 minutes drive away so she flew down like a shot to watch our daughter who was in bed and slept through it all lucky enough!

The birth of baby Elijah

I decided to get up on my knees on the couch and lean over the couch head rests. I felt gravity taking its course and my body doing exactly what it was made to do, I felt my baby falling down into my birth canal and my body opening up for their arrival. I concentrated on my breathing and tried to stay as relaxed as possible by dropping my shoulders. My partner kept reminding me of the downward breath hypnobirthing technique.

I kept telling myself " Each surge brings my baby closer to me" speaking to myself in a positive manner and reminding myself of all the affirmations I had learned along the way of my pregnancy journey really helped so much! I used the birthing comb to dig into my hands when the surges arrived and my partner used a perineum bottle to spray water on my vagina and bum to take away the sting - Aka -' Ring of fire'

My body involuntarily pushed my baby’s head half out in 1 surge while I was breathing down, by the time the second surge arrived my baby’s head and shoulders and half of his body flew out within seconds, my partner was right underneath me with his arms open to catch babies arrival. While half of his body was out and his legs were still inside me, he started to cry. This in itself was a mind-blowing experience as I realised I had done it. I had naturally freebirthed my baby, with the next surge he was out. No pushing from myself was needed at all. My body just knew how to eject him.Elijah was born at 4.50am.

My baby had some mucus up his nose and in his mouth and was slightly struggling to breath with how quick he flew out, he had swallowed some of the fluid/mucus so I decided to put my mouth over his airways and suck the fluid/mucus out and spit it out. This immediately cleared it and his cry was then more clear and loud. My partner and I sat back and I held my baby to my chest and waited for the midwife to arrive, she came 5 minutes later and was in awe of us. We delayed the cord clamping for 40 minutes until cord was completely white and all blood had been returned to the baby.

Delivering my placenta took 1 hour and 20 minutes. I declined the synthetic oxytocin injection and waited still my next surge arrived to bare down and slightly push my placenta out. This was a bit of a struggle as my placenta was sitting far back by my bum so I decided to squat down and slightly push it out which was a success. Midwife did all the observations in the dining room and left us to enjoy the golden hour with our beautiful bundle of joy.

My daughter woke up at 7am and came down to meet her new little baby brother. Between my partner and I we did 5 hours of skin on skin which was such a beautiful bonding moment for us all.

Never thought I'd say I enjoyed labour but I really did this time around, it felt euphoric. Like an out of body experience.

This has totally healed me from the first birth of my daughter who was born in 2020. Now to enjoy the newborn bubble ❤

Explore More From The Positive Birth Company

Receive a FREE call with one of our midwives when you purchase one of our eligible courses.

Explore our digital courses for all stages of pregnancy, available on any device, from anywhere in the world.

Download our virtual birth partner app, FREYA, the app will coach you through every surge whilst keeping track of your progress.

Get our bestselling book 'Hypnobirthing: Practical Ways to Make Your Birth Better'.

Watch our series of FREE videos on YouTube designed to educate and empower.

Get yourself FREE MP3 positive affirmations by subscribing to our mailing list here.