My Homebirth

Third pregnancy for me, and as I’d had 2 lovely births already, I decided this time to opt for a homebirth. Baby decided not to play ball though and we had a few little unexpected turns on the way.

At 38 weeks baby decided to go from head down, to breech! I had to go for a scan to confirm and once it was confirmed I decided I’d book in for an ECV where they try to turn the baby. I had also decided that if we couldn’t turn the baby I’d like to try a breech delivery and would be happy to go to hospital, rather than take the risk with my home birth plan. Went to get baby’s heart rate traced and then in for the procedure and baby had flipped back over and was head down, so no procedure required!!! Huge relief!!

I was booked in for another scan the following week and to see the consultant to make sure still head down and also it was looking like baby was “big” so they wanted to keep an eye on that, particularly as if baby turned again I wanted to try a breech birth. Anyway, next scan was fine and baby still head down, so no problems and I was told to just check how I felt baby was lying when labour started and I could decide if I wanted to stay at home or go to hospital.

I felt my first contraction around dinnertime on Wednesday evening and decided I’d time them. Started off slow at 30mins apart. After the boys were in bed I felt them step up and quite quickly they were coming 10mins apart, but occasionally more irregular, so at 10pm I decided to go to bed to see what would happen. By 11pm the contractions were 5mins apart! So I called maternity assessment to ask for the midwife to come out.

I went back down to the living room and set up for my home birth! I was on the ball listening to music when the midwife and student arrived just before midnight and my contractions were now about 4mins apart but I could talk fine between them.

A quick check of me and baby’s heart rate and they left me to it and went into another room to set their stuff up. I was asked if I had any specific birth preferences and if I wanted a vaginal check-total opposite of what I’d experienced previously in hospital. I didn’t really have any preferences, and I declined any examinations that weren’t necessary.

They came in every 10mins or so to check baby’s heart rate, but were so respectful of my space and when a contraction came on they backed away and waited until I was ready to continue.

Around 1am the midwife popped in to check me over again and said she noticed my “noises”’had changed, so she was going to call for the other midwife to come out. Just as she was doing that, my waters broke with quite a loud pop and gush! She came in, checked everything was ok and I told her I felt like my body was bearing down. Again, she was fab and told me to just follow my instincts and go with what my body was telling me, so I did. Lots of encouragement from the midwife and my husband next to me, and at 1.26am in one swift and slippery move, out came my little boy!

I was on the floor on all fours leaning into my sofa, baby was passed up through my legs to me to cuddle, and I climbed up onto the sofa. Cord clamping delayed, then daddy cut the cord. And only had to wait about 10mins for natural 3rd stage and no issues.

Despite Arlo being 9lb 6oz and coming out in one move, was no tearing or even grazing and no stitching or anything was needed! The other on call midwife arrived shortly after.

I didn’t take any pain relief, gas and air makes me feel sick, so was focusing on my breathing and visualisations the whole time.

The midwives cleaned everything up, my hubby made us all a cup of tea and we had snacks and about an hour after Arlo was born the midwives headed home and left us to it.

It was so good to then be able to pass the baby to my husband for some skin to skin while I went for a shower and then we all went to bed.

My other boys were in bed asleep the whole time and when they woke up in the morning they got a big surprise coming in to my room to meet their new little brother!

After baby being breech and some concerns with his heart rate and movement the day before, I can’t quite believe I managed to get the home birth I had planned for and that it all went so well. It was the most amazing experience and I wish I’d done it with my other boys.

For anyone who has thought about a home birth, I’d say go for it! The midwives were simply amazing and it was a great experience!!