10 Months after the birth of my son I found myself pregnant with baby number two, eeeeeks! This time I knew that things were going to be 100% different to last time! This was another fairly straightforward pregnancy that again I really enjoyed and savoured to the very last weeks and days.
I started thinking about what it would be like to birth at home and read a fantastic book on homebirth with lots of info and useful statistics in (Why homebirth matters). Now the decision was made to birth at home (there was no way I was going near a hospital again unless it was life and death situation) the next job was a to hire a doula as I knew this time I wanted that extra support… emotionally and physically! This was a great move obviously… I had so much to process still from the birth of my son and it was a vital part of my healing that I was heard and validated. I felt like I could go into this birth confident and take no shit!
The same old thing cropped up when I was late on in pregnancy… GROWTH. I agreed to one scan to put my mind at ease and never went for any follow up ones. 40 weeks came and a lovely midwife came to see me at home, she mentioned induction casually and I said “I dont want to talk about it until 42 weeks” and that was the end of that conversation haha, no BS here thank you.
At 40 weeks plus 6 I started with some period like cramping. We went about our day as usual and went for a walk around Golden Acre park in Leeds around 9.30am in the morning, after we went to meet some friends for breakfast. I wasn’t hungry but thought it would be a good idea to get some food in there. At 11.30am ish I was getting more uncomfy and I said we needed to leave as I needed to be at home. When I got home I started bouncing on the birth ball (which I never really got off of), my son went down for his nap around 12.30pm. I called my doula, she was at the cinema with her kids so I told her to go ahead and finish the film then come round, I would be fine, no probs. My son was picked up by some friends and then labour really started to crank up so my partner Sam called the homebirth team and Sophie my lovely midwife (who works on the Lotus suite in Leeds currently) arrived at 2.30pm followed shortly by my doula. By this time we had moved upstairs as that’s where I had the pool, I wanted to be close to the bathroom and my bed. Labour kept progressing, when Nicola my doula arrived I was quite emotional and pleased to see her. By this point Sam had changed the playlist I had on over to a Hypnobirthing track as he could see I was loosing my cool a little. As soon as I heard the Hypnobirthing I instantly relaxed and started yawning in between contractions, I was so grateful of the rest inbetween contractions, this is what I started to focus on. My waters broke when I was on the birth ball, I was more concerned about this going on the new carpet than anything else! Haha, so had Nicola get the towels ready as I moved off the ball and into the birth pool at 3.11pm. At 3.20pm my daughter was born in the pool after a few strong contractions, I was on my knees holding Sam’s arms over the pool side. I was able to reach down and grab my daughter myself, what a feeling, I was blown away. A healthy 7lbs 1oz.
I had a lovely hour in the pool holding my new baby, absolute cloud 9, my doula actually missed the birth itself as she was downstairs boiling the kettle to warm up the birth pool! I had little interest in trying to deliver the placenta really I was too busy being a bit off my head on oxytocin. We tried a few things but I opted for management of the 3rd stage and had the Syntometrine injection, to be honest I just wanted to get it done and get in bed with my baby girl. I had a couple of stitches for a small second degree tear which was no issue at all really!
So there I was all wrapped up in bed with my daughter loving life! Nicola my doula sorted the pool out and any washing/tidying up that needed doing and made us a cup of tea to have in bed. We decided to order a domino’s pizza for tea and had this in bed also. What a healing experience this was, so proud of myself to this day, I can remember when I lifted my daughter out of the birth pool I said “I nailed it!” Haha, I really did. My daughter arrived on the 9th New Moon after which she was conceived.
I mean there were still a few lessons to learn from this birth. 5 years later I am even more educated and informed than I was then, although there isn’t going to be any more babies! I would absolutely love to give birth again but I really can’t cope with another human to look after haha. I spent so much time aiming for the healing homebirth that I wasn’t so informed or educated on the 3rd stage (delivering the placenta). Now if I had my time again, I would have pushed for more time to allow me to deliver the placenta, I was low risk. The research that the “one hour” window for the placenta is based on hospital/births with intervention not physiological. And if I remember rightly no one seemed to suggest to me feeding my daughter to help the uterus contract and deliver the placenta. Also it’s vital that the environment needed for birth is kept the same for the delivery of the placenta, oxytocin still needs to be flowing and little to no disturbance is needed for Mum. Stop bugging her and leave her to it! These are valuable lessons for me and I will take them forward with me when I support mums in the future :) Are you thinking of having a homebirth? I would love to hear from you xx
Comments