Henry's Homebirth

The birth of my 3rd child was so amazing that I can’t wait to write it all down. My 2 previous children were born at a birth centre, with the help of the same fantastic midwife. I had decided to have this baby at home, and after talking with this midwife, she agreed to attend to my homebirth for me. I was so excited that the same midwife would help me birth all of my children.

My pregnancy was usual for me. I am very well during pregnancy, but find it physically difficult and had lots of problems with sciatica and pelvic pain. I was keen to have bubby out! My husband had taken on a job on a mine site and was away a lot leading up to my due date. This had concerned me, and I really had to come to grips with the idea of birthing without him. As it turned out, baby arrived on his due date, and Dan was home! What a good boy!

The night before my due date, we went out to dinner for a friend’s birthday. I wasn’t all that keen to go, and felt like I needed to be in my nest – I hoped that tonight was the night. We arrived home late and got the kids settled into bed. Then I had a big cry to my husband about how stressed I was that he would miss the birth. He was due to go back to work in 2 days. I was hoping that this cry might release some tension and let my body go into labour. We went off to sleep. I woke shortly after and wondered if it might have been a contraction that woke me. It was! I headed to the bathroom and back to wake Dan. I told him that things were definitely happening tonight! He thought I meant the next night, and proceeded to go back to sleep. I waited another half an hour just sitting on the bed. Yes these were definitely contractions, but I wanted to be sure before I rang the midwife. I decided to check my cervix. It was almost fully effaced – just a tiny ridge – so I had the confidence to get things underway for the homebirth. I woke Dan again. He got the message this time, and rang the midwife. It was about 12:30am. She had a 2 hour drive ahead of her. Dan started to set up the birth pool and all our other bits and pieces in the lounge room – he was starting to get pretty excited and nervous as well. He was always a bit nervous about having a homebirth, as we are a good 40 minute drive from hospital, and live rurally so difficult for an ambulance to find us. But I was confident things would go well and he trusted in me.

Contractions at this stage were going fine. I was pottering around the house, and sometimes kneeled beside my bed and lay my head on the bed. I was just breathing calmly and visualising my cervix opening up.

The pool was set up and I decided to try it out. It felt great, but I knew I didn’t really need it yet, so I hopped out.

A quick trip to the loo and back to the lounge room and leaning over a bean bag on a mattress on the floor. My midwife arrived about now (2:30am). Contractions were starting to bite, and I felt bub turn around in my tummy. He had become posterior in the last day or two, and thankfully he turned anterior prior to birth, but boy this turning around business hurt.

I slipped back into the pool – heaven! Contractions started to really spread out and I was having a lovely rest in between. I thought I was in transition and began to panic a bit about 2nd stage. Both my previous babies had been very easy to push out, but this one felt different. I was feeling a lot more pressure through my back and sacrum which was new to me. As he moved down the canal I could feel pressure in my bum. I decided he must have an enormous head! I still felt strong and just breathed through contractions.

The backup midwife had arrived to and we were all just doing our own thing. The urge to push finally came, and after just a couple of contractions that big round head was out! He had been sitting high in my pelvis until that day, and so his head really hadn’t moulded.

Dan was right there ready to catch him. Next contraction and he was born. 4:02 am! He was beautiful. Perfect. He gave a little cry right away, so Dan could finally relax! He handed him to me – what a big baby!

We were in love! The backup midwife was concerned about my blood loss and wanted me to get on with birthing the placenta. I wasn’t worried, I felt great. When I later asked my primary midwife about it, she hadn’t been concerned either. But I took some homeopathics and stood up and delivered the placenta 13 minutes later. It looked unusual and my midwife suspected I may have originally had a twin pregnancy. I had a threatened miscarriage at 13 weeks, so perhaps that had been the twin. He weighed 9lb 1 oz – my heaviest baby by far. I had a small tear that my midwife stitched. Just as she was finishing up, my 2 other children woke up and came in to meet their new brother. My mum and dad were staying in their caravan outside, so they came in too. This photo is taken about 3 hours after the birth.

After a beautiful breastfeed, a shower and some breakfast – my midwife tucked us up into bed before cleaning up and finishing some paperwork. It was the most fantastic birth I could have hoped for and I recovered amazingly quickly. Dan is converted to homebirthing! Welcome Henry John – we love you!