The homebirth of leo.
“I felt absolutely amazing this birth changed my life, shortly after I decided to change my career and become a doula so I could impact women’s lives with informed birth.”
I had my first boy 2019 who was posterior naturally in a hospital under MGP- although this was positive to a degree there was post separation with him and this created trauma. This is part of my postpartum story. When I got pregnant with this baby in Jan 2021, after only a month of trying. We were so happy but nervous too. We had lost a baby in 2020 in May and it was a scary time.
We automatically went back to MGP to get the same midwife P. We had toyed with the idea of homebirth and got the pricing but I didn’t think we could afford it. I put it to the back of my mind so we could focus on another hospital birth. When I was 24 weeks I went to the cinema with some girlfriends to watched the Birth Time doco. The same day my midwife P rang me to tell me she had resigned. I was happy for her to get out of rat race but when I saw the movie (it was very emotional and around homebirth) I cried the whole way through movie because I knew this is what I needed deep down. Afterwards I had a debrief with other midwives present and Tracy a beautiful Hypnobirthing teacher about a how I could get my homebirth. They reccomended MyMidwives , specifically Sarah and Andrea, who had started the Mgp program years before. I knew I had to do it, I went straight home and cried into Tony’s arms, he could tell this was important to me and agreed to get more information.
I rang them the next day. I just knew I’d find the money. We clicked with Sarah straight away and I knew this was the path I had to take, like my destiny.
The relationship with Sarah started immediately and I felt so comfortable, she would come to the house and have tea and talk for hours. It was clear I had to do some work around my postpartum experience with first baby so we went through the hospital notes and Sarah did some explaining around medical terms and why certain things happened. I loved the home visits where my son got to experience the process, we listened to babies heart every appointment and my son loved it. It was very special.
Fast forward to 8th September, it was a Wednesday. had some acupuncture as I’m 39.4 weeks and worried about no signs. The looming thought that the homebirth might be taken away due to being over my due date was scary.
On the 9th of Sept at around 11am I noticed some mucus plug. I decided to go for a lovely walk around lake with my friend and sat in the sunshine. I rang my midwife Sarah on the way home and told her I had felt some pressure in the front but as my first labour was all in my back I had no idea if this was it. I lay out the back all afternoon in the sun basking and feeling something. I watched my toddler happily play and I really was in the moment. I remember saying to myself, “I’m ready to meet you baby”.
When my partner got home 4.30pm I told him I feel “ pressure” the odd time but was so manageable I cooked tea and ate and cleaned up. 6pm I started to stop what I was doing and lean over things to breathe. I timed the surges and realised they were lasting a minute and I was having 3 in ten minutes. So I text my midwife and she called me back straight away. They were inconsistent still… I told her I’d have a shower and calk her back. 7.30pm I text her, “Yeah 5min apart 1 minute duration I reckon now”. She only lives 20 mins away so she said she will head over and camp here. My app (Freya app) told me I was in established labour at 7.50pm so I text her that, we had a laugh and she arrived around 8pm. She asked to check me, I agreed and I was already 5cm dilated. We had already been frantically setting up, we focused on my space in the bedroom, darkened my bedroom and set up the space with exercise balls, yoga mat, candles, soft music. I had tens machine on pretty quick, I really felt relief during the surges from the electrical impulses. Things picked up quite quickly. I spent most of my time leaning over the bed or on the birth ball breathing out the surges or with tens machine. I got in shower too for a bit the hot water was a nice change on my back during surges. I wasn’t comfortable in there though so I hopped out. My midwife told me to prop my leg up on a stool so I can bring baby down and ensure he turnser. . Having a posterior baby before we wanted this one to be right way around. We said after I was much more vocal then I remember in hospital, it felt safer! A lot more cursing though and those primitive sounds!! Things were really ramping up around 11.15pn - 11.30pm and I lost my mucus plug in toilet and vomited the dinner up, I heard my partner say to midwives things were getting “intense” . The other midwife got there around 10.30pm and I didn’t see her until the end. We were really in our zone in the bedroom and ensuite. I had another shower and heard a pop, I think this was my transition as I was saying the “I can’t do it anymore” and “help me” statements!! Someone said the pool was ready out in lounge so I was helped into that, and the pushing really started straight away. I was loud and deep voiced here! I felt everything, the ring of fire the baby descend, the head crown, it was amazing. I was very aware of everything around me but also in a deep state of mind and some other realm. I was on my knees and leaning back so I could feel the baby myself, the midwife said to touch his head and I kept my hand there as he crowned and every contraction I could feel him come out more, it was very special. When he came out fully my midwife passed him slowly up to me and I held him there on my chest, he didn’t make a sound for a good minute it felt funny and I was rubbing his back and blowing on him instinctively. When he did leave out a small cry we were all laughing and I was so happy. It really was transformational. Words can’t even describe it. We had the most perfect 3rd stage of delayed cord clamping and I got out of pool to give birth to the placenta. It really was so perfect. Tea and toast and champagne all round. I was asleep in my own bed by 3.30am with minimal checks for baby and me by midwives. It was so different to the hospital. I think we slept in until 9am and I felt great, I was up and about the next day and I just felt so peaceful and calm in my own environment, not a care in the world.
We are extremely grateful to have such a natural calm amazing birth, thank you to my birth team, my husband and midwives for all that it was. I had the most beautifully calm baby.
I’m now planning my 3rd birth at home this year and I cannot wait to do it all again.
Birth is magical and wonderful if you have the right care.
Written by mama, Tess @nurturedoulatribe
The birth of Leo, 2021.
