A Home Birth Consideration
Posted by Nichola Shaw on 18th Apr 2023
When my husband and I were thinking about what we wanted the birth of our second child to look and feel like, we knew we wanted it to be different than our first. Although my first labour was not overly traumatic, there had been some unnecessary interventions and some disempowering experiences in hospital. We pictured a low intervention, physiological birth and felt supported in this when we were accepted into the Midwifery Group Practice through FMC. When we realised that it was an option to have a homebirth, we really wanted to be open to it. We did lots of research, listened to podcasts and kept feeling like it was the right option for us. Both my husband and I had some reservations to begin with but after all the research that we looked at and the positive stories we heard we felt very comfortable.
We discovered early on that for us it was best not to tell many other people about our plans. We found that others had strong opinions about homebirth mainly based on misinformation about safety and outcomes and felt the need to share their thoughts. We wanted to protect our energy and not let the “noise” of others impact our imagined birth space. I also found that being pregnant I was more sensitive and had less capacity for filtering others words so I wanted to remain connected to my own feelings so it helped with that.
I was home on my own with my toddler when my contractions started. After having so many braxton hicks in the weeks leading up I was hesitant to assume it was labour starting. After about half an hour I thought it might be happening so I called my mum to look after my toddler. She was close by thank goodness because soon after she arrived my contractions were a minute apart and lasting a minute! It became really intense very quickly. I called my husband to come home from work and called for our midwives and student midwife to come. It felt so challenging in that time when I was waiting for support to arrive. Part of me felt that I couldn’t do it and that I was going to break down but I could also feel part of me had the strength to get through it and reminded myself that I can get through each contraction knowing that there will be a break and that I’ll get to meet my baby at the end of it. When they all arrived I was well and truly in the depths of labour, using the shower for pain relief. The warm water was soothing at that point. Labour was progressing so quickly that there was a mad rush to get the birth pool filled in time for me to get in. It was filled just in time for pushing! I asked for an epidural as I walked from the shower to the pool, which I laughed about with my midwife after as there was no way that was happening!
Our daughter Annalise was born in the birth pool and made a quick entry into the world. My labour was 2 hours all up. I was incredibly pleased to have hired the birth pool as being in the warm water and in a private, contained space was incredibly soothing for me at that stage. Our homebirth experience with our second child was incredible and everything we had hoped it would be. I would recommend a homebirth to anyone who is wanting a physiological birth and has a low risk pregnancy. Being in the home environment and not having to get in the car to go to the hospital was so supportive of the birthing process. I felt calm, safe and comfortable being at home and it had a feeling of intimacy and sacredness that to us didn’t feel possible in hospital. Having my midwife sitting at the end of my bed an hour after birth chatting to me as I fed my baby is a memory I’ll always treasure.