I had the best possible birth I could have wished for, and I will be forever grateful for the magnificent midwifery team. We are so glad we decided to do the Hypnobirthing course beforehand. My whole birth experience, from start to finish, was over in 7 hours in the comfort of my own home with a wonderful team supporting me.
I never thought before completing the Hypnobirthing course with May and Jan that we would be the sort of people to have a home birth. By the end of the course, I was desperate for a water birth but still leaning towards the hospital; however, 10 days before my due date, when it was looking like the pools in maternity weren’t up and running, we decided to get the community midwives around for an assessment for a home birth. The team completely put us at ease, and it was so lovely to visualise my birthing space; we knew immediately that this was the right decision for us.
Six days before my due date, I was still feeling pretty good. I had been at work in the morning, went for lunch, and watched the air display. At 10:30pm that night, I felt a weird popping sensation. Standing up quickly confirmed that it was my waters, but luckily, it was just a slow trickle. We called the hospital, and they said they would send a midwife around to check.
The midwife arrived shortly after and talked us through the following steps and how long we could leave things before induction, which was incredibly reassuring. Little did we know how fast things would move from there. The midwife left at midnight with instructions to take some paracetamol and to try and get as much sleep as possible. It felt that it was mere minutes after waving goodbye to her that my contractions started. I took some paracetamol and heated a hot water bottle but couldn’t get to sleep as my contractions quickly ramped up. It wasn’t long before we were scrambling to find the TENS machine and load the Freya app. I sent my partner to bed - still thinking it would be hours to go – and found myself pacing downstairs in the dark. I finally found comfort on the downstairs toilet, and that’s where I stayed for the next two hours, completely focused on my hypnobirthing breathing techniques (guided by the Freya App) and the TENS machine. After 45 minutes, the app was telling me I was in active labour, but I didn’t think it was possible. Eventually, at 3 am, I woke Tom, and we called the midwives back.
Before the midwives arrived, my contractions had changed to a pushing sensation, and I knew the baby was very much on their way. I just wanted to be left entirely alone in the dark, and my sole focus was guided breathing using the app. When the midwife came back, I was still refusing to move from the downstairs toilet, and she brought the gas and air to me and checked me where I was; I was already 8cm. She was incredibly reassuring, and I felt very safe and relaxed.
I moved to the pool at 5am, and the pain relief was instant, and I was also ready to start pushing straight away. The midwives were incredible and did a really slow guided delivery, and Arabella arrived into the world at 5:25am. I could pick her up myself and discover the gender together with Tom, who had been at my side the whole time.
When I felt ready, I was then moved to our sofa where, after delayed cord clamping, Tom cut the umbilical cord and my placenta was delivered. We were incredibly lucky that Arabella latched straight away and fed for 45 minutes. After this, I showered and changed into fresh clothes while the midwives tidied up and worked through the checks. I honestly felt so relaxed and comfortable through the whole experience and loved that I didn’t have to worry about anyone else being around. About two hours after Arabella’s birth, we waved goodbye to the team and were ready to curl up in our own bed as a family. The only experience was completely surreal but absolutely perfect.
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