Thank you
for allowing us to share our home birth experience for
my daughter Isabella Anne born on the 11th April 2010.
The top story is my point of view and the second story
is something we found to be rare in home birth stories
and that is Isabella's birth from her Daddy's point of
view. The photos are her first real cuddles with mummy
and daddy in our bed and the picture of me in the pool I
believe shows the ultimate beauty of how calm a home
birth can be, it was taken just 19 minutes before Bella
was born.
The
Birth Story of Isabella Anne...
After what I considered to be a traumatic experience
with the birth of my first child in a hospital I knew
when I found out that I was pregnant that I wanted
something different this time around. I knew for sure
that I didn't want any drugs involved this time. I
wanted to labour in the comfort of my own home for as
long as possible and I really wanted to give water birth
a go.
When my
midwife, Leanne suggested home birth I thought no way.
That is so not for me, I am a control freak and go over
the top with safety and wouldn't even consider the risk
of something going wrong. She had planted a seed though
and after a few weeks thinking about it and reading
amazing home birth stories and watching you tube videos
I realized that it was everything I never knew I wanted
for my baby's birth. I had no real reason to go to
hospital, I didn't want drugs, I wanted to labour at
home for as long as possible, I wanted a water birth, my
pregnancy wasn't high risk and the biggest thing for me
was that I hate hospitals, so why not give it a go. I
can still remember telling Leanne and thinking how great
it felt to make that choice for myself and my baby. I
still very much doubted my ability to follow through
with it and even asked her if I could change my mind
halfway through and go to the hospital which she assured
me would be fine, as long as it wasn't too late.
As my
little girl grew inside me I also found that my
confidence in myself and my ability to go through with a
home birth grew each day. It was a little confronting
when Leanne dropped off the pool. Even though I could
still back out at any time there was something very
final and decisive about having everything here and
ready to go.
On the day
our little girl, Isabella was due I woke up at 4am with
braxton hicks contractions that were 5 minutes apart and
not painful at all. These contractions lasted all day
but nothing else was happening so we took a drive out to
Kai Iwi lakes to visit some friends that were camping
out there. It was then that things started to change and
the contractions became uncomfortable but not really
painful. We decided to cut our visit short and head for
home around 8.30pm, just in case. On the drive back I
started to get excited as things were starting to get
painful, Isabella was finally on her way. When we
got home everything stopped, our flat mate had some
friends over for drinks so my partner and I decided to
head to bed but I couldn't sleep so I got up and joined
the gathering on our back deck. From where I was sitting
I could see the clock on the oven and started timing out
my contractions at 5 minutes apart again but they
weren't very painful. At midnight I got rather
uncomfortable so I went off to the toilet and while in
there I had my show. I went back into the kitchen as our
friends were leaving and told them it wouldn't be long
now and we all shared in the excitement of the moment
before I decided that I should get some sleep before the
real contractions started.
My body
had other plans though because just as I snuggled down
at 1.50am I got my first painful contraction. From my
first contraction I didn't get a break at all they were
coming all the time but at all different times some only
2 minutes apart others as much as 14 minutes apart.
By 8am I thought it might be the real thing so I rang
the back up midwife, Anne as Leanne had the weekend off,
she said it sounded like I was in the latent phase of
labour and I should call her when the contractions
became regular. They didn't get any more regular but
they did get stronger. I remember saying to my friend
that if this was what the early labour contractions were
like that there was no way I could go through the whole
thing it hurt too much. Sometime in the afternoon I had
a break from contractions and managed to sleep for an
hour or so. When they started up again and were still
irregular, I thought nothing was going to happen. The
midwife rang and I told her that they had eased off a
bit and would be in touch when we were in active labour
with regular contractions. I decided to try and
get things going by walking up and down the street and
going for a drive but nothing I tried was making things
progress so I decided around 8pm to go to bed and see if
I could sleep but the contractions got stronger.
My
partner, Chris decided I should call the midwife but I
didn't think there was any point because I still wasn't
in active labour with regular contractions so I yelled
at him that if he wanted to call her he could. He called
her and explained the situation and she said the same
thing, it sounded like nothing had changed but
thankfully he was insistent and she decided to come and
check me.
Once he hung up my contractions started coming every 2
minutes and lasting a minute long which confused me
because when my contractions did that with my son I was
pushing. I was dreading the midwife checking me as I
thought she was going to tell me that I was only 1-2
centimetres dilated and if that was the case I had
already decided I was going to ask to go to the hospital
for an epidural so I could get some sleep!
When the
midwife got here about 20 minutes later she checked me
and my heart just about stopped when she said well, you
are almost fully dilated you better fill the birth pool
if you want a water birth. I couldn't believe I had made
it through my whole labour without even knowing. I had
been saving my rescue remedy and birth aid for active
labour so we got those out. My partner got the bottles
of water out of the fridge that we had saved up for the
hours of labour I had been planning on suffering
through. Everyone made a mad dash to fill the pool. I
just sat there in shock and waited for another
contraction but they were back to being irregular again.
As soon as
the pool had enough water in it I got in and the midwife
broke my waters which were bulging through my cervix.
After that things became more intense. I asked my
partner to stay with me then and I gripped onto both of
his hands while kneeling in the pool and breathed
through each contraction as best I could. After each
contraction I would cry about how much it hurt but I was
also so proud of what I was doing. I didn't think I was
going to cope but after about 3 very strong contractions
it was time to push and push I did. I turned over onto
my back and my partner held me up under the arms while I
squatted/floated in the pool. I figured if it was
going to hurt I should do it fast like ripping off a
band aid so I pushed so hard her head just about came
out on the first go. With the next contraction I managed
to get her head out and when her head came out she went
crazy and was kicking wriggling inside and out at the
same time and it was horribly painful so when the
midwife told me to push my response was but she's
hurting me! Like that matters when you get to that
point. With one last big push she came rushing out but I
didn't get to catch her like I had planned because the
cord was wrapped twice very tightly around her neck.
Once the cord was removed though she needed no other
assistance. The midwife placed her on my chest and I
knew she was ok even before she let out a good strong
cry. I delivered the placenta naturally while she
had cuddles with daddy then climbed into bed for cuddles
and her first feed. I was very shocked that I only had
one little graze but nowhere near as shocked as I was
when the midwife went from telling me I was only in the
latent phase to telling me I was about to give birth.
All up
from the time the midwife arrived it was just over an
hour and I was holding my much awaited little girl in my
arms. It was great not having to worry about making the
trip home from the hospital. Being able to focus all of
our attention on getting to know this beautiful baby
girl that had just entered our lives in the most natural
way. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have
ever had and would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Our
Birth Story from the Mans point of view...
When Amanda took the test and it came back positive, I
was excited, but inside me something held me back a
little. After a recent miscarriage I was a little
uneasy. The months flew by, scans, photographs, watching
Amanda's' belly grow, feeling her first kick and talking
to her and watching how she reacted to my voice, and in
the bath was an amazing experience for a first time dad.
I am proud that I had so much to do with interacting
with her inutero, I would recommend it to any father to
be, first time or on the next round. I was right
behind Amanda's decision to have bubs at home, after
talking to her about her previous birth in a hospital
and how things went I wanted to help her in anyway I
could to make this birth as smooth and comfortable as
possible. I was unsure of what exactly it entailed, but
when shown the options I soon understood, and being
shown a few videos and reading a few pamphlets helped
even more, so much so that I liked the idea of Amanda
giving birth at home.
After the
months ticked away and Amanda's belly looked ready to
burst the time finally came. She told me of each braxton
hicks contraction, and how things were progressing. When
she finally had her show I was the picture of
excitement, I rolled over and went back to sleep, so
supportive. I woke the next morning to
Amanda still having the irregular contractions and we
started to time them. She called the midwife and told me
of her advice and I read some books and magazines about
labour, and other things to pass the time. We timed the
contractions for the whole day and never once picked up
on the length of them, just the spacing.
After a
whole day of these contractions finally getting
torturous I pestered her till she caved and let me ring
the midwife, a short call and the midwife asking if I
would like her to come check on Amanda it was a waiting
game, the 20 or 30 minutes it took her to get here
seemed like forever. The midwife checked Amanda and told
us we'd better get the pool filled if we wish to use it,
so the mad panic started to get everything sorted that I
admit I sometimes forgot the number one priority, mum!
Finally we
got the pool full enough for Amanda to climb in, and a
few photos and setting up the camera so we could look
back on the beautiful moment unfolding in our own home,
it was go time. Our friends kept the boiling jugs of
water coming to try and keep the temperature right, I
kept a hold of Amanda and offered words of support as
the midwives went around us and did their thing
suggesting positions and how to hold her up.
Amanda
screamed out and next thing there was our little girls
head, the first comments of how much hair were all I
heard before I found the mirror for Amanda to see her
crowning, and felt huge excitement that the moment was
almost here. Another couple of screams and our little
girl was all the way out and there was an air of calm
panic, if there is such a thing, as I heard mention of
the cord being around her neck. I freaked out, I wasn't
sure what this meant, what next? Was she okay? The
midwives had her unwrapped in no time and on mums
shoulder. There I had my first real glimpse of our
little girl, a few seconds anxious wait and she let out
a little gurgle and a cry and then I could breathe even
though something in me knew she was okay even before
that moment.
Cutting
the cord was awesome, I know you see it all over the
television and movies, but its amazing how tough that
stuff is! Mum was tended to by the midwives while I got
to have a cuddle with our little Isabella, and to show
her to our friends, she felt so tiny in my hands. She
was talkative and looked so healthy. I was so proud of
mum and how well she coped through everything with no
pain killers, not once did she try and back out and get
to the delivery suite. I would definitely go through the
home birth again, it is so nice to be able to cuddle
with your new baby in the comfort of your own home, own
room and not have to worry about leaving them and not
getting a real chance to share a moment with them.
Amanda got
settled into bed and took Isabella for her first real
cuddles after cleaning up and set into the motions of
breast feeding, as the midwife filled out her notes,
Isabella had a little trouble getting latched on and
after coercing with my little finger to try to get her
into the idea of suckling, she latched on to mum and had
a little feed then settled off to sleep in bed with a
very happy mum and I.
