From early on in my pregnancy my
husband Ben and I had discussed having a homebirth. He
was a bit cautious at first but after discussing it with
our midwife Linda Shannon we decided as long as we had a
trouble free pregnancy we would go ahead with a
homebirth. We avoided telling many people about our
plans to birth at home as we found alot of people have
very strong opinions and we got tired of hearing
everyone’s horror stories.
I had a very smooth pregnancy and
didn’t suffer from morning sickness but had low blood
pressure and had to take it easy in the mornings to
avoid feeling faint. I couldn’t believe how hungry I
felt around 39-40 weeks. I finished work at 36 weeks our
due date (29th July) came and went although due to
family history we didn’t expect to go into labour until
after 41 weeks. We had a check-up at the hospital the
day before going into labour just to check that the baby
was ok and the placenta was still working well. Every
thing looked fine so we were just instructed to wait.
Linda gave me some acupuncture and a stretch and sweep
in hope that it might start off the labour.
Thankfully the next day I was having
a lot of Braxton hicks contractions and by lunchtime I
had a show followed by an increase in contractions I was
fairly sure we would be meeting our baby soon. We were
at my parents house in fielding for dinner and I didn’t
want to miss out on the roast. I managed to eat between
contractions which were getting a lot stronger. I
instructed Ben he would have to finish his dessert in
the car because the baby was on its way and I really had
to get home now! By the time we got home the
contractions were two minutes apart. I called the
midwife and Ben started filling the birthing pool. I was
managing the pain by kicking my feet which helped to
take my mind off the contractions. When Linda arrived
she checked to find I was already 7cms dilated. What a
relief I was able to get into the birthing pool. It felt
great to be immersed in the warm water. I was able to
move a lot more freely in the pool. Linda applied
acupressure during my contractions to relive back pain
which worked really well.
When I felt ready to push Ben got
into the birthing pool he was a great support and it
helped to have something to lean back against. I
concentrated on pushing through the pain of the
contractions. Linda was monitoring the baby’s heart rate
which was starting to drop and there was some meconium
passing in the waters. So it felt best to get out and
try some pushes on the couch. I leant up against Ben
with my mum holding one foot against her hip and Siobhan
(the student midwife) with the other. It made a huge
difference to have them to bear down and push against.
After an hour and 25 minutes of pushing I gave birth to
Emily Rose Trask weighing 8lb 1oz. (12th August 2009 at
1.19am) A total labour of 7 1/2 hours.
I was so thrilled to have finally met our new baby it
wasn’t until a few days later that I read back over the
birth notes that I thought to myself wow I did it! I
achieved a natural home birth without pain relief and no
stitches. There was one point during transition
that I said to the midwife ‘Ouch, it hurts’ She just
smiled and replied I know! This gave me the
determination to push on and focus on the birth.
I was extremely well looked after during the birth I had
two midwives present and also a student midwife. Who all
did an amazing job. The aftercare and follow up visits
were a huge help through the first days of breast
feeding.
