3rd surprise baby girl, born at home at 41+2 weighing 8lbs 12oz.
I had a wonderful home birth with my second baby, so knew I 100% wanted another home birth if possible. There were a few little bumps during pregnancy, at one point my platelets were quite low but did my research and the consultant was happy to continue with my home birth plans. As with both my previous pregnancies, I was also strep B positive at term and having discussed it with my midwife I decided to have the antibiotic injections at home. I found AIMs a good source of information to help me make informed decisions.
I was overdue with both previous pregnancies so it was no surprise I went past 40 weeks but as time went on I started to feel a bit fed up! I had some niggly contractions and back pain on and off but it never progressed. I had a scan and everything looked good (the sonographer did tell me baby was estimated at 9lbs 9oz which I thought was both unhelpful and unlikely!), so I decided I was happy to wait until 42 weeks before discussing induction.
At 41+1 around 3pm I suddenly felt a pop and realised my waters were going! I was surprised as in both previous labours they burst as I was pushing. I knew the race was on to get into labour being strep B positive, but after phoning my midwife I decided to wait until the next morning, and if nothing had happened by then I would come into hospital. My parents took my eldest 2, they are only 3.5 and 2 – personally I felt more relaxed when I knew they weren’t here.
Luckily occasional contractions started, then after dinner they slowly became more regular. I went for a walk with my husband which intensified things, spent time circling on hands and knees, bouncing on my ball and listening to my hypnobirthing tracks while my husband sorted the pool. By 11pm they were 3 in 10 lasting over a minute but I didn’t want my husband to phone the midwives too soon so we waited until nearer midnight (I should have known better!).
Around 12.30 I started telling my husband I was tired / hot / cold / needed to get in pool / couldn’t get in pool etc 😂 he encouraged me to use my breathing and kept me calm while I held onto him. At this point I let out a big roar and realised the contractions had changed and I was started to push. My husband was so calm, he encouraged me to get into the pool where he knew I’d be happiest. The water felt so comforting and really calmed me down immediately.
I stayed on my knees leaning over the side of the pool holding my husbands hands. Around 10 mins later the midwife arrived- I was so happy and relieved that it was my own midwife attending. She just crept in and left us to it but knowing she was there meant I could focus on the pushing. Another few minutes later I felt the head being born, and managed to catch my baby! My husband let me know we had had a little girl at 1.04am.
I felt so euphoric that she had arrived safely, I think my husband was just glad the midwife was there!! The second midwife arrived not long after to find baby and me in the pool. The cord was short so after it went white we cut it and I moved onto our sofa to deliver the placenta and enjoy golden hour with our new arrival! After a previous episiotomy and a tear, I was very happy to hear I didn’t even need stitches this time (despite the quick birth!). It was wonderful being at home, I had tea and toast when I felt ready, had a shower and then got into my own bed with my baby.
I feel really lucky I was able to get a pool from Grampian pool hire (I’ll admit I made my booking long before the required 30 weeks 😂). I have included some pics of pool set up- mine isn’t particularly pretty I was more worried about protecting my sofa 😆.
I was also really lucky to have a supportive midwife I trusted, and that she attended the birth. I found the “moves” I learnt at my bump to baby yoga class with Bela to be really helpful during labour, more helpful than I imagined based on my previous labours. I used my relaxation scrips from Roanna birthing to unwind, very useful when getting those annoying “have you had the baby yet” messages when you’re already overdue and fed up.
I sometimes wondered during pregnancy if I was hoping for too much to have another wonderful home birth but in the end I was confident in my body and knew home was the safest place to be.
Overall it was a fantastic experience, I’m just sad that with 3 girls my husband has assured me I won’t need to do it again!
Thanks to Jennifer for sharing her birth story with us, we’re so luck to have Grampian Pool hire locally, you can find them on Facebook – Grampian Pool Hire.