SuffolkMum
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2013
- Messages
- 699
- Reaction score
- 0
BRIEF HISTORY
William is my second child. My first, Zachary, was born in hospital in June 2010. Back then, I had an uneventful but fast labour (3.5hrs) in hospital and it was relatively painless - I only needed gas and air for the last hour before pushing. Due to the speed of my labour, Zachary was a bit shocked and had to be resuscitated immediately after birth. This sadly meant my hubby didn't get to cut the cord as he had wanted. The placenta was pale and gritty and didn't come out very neatly. I also lost about 500mls of blood and had an internal 2nd degree tear which needed stitching.
My community midwife said I would have been a good candidate for a home birth, so when I fell pregnant again I knew I wanted to give it a go. Although I was happy with how I was treated in hospital, I really loved the thought of a gentle, relaxing birth somewhere I felt completely comfortable.
I suffered from severe baby blues and mild postnatal depression, so for my next birth I also wanted to try placenta encapsulation.
THE BIRTH STORY
I woke about 1am on the morning of Friday 16th May with period-like cramps. I fell asleep again until around 5:30, when I had tightenings coming every 15mins or so. Unfortunately, they stopped as soon as I got up for the loo. They came back again around 7am, but disappeared when I got up.
At 10:30 I had a routine antenatal appointment. My usual midwife was on holiday, but I did find out that baby was slightly engaged (4/5ths). She agreed that I was probably in early labour and told me she would inform the home birth team.
I carried on with my day as usual, including picking up my 3yr old, Zachary, from school at 1pm. I had a good laugh with his teacher about how I should finally have a baby when he returned next week.
At around 6pm, I noticed a fair amount of reddish-brown discharge with a trace of stringy opaque jelly. This wasn't enough to be my entire plug, but I was concerned about the colour in case it was meconium-stained waters, so rang the labour ward for advice. They sent out the community midwife, Claire, to have a look. She confirmed it was nothing to worry about, but told me she would be attending my home birth if I went into labour that night. She told me baby had also engaged slightly further into my pelvis (3/5ths).
By this point, I was having lots of tightenings, but they were frustratingly irregular at between 7-25mins apart. At 11pm, I decided to go to bed and hopefully wake up in established labour. However, almost as soon as I lay down, I found the pain to have ramped up even though the tightenings were still irregular. Hubby helped put my TENS machine on, though I didn't really feel it useful at that point.
After about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to sleep, I decided to get up and ring the labour ward. The tightenings/contractions had increased to every 4-6 minutes and with home births you are advised to call in earlier than usual. Shortly after 1am, Claire came back out to see me. I had an internal and my cervix was 3-4cm, so established labour was beginning. Claire brought her equipment in from the car as she would now be staying with me until baby was here! Shortly after, Claire contacted a second on-call midwife (Heather) to attend as she believed my labour was fairly imminent (the second midwife is required at home births to assist while giving birth).
We laid down plastic sheets and towels to protect the carpet and furniture and I spent plenty of time bouncing on my birthing ball.
The contractions began to increase in frequency quite quickly. Luckily I found the TENS machine to be a great help after working out how to gradually increase the intensity. Initially I only needed to moan and walk around the room to counter the pain, but after an hour or so I needed to hold on to hubby to get me through each contraction. The midwives kept encouraging me to try different positions - bouncing on the ball, rocking over the ball, swaying while holding onto hubby and pacing around the room.
The labour was taking it's time and poor Heather, who had already attended a home birth that evening and done a day shift, was having to snooze on the sofa. By about 4am, I was struggling with the pain and gave in to using gas and air. Shortly after, I went to the loo and lost the rest of my plug.
My hubby then called his sister so she could come and look after Zachary when he got up. She arrived around 6am and waited patiently in our kitchen.
At 5:30am, Claire examined me again. We were all disappointed to find I was just 5-6cm dilated. I was expecting to be around 8cm, especially as the pain was as bad as it had ever been with my first.
The next 90 minutes were a blur. I was pretty high on the gas and air and only really remember leaning onto my birthing ball and drooling! Oh, and the pain!! I was convinced I couldn't do it, but was aware it was too late for a hospital transfer for stronger pain relief. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared though, I almost felt like I was viewing the experience from outside my own body. My hubby was kneeling at the other side of the ball and I was clutching him for dear life with each contraction. It's a good thing we live in a detached house, as I'm sure the neighbours would have thought someone was being murdered with the primal screams I was making.
The midwives urged me to come off the gas and air, I was reluctant but hubby helped me. It seems I was at the pushing stage! I was asked to bear down into my bottom with all the strength I could muster. This was seriously hard as I just wanted to scream and rip hubby's skin off! My hubby and the midwives also had to keep telling me to move forward onto the birthing ball after every push as I was squatting so low there was no room for baby to come out!
My waters finally went at 7am, Claire was half expecting me to deliver baby in the sac so had her special hook at the ready. There was a small amount of meconium in the waters. 10 minutes later at 7:10am, William Arthur was born. I felt every stage of his head moving down, crowning and popping out and then one last contraction pushed his body out.
I looked down to see him and remember saying over and over "He's here! He's here!" and feeling so elated. Claire gave him a gentle rub to start his lungs and then held him under me so I could lean back onto hubby and take him in my arms where he nursed for the first time.
It took 25mins to deliver the placenta which came out quickly and intact. My hubby then cut the cord and the placenta was stored in a Tupperware box ready to be encapsulated.
After a bit more early bonding time, William was weighed at 7lbs 10oz and had his newborn check. It was all very laid back and relaxed, the midwives quietly cleaned up around me. Zachary had woken a little while earlier so came in to meet his baby brother for the first time. It was a very special time and exactly how I wanted a home birth to go.
I had a 2nd degree external perineal tear. It was very neat, so we all agreed it wasn't necessary to stitch it up. Unlike the tear I had with my first labour, I didn't feel this one happen and I was very pleased it didn't need stitching as I found that a very uncomfortable experience.
Heather left quite soon after the birth as she was exhausted, but Claire stayed for a while doing lots of paperwork, newborn checks and to run me a bath. She didn't leave until she was certain I was comfortable and happy which was about 9:30am. Hubby's sister then made me breakfast and ordered us and the baby off to bed while she looked after Zachary for a few hours.
I don't intend to have any more children, but if I did a home birth would be a very appealing option again. I got to watch the sunrise over our garden as dawn arrived, enjoyed a leisurely soak in the bath and finally settled into my own warm bed. Towards the end, I was struggling with the pain as it was much worse than with my first labour, but the experience as a whole was fantastic. I felt comfortable, safe and thoroughly pampered.
I've suffered only mildly with baby blues so far, just been feeling a bit sad now and then rather than having the fits of tearfulness and anxiety I experienced before. I don't know if the placenta pills are to thank for this (I also had a placenta smoothie a few hours after William was born), but it's interesting that I feel so different this time. Only time can tell if they will prevent full on postnatal depression, but I feel more confident already.
Sorry for writing a novel, amazing how much there is to say!
If anyone has any questions about home birth, please do ask away. 
William is my second child. My first, Zachary, was born in hospital in June 2010. Back then, I had an uneventful but fast labour (3.5hrs) in hospital and it was relatively painless - I only needed gas and air for the last hour before pushing. Due to the speed of my labour, Zachary was a bit shocked and had to be resuscitated immediately after birth. This sadly meant my hubby didn't get to cut the cord as he had wanted. The placenta was pale and gritty and didn't come out very neatly. I also lost about 500mls of blood and had an internal 2nd degree tear which needed stitching.
My community midwife said I would have been a good candidate for a home birth, so when I fell pregnant again I knew I wanted to give it a go. Although I was happy with how I was treated in hospital, I really loved the thought of a gentle, relaxing birth somewhere I felt completely comfortable.
I suffered from severe baby blues and mild postnatal depression, so for my next birth I also wanted to try placenta encapsulation.
THE BIRTH STORY
I woke about 1am on the morning of Friday 16th May with period-like cramps. I fell asleep again until around 5:30, when I had tightenings coming every 15mins or so. Unfortunately, they stopped as soon as I got up for the loo. They came back again around 7am, but disappeared when I got up.
At 10:30 I had a routine antenatal appointment. My usual midwife was on holiday, but I did find out that baby was slightly engaged (4/5ths). She agreed that I was probably in early labour and told me she would inform the home birth team.
I carried on with my day as usual, including picking up my 3yr old, Zachary, from school at 1pm. I had a good laugh with his teacher about how I should finally have a baby when he returned next week.
At around 6pm, I noticed a fair amount of reddish-brown discharge with a trace of stringy opaque jelly. This wasn't enough to be my entire plug, but I was concerned about the colour in case it was meconium-stained waters, so rang the labour ward for advice. They sent out the community midwife, Claire, to have a look. She confirmed it was nothing to worry about, but told me she would be attending my home birth if I went into labour that night. She told me baby had also engaged slightly further into my pelvis (3/5ths).
By this point, I was having lots of tightenings, but they were frustratingly irregular at between 7-25mins apart. At 11pm, I decided to go to bed and hopefully wake up in established labour. However, almost as soon as I lay down, I found the pain to have ramped up even though the tightenings were still irregular. Hubby helped put my TENS machine on, though I didn't really feel it useful at that point.
After about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to sleep, I decided to get up and ring the labour ward. The tightenings/contractions had increased to every 4-6 minutes and with home births you are advised to call in earlier than usual. Shortly after 1am, Claire came back out to see me. I had an internal and my cervix was 3-4cm, so established labour was beginning. Claire brought her equipment in from the car as she would now be staying with me until baby was here! Shortly after, Claire contacted a second on-call midwife (Heather) to attend as she believed my labour was fairly imminent (the second midwife is required at home births to assist while giving birth).
We laid down plastic sheets and towels to protect the carpet and furniture and I spent plenty of time bouncing on my birthing ball.
The contractions began to increase in frequency quite quickly. Luckily I found the TENS machine to be a great help after working out how to gradually increase the intensity. Initially I only needed to moan and walk around the room to counter the pain, but after an hour or so I needed to hold on to hubby to get me through each contraction. The midwives kept encouraging me to try different positions - bouncing on the ball, rocking over the ball, swaying while holding onto hubby and pacing around the room.
The labour was taking it's time and poor Heather, who had already attended a home birth that evening and done a day shift, was having to snooze on the sofa. By about 4am, I was struggling with the pain and gave in to using gas and air. Shortly after, I went to the loo and lost the rest of my plug.
My hubby then called his sister so she could come and look after Zachary when he got up. She arrived around 6am and waited patiently in our kitchen.
At 5:30am, Claire examined me again. We were all disappointed to find I was just 5-6cm dilated. I was expecting to be around 8cm, especially as the pain was as bad as it had ever been with my first.
The next 90 minutes were a blur. I was pretty high on the gas and air and only really remember leaning onto my birthing ball and drooling! Oh, and the pain!! I was convinced I couldn't do it, but was aware it was too late for a hospital transfer for stronger pain relief. Oddly enough, I wasn't scared though, I almost felt like I was viewing the experience from outside my own body. My hubby was kneeling at the other side of the ball and I was clutching him for dear life with each contraction. It's a good thing we live in a detached house, as I'm sure the neighbours would have thought someone was being murdered with the primal screams I was making.
The midwives urged me to come off the gas and air, I was reluctant but hubby helped me. It seems I was at the pushing stage! I was asked to bear down into my bottom with all the strength I could muster. This was seriously hard as I just wanted to scream and rip hubby's skin off! My hubby and the midwives also had to keep telling me to move forward onto the birthing ball after every push as I was squatting so low there was no room for baby to come out!
My waters finally went at 7am, Claire was half expecting me to deliver baby in the sac so had her special hook at the ready. There was a small amount of meconium in the waters. 10 minutes later at 7:10am, William Arthur was born. I felt every stage of his head moving down, crowning and popping out and then one last contraction pushed his body out.
I looked down to see him and remember saying over and over "He's here! He's here!" and feeling so elated. Claire gave him a gentle rub to start his lungs and then held him under me so I could lean back onto hubby and take him in my arms where he nursed for the first time.
It took 25mins to deliver the placenta which came out quickly and intact. My hubby then cut the cord and the placenta was stored in a Tupperware box ready to be encapsulated.
After a bit more early bonding time, William was weighed at 7lbs 10oz and had his newborn check. It was all very laid back and relaxed, the midwives quietly cleaned up around me. Zachary had woken a little while earlier so came in to meet his baby brother for the first time. It was a very special time and exactly how I wanted a home birth to go.
I had a 2nd degree external perineal tear. It was very neat, so we all agreed it wasn't necessary to stitch it up. Unlike the tear I had with my first labour, I didn't feel this one happen and I was very pleased it didn't need stitching as I found that a very uncomfortable experience.
Heather left quite soon after the birth as she was exhausted, but Claire stayed for a while doing lots of paperwork, newborn checks and to run me a bath. She didn't leave until she was certain I was comfortable and happy which was about 9:30am. Hubby's sister then made me breakfast and ordered us and the baby off to bed while she looked after Zachary for a few hours.
I don't intend to have any more children, but if I did a home birth would be a very appealing option again. I got to watch the sunrise over our garden as dawn arrived, enjoyed a leisurely soak in the bath and finally settled into my own warm bed. Towards the end, I was struggling with the pain as it was much worse than with my first labour, but the experience as a whole was fantastic. I felt comfortable, safe and thoroughly pampered.
I've suffered only mildly with baby blues so far, just been feeling a bit sad now and then rather than having the fits of tearfulness and anxiety I experienced before. I don't know if the placenta pills are to thank for this (I also had a placenta smoothie a few hours after William was born), but it's interesting that I feel so different this time. Only time can tell if they will prevent full on postnatal depression, but I feel more confident already.
Sorry for writing a novel, amazing how much there is to say!
If anyone has any questions about home birth, please do ask away. 
