A home water birth makes a big difference to the experience of the woman but also to other members of the family. One client told this story of her experience.

“As it got darker, Toby lit candles and dimmed the lights. He had been wonderful throughout, bringing me drinks and holding my hands through every surge, reminding me how to breathe and repeating affirmations that we’d used in our hypnobirthing relaxation practise throughout pregnancy.’

“Corina (from Neighbour Midwives) could see I needed some extra support and suggested I could get into the pool. I was so happy at that suggestion, I knew it would help me so much and it felt like a positive change of focus.”

“It was 8pm and as I knew it would be, getting into the warm water was soothing and comforting. As I leaned over the edge of the pool, I could see the beautiful affirmations my friends had written onto bunting for me at my blessingway, hung up on the wall in my line of vision.”

“I was reminded of all the strong and caring women I knew would be thinking of me and who had had positive births and this really comforted me. And all around I could also see photos of my family and friends. It was so amazing doing this all in my own home, it made such a difference to my state of mind and also to Toby’s.”

“Over the next hour, Cheryl arrived (also from Neighbourhood Midwives). Corina and Cheryl were more like extra birth partners than a ‘medical’ presence. They held my hand when Toby couldn’t, they stroked my back and trickled water from the pool on my back, they brought me cool compresses and held them to my forehead. I felt so looked after and cared for.”

“They also discussed with me during pregnancy my wishes for the birth, including the language they used. They knew to use ‘surge’ instead of contraction (a hypnobirthing term) and to avoid using the very negative term ‘pain’ when asking me to describe how things were feeling during labour.”

“The surges became more and more intense and closer together. Whilst I knew this was what we needed to happen and was nothing to fear, I was feeling quite overwhelmed and struggling with the intensity of pain at the peak of each surge. I was shouting and groaning quite a lot at the peaks and said that it was too much for me and that I couldn’t do it. At this point, Corina was reassuring me that I could do it and reminding me how to use my hypnobirthing breathing.”

“As with my first birth, I felt an involuntary urge to push with every surge. The difference this time was that instead of being told to ‘fight that urge, don’t push, try really hard not to push, you might damage your cervix’, I remember Cheryl calmly stating, ‘go with your body, if you feel you need to push then do it.”

“What a refreshing change that was and it empowered me to do exactly that and as my affirmations had been telling me all along, to trust my body as it knew what to do. Also, I feel sure that being relaxed in my own home with midwives who I knew and trusted and had spent time during pregnancy building a rapport with, meant that my mind and thus body, were as relaxed as they could be as I felt safe, secure and supported.”

“Throughout labour, Corina was monitoring the baby’s heartrate with a waterproof Doppler.”

“I could feel the baby was close and at 10:05pm, her head was born. This was so exciting, I could feel my baby on the outside and knew we were almost there! With both births, this final intense pushing stretch ending with the baby coming out was what I remember most and actually almost enjoyed!”

“At 10:10pm, Millie was born. I was sitting back against the pool wall in a squat position, so I was able to reach down and lift her out of the water. She actually had such a short cord that she bungeed back towards me after being born! I then had to hold her lower than I instinctively wanted to, as the cord was short and she was in a bit of shock. Cheryl helped me do this safely, not allowing me to pull her up to my chest as this would stop the cord pulsing. Within a minute, Millie was crying and it was 15 minutes until her cord stopped pulsing and Toby was able to cut it.”

“A home water birth and sleeping in our own bed with our new baby was perfect. We were so happy and relieved she was with us and all was well.”