1 year ago today I gave birth to my second son at home ☺️ I haven’t shared his birth story until now, so here it is:
My home birth with my independent midwife.
Birth story of Chester
Born on 14/08/2018 @ 10:30am weighing 9lbs11oz
After another uneventful day at 40+4 / 41+3 I was getting ready for bed when I sat on the toilet and noticed a gush of fluid… my waters had gone! and they were beautifully clear.
FINALLY I had signs baby’s arrival was imminent - I felt super excited!
I sent a brief message to my Midwife, Rene, letting her know about the new development but I decided not to wake my partner to tell him in case contractions didn’t start straight away. I was planning a home birth.
I decided to try and sleep for a while to allow my body to be completely relaxed and to rest in preparation for labour.
At around 3am I started to get woken up with some tightenings. They steadily developed over the next hour and I felt I needed to be upright and more mobile so I moved into the bathroom and found leaning forwards on the sink comforting.
I began recording the length and frequency of my contractions using an app on my phone. At 4am I decided things were progressing quickly enough to wake up my partner. He’s very prone to worrying so I gently disturbed him but reassured there was no rush. He encouraged me to phone Rene but I wanted to allow a bit more time to pass. I soon had another, stronger contraction and decided now was the time to phone Rene as it would take her a while to get to us anyway. I phoned Rene at just gone 4am. I asked my partner to start readying the pool.
I continued for the next while clinging onto the bathroom sink, rocking, swaying and rotating my hips and deeply breathing through contractions, trying to maintain my focus.
Rene arrived shortly before 5am and I was fully in labour-land. She respected my space and my birth preferences, which we had discussed during my antenatal appointments and conducted all checks with minimal disturbance to me.
A little time later I suddenly felt nauseous and vomited in the sink! I knew this was a positive sign that things were progressing well. Rene went to check on the progress of the pool and came back with the good news it was ready.
I remained in the bathroom for another half an hour, reluctant to move…
The contractions were all-consuming. Everything felt so different to labour with my first son. This time it truly was painful - the pain was an intense pinching at the front of my abdomen, just above my pubic bone which radiated around both sides.
I decided to try the pool with hope the water would bring some soothing comfort.
The warm, deep water felt wonderful in between contractions but I remained just as uncomfortable with each wave of pain.
Rene gave me some homeopathic remedies based on her observations of me which appeared to help a lot.
As time passed I started to suspect that baby was in an awkward position… all of his movements I felt at the top front of my bump and the pinching pain persisted which I thought could have been an anterior lip of cervix caused by baby being back-to-back. I was unable to communicate my thoughts to Rene, but she knew.
Slowly, slowly things continued to progress. I was struggling and was SO grateful for Rene’s support and reassurance. I kept positive, focussed and determined in my head, telling myself I could do this - I HAD to do this! There was NO WAY I was going into hospital!!! This was going to be a home birth.
I had lost all track of time but when I heard my eldest son wake up I had a rough idea. My partner sat with him on the bottom of the stairs - nearby, but outside of my birthing room.
At 8.30am I finally started to notice urges to bear down with some contractions. The last stretch! I was looking forward to the second stage with it being more productive. However after an hour of pushing with every contraction there had been very little change. Rene suggested getting out of the pool but I just couldn’t even think about it… this made me even more determined and I pushed with every ounce of strength I had left!
I felt for baby’s head myself to get some more encouragement and I could feel him just inside.
I had a little pep-talk with myself and regained my focus. I pushed and pushed and finally we had progress.
Baby’s head was crowning at last!
Rene used a mirror and torch and I used my hand for guidance, to ensure baby crowned in a slow, controlled way to reduce the chance of tearing.
My baby boy was born into the water at 10:30am. I felt immediate relief when I scooped him up and stared at his beautiful squishy face. We called my partner in to come and meet his son and we both got rather emotional as we welcomed our little boy.
We agreed that I would opt for the injection for the 3rd stage due to the length of time I had been pushing for. I had the injection in my arm whilst still in the pool, holding my baby. The pool water began turning darker red from the blood loss so I was quickly helped out and laid down on the sofa. Thankfully the placenta came out very soon after and my bleeding stopped. At my request, Rene checked me for tears and we were both elated that I had only sustained some superficial grazes. A little sore but thankfully no stitches required.
I was able to recover whilst enjoying skin to skin with my baby boy and breastfeeding him. My first son gradually crept into the room to meet his baby brother. The moment I had been dreaming of for such a long time had arrived and it was perfect 🥰
We had bacon sandwiches and champagne to celebrate.
My Midwives checked baby over - he was 9lbs 11oz and 58cm long! He had moulding of his skull which was consistent with a back-to-back and acynclytic position - the reason my labour was longer and harder than anticipated!
Rene helped me upstairs to have a lovely warm bath and tucked me up in my own bed for more baby snuggles.
It was incredibly tough - I was exhausted - but it was totally worth it and I was elated and relieved I did it!!!
I felt like Wonder Woman, although a little bruised and sore.
It’s 1 year on now - we are all getting on really great and loving life!
The labour and birth seem like a distant memory… and I would do it all again tomorrow xxx