Hayley’s Home Birth Story

Second time mum, known baby boy. 8lbs 12oz.
Planned & actual home water birth
Relief; Breathing, comb, TENS, dihydrocodeine, Gas & Air, Water.

Saturday afternoon I started to feel a few twinges, a little back ache and just a sense of early change on the date we had worked out to be our due date (NHS date was 4 days prior). Carried on as normal and attempted an early night.

At 11pm I noticed I was having reoccurring lower stomach cramps similar to period pains which were coming and going every 10mins or so. Absolutely bearable but I was unable to sleep through them so I put on a podcast and laid in bed just keeping myself as relaxed and rested as I could without sleep.

By 4am these had increased to every 7mins or so, so I contacted my mum who was planning to come look after my little boy (soon to turn 3) and lives 2 hours away. She was excited and left shortly after arriving with us by 7ish.

I called the Homebirth team around 5am just to let them know I thought labour was starting and was happy to continue without any extra care or somebody coming out to see us.

Unfortunately having made the phone calls and my partner waking up I seemed to go back to every 10mins or so and so stayed in bed whilst everybody else got up for the day and just tried to get as much rest as possible. 

Later on I got up and pottered around the house, paying as little attention to timings as possible. It was around 3pm my partner and mum both noticed my contractions seemed to be closer together and a little more intense than they had been before. I couldn’t sit down through them anymore so my mum took my little boy out and we prepped the space for our home birth putting up affirmations and family photos and fairy lights.

I gave the Homebirth team a call back around 4.30pm whilst putting on the TENS as I had a little emotional wobble and wanted somebody to come out and give baby a quick check. They arrived at 5.30ish and confirmed baby was fine. I asked for a VE as I felt for me it would be helpful to know where we roughly were and that we had made progress. I was 4cm, and absolutely buzzing with this news!

I carried on with the TENS which I absolutely loved and used the comb and calm breaths to get through each contraction before a little break. My little boy came home with my mum and it was lovely to hear him around the house playing and even managed to sneak in some cheeky cuddles.

By this time my contractions had ramped up a little in intensity and possibly timings and the HB midwife said she would be able to stay with us until shift changeover if that’s what we wanted and the night shift would then come and meet her at our house. I wasn’t really thinking straight and told her not to worry and go but lucky my partner said no we wanted somebody to stay due to the risk we were already told that if they leave they might not be able to guarantee somebody to come back out to us.

The night shift HB midwife, who I had briefly met before and knew would be working, arrived and took over around 7ish at which point I felt I was starting to get close to my limit. Things were really intense and I had so much pressure like I constantly needed to wee. Every time I went for a wee the contractions just got even more intense. At this point I asked for another VE and what my options were. I was 6cm and my waters were so close to breaking. With this news I turned up the TENS and tried some dihydrocodeine whilst my partner filled the pool.

I stripped off and waited for the pool to be filled whilst thoroughly enjoying the relief of the TENS and reading through affirmations. Time seemed to be passing quickly at this stage, it was around 9 o clock I asked for some gas and air and hopped into the pool at pretty much the same time. Once in the pool and experiencing less pressure I was able to get into a squatted position, recommended by the midwife, which I couldn’t before and my waters went with the next contraction – they were clear and I felt a huge relief.

The next couple of contractions were a little less pressure and then got so much more intense. I knew this was transition, the midwife was reassuring me this was transition but my brain was telling me what if it’s not? I felt a little more worried at this point that I couldn’t cope but both my partner and the midwife were so so supportive and reminded me “I can do this” and “you can do anything for 60 seconds” which were my favourite two affirmations. 

I tried breathing through as best I could with the gas & air and suddenly felt a massive urge to push. Feeling down after a couple of contractions I could feel baby’s head and lots of hair. I asked the midwife to check it was baby’s head and we all had a little laugh about what else I could possibly think it was but I just was in disbelief. I remember at this point thinking how close we were and we were achieving something I had been really really hoping for. Even at this point in-between contractions I felt absolutely fine, was able to catch my breath and talk.

Over the next few contractions I pushed his head out against my hand and his body came out in the final push afterwards. I announced he was here, and lifted him up between my legs onto my chest. I asked my partner to fetch my mum and little boy from upstairs and they came down to meet baby within 2mins of his arrival. Looking at my notes my waters went at 9.13, I started pushing at 9.26 and he arrived at 9.43 so those last stages were all very quick. 
After delivery I lost some blood and was advised the injection for delivery of the placenta which I agreed to as I did not want to risk transfer after achieving my beautiful birth at home. I also was recommended stitches for a 2nd degree tear and agreed. This all happened at home and I felt thoroughly looked after and cared for. I was able to shower whilst our midwife got everything I needed to be comfortable afterwards and helped me settle with baby and achieve the first feed (made a little harder due to TT but we are doing really well now).

The whole experience was just beautiful and so very healing after a difficult and long birth experience with my first. We will be forever grateful to the midwife, Leah, for her support.