Birth Story: Sarah’s powerful home birth
I had the pleasure of working with Sarah and Zack during their pregnancy with their second baby. Sarah instinctively knew she wanted to be at home for this birth, and she bravely followed her instincts, ignoring the outside noise and opinions. She had a beautiful home birth and credits Hypnobirthing and being at home for making it such a calm and positive experience for her and her new baby boy.
From very early on in my second pregnancy, I had a strong feeling of wanting a home birth this time around. I gave birth to my first son in hospital 13 years ago, and I wanted to feel more relaxed at home this time, surrounded by my familiar things.
Trusting her instincts
There were people who questioned my decision and I felt some negativity from others, but I was confident in my decision. I instinctively knew home was where I wanted to be and everything I then learnt on my hypnobirthing course and in the books I read really enforced this and so I felt very comfortable with my decision.
‘Due date’ came and went and Sarah remained totally calm
My baby came at 40 weeks + 8 days. I wasn’t feeling at all stressed to have gone past my ‘due date’. I was busy and distracted in planning for and celebrating my older son’s birthday. I was offered an induction and sweep by my midwife but was happy to decline it and I felt listened to and aware of my options.
On the day he was born, I woke up at 3am to the feeling of water trickling down my leg - I knew my waters had broken. It was about 20 minutes later that my contractions started. They were strong from the get-go, coming every 4/5 minutes and lasting about a minute each.
Setting up the environment that she’d planned for
Zack set up our lounge exactly how I wanted - I had friends playing on TV in the background, my candles were lit, lots of plants in the room, essential oils in the diffuser, my birth preferences printed out, and I had a bottle of suncream handy that I wanted to smell - happy holiday feels! I was using a comb on my accupressure points to help me through contractions to begin with, as well as really focusing on controlling my breath. The contractions were feeling pretty intense but I felt calm and in control.
My mum arrived so that she could be around to take my son to school, and shortly after, the midwives arrived too, around 5.30am. My son woke up to the smell of my essential oils and it must have been such a calm environment because he came downstairs, just said hello to us all, had his breakfast and happily went back upstairs to get dressed.
Midwives arrived and slotted straight in
I was a little worried in my pregnancy that it might feel awkward when the midwives got there, what would they do, would I need to welcome them in etc, but I needn’t have worried - they instantly made me feel at ease, put some pads down because my waters were leaking, comforted me and rubbed my back, just slotted straight in.
The midwives could tell labour was progressing
Before the midwives arrived I was already feeling a lot of pressure down below and like I had an urge to poo but I didn’t think I could be ready to push and I think emotionally I wasn’t ready yet so I was trying to go against this feeling. About half an hour after they arrived they were noticing the noises I was making, the positions I was getting into, and that I was starting to say I couldn’t do it any more. They asked to check me and I was fully dilated! I had planned to have a water birth but it felt like there wasn’t time to fill the pool up now.
“I stopped holding back and I surrendered. I let my body do what it needed to do”
I began pushing but not much seemed to be happening for an hour and a half and I could no longer get comfortable in any position I tried. Eventually, my lovely midwife suggested I put my legs up on her shoulders which felt really supportive. Something shifted now and I stopped holding back and I surrendered to the pushing. I let my body do what it needed to do and then things moved a lot faster. I just remember as my baby’s head was being born the midwives reminded me to slow down and pant, and then he was here and placed on me, born at 8.17am, less than 5 hours after contractions started! I felt an immediate surge of love and relief, there’s no feeling like it! A few minutes passed before I remembered to ask what we had and Zack told me we had a beautiful boy.
“Completely different to my first experience in hospital”
We both had lots of skin to skin, I had stitches on the sofa for a small tear, a shower in my own bathroom, ate some toast, and put on my brand new fluffy dressing gown. I just loved that we were all at home in our own space and nobody had to go anywhere. The midwives stayed around for a while and completely tidied and cleaned - you wouldn’t believe someone had given birth! Friends was still on TV in the background, people were laughing and joking, and it was such a relaxed and easy environment, completely different to my first experience in hospital.
Many Hypnobirthing Mum’s comment on how their baby is very calm from the day they are born
I’m so happy I found hypnobirthing this time around and that I trusted my instincts with being at home. I would use hypnobirthing and choose a homebirth again in a heartbeat if I’m lucky enough to have another. The sensations were a lot easier to deal with second time around, and I believe that’s all down to hypnobirthing and that I truly felt relaxed. The midwives also commented on how calm my baby was throughout the entire labour as well, and I believe it’s because I was also so calm - and he has been that way ever since he was born!
