Bec Swincer

After researching home and water birth after my first pregnancy and birth, I knew I wanted something different when we had our next baby. 

After finding out I was pregnant, I looked into a few other providers but after chatting with Siobhan and meeting Ellie, I knew we’d made the right decision with the woman Centred care MAMA offered. 

From the moment we started our appointments, I knew we had made the best decision. Being able to have lengthy chats, ask all our questions and get to know the team without feeling rushed was what we the missed first time around. 

It was very early on Sunday morning (15/9) when I started to feel some contractions, initially I thought that they were just Braxton hicks like I’d been feeling for weeks now, the difference being that they were now every 8 minutes apart. I was 39+5 and had been ready to meet our girl for weeks. 

Not knowing if I was right, I called triage and remember saying that they felt a little spicier than just Braxton hicks and certainly more consistent. 

I was worried that Ellie wouldn’t be able to make it as she was at a conference; to my pleasant surprise - she was on call!

My sister, Monica collected Millie for the day thinking we might be meeting our newest baby girl and I didn’t think it would be ideal labouring with her in our space. 

Through the day, I was hoping labour would progress but it didn’t go beyond 7 minutes apart. Hubby and I walked our court, I bounced on the gym ball and was constantly in a deep squat. After texting with Ellie; she told me to just get some rest and things might kick off again at bedtime. I sent Chris to get me a pho for dinner which was just what my heartburn needed. 

At 3:30ish am on Monday morning I rushed to the bathroom from a kick to the bladder and noticed my mucous plug. My contractions were around 7 minutes apart at that point. 

Ellie happened to message me around 4:20 to check in as she had been at another birth. Game plan was just to call triage if things picked up again. I remember standing under the water of the shower and feeling excited and nervous for what was to come. 

I power pumped for about 20mins and that really kicked things off to 4 minute surges. I woke Chris up at 5am and asked him to fill the pool.. it was time. 

We called triage and let our student midwife, Laura and our sisters (Monica, Madi and Ash) know that things were progressing. I was able to work through my contractions either in the shower or around the house. 

Ellie arrived, Laura (student) and our sisters, Madi and Ash started to arrive. I felt my contractions going through ebbs and flows for what felt like hours on end but was really only a couple of hours. 

The moment that I said: “whose idea was it to have a home birth?” Ellie knew that I wasn’t far off meeting my girl. 

It wasn’t until I was laboring on the toilet that Ellie came in and suggested I get back in the birth pool. My surges at that point were consistently close together and the noises coming out of me were sounds I’d never heard before. 

I had Ellie’s guiding voice, my beautiful husband and sister in law holding me while I pushed and in what felt like the shortest time after, I was pulling my beautiful baby girl out of the water. The emotions were flowing and the sound of her cry was music to my ears.
It was a surreal feeling and something just so empowering. 

We moved to the couch with the intention of rest and skin to skin contact before the placenta was birthed and were able to get cosy. The feeling of being snuggled on the couch with this little being who had been growing in me was magical. It was the polar opposite birth to my experience with Millie. 

Baby Bonnie did her version of the breast crawl and latched like a dream. I opted to have active management for my placenta as everything was pretty sensitive down there. 

Placenta was birthed and Ellie assessed the damage, I had a peri-urethral tear which wouldn’t have been pleasant to suture at home. Charlotte and Ellie organised everything in the background for the ambulance to transfer me and Ash tidied up in preparation for us being home later that day or the next. 

I was transferred to Joan Kirner to be sutured, via ambulance with Bonnie on my chest. Ellie held my hand the entire time and even organized a coffee to come to the room while we waited on Chris to get there. The stitches were more painful than the birth! 

Sari and Ellie cared for me in the postpartum period and despite needing to go back to hospital with postpartum eclampsia on day 4, I still had the best experience and a much better recovery period with an uninterrupted birth. I can’t thank the team enough for the care and love they showed us through pregnancy and beyond. It was sad to say goodbye at the 6 week appointment and hope if we add to our family we can have the same experience again. 

Thank you to the beautiful tribe of superstars at MAMA.