Madeline
“I was almost into my third trimester when we decided to have a homebirth. Being our first baby and not knowing what to expect, this was a difficult decision for us, particularly with homebirths still feeling taboo in modern society. Once we made our decision, I was confident in it, and it felt right to follow my gut.”
I was almost into my third trimester when we decided to have a homebirth. Being our first baby and not knowing what to expect, this was a difficult decision for us, particularly with homebirths still feeling taboo in modern society. Once we made our decision, I was confident in it, and it felt right to follow my gut.
On my due date (40+0), I had no indications that labour was close. At 9pm whilst we were laying on the couch, I felt something in my undies. I thought it was my waters, but didn't want to assume until certain. I wandered over to the toilet, then yelled to my husband, Andrew “I think I'm leaking!”. After which I decided we should go to bed, because if it was the start of labour, we should get some sleep.
I couldn’t sleep. The anticipation of what was coming kept me up and at 10:30pm, I felt contractions start. They were like mild period cramps at first, coming every 15 minutes. By 3am, the pain prohibited me from sleeping and I only got 2 hours of sleep all night, something I regretted later in labour. Our midwife Charlotte popped in at 12pm to check for signs of infection because of my early rupture of waters; everything still looked good.
By 5pm on 40+1 I was using the heat pack. We had mattresses and pillows on the ground to kneel on whilst I lay forward over the couch. By 7pm, Andrew put the TENS machine on me. I became dependent on it almost instantly and I moved and swayed over the Swiss ball. I deliberately utilised sound and breath to keep my pelvic floor soft, something I practiced a lot during pregnancy.
Later that evening, on a call with midwife Veronica, she said to Andrew “Mady's doing a really great job. It sounds as though she's in early labour so encourage her to conserve as much energy as possible”. It was a shock to hear that I was only in early labour when it had now been over 24 hours. Andrew was timing my contractions but there was no consistent pattern of increased frequency. It was actually nice to have longer breaks between contractions, allowing me more time to close my eyes and rest. I was tired. I'd had nowhere near enough sleep, having been awake that whole day and night (40+0), as well as the following day and night (40+1) with the morning still ahead of me (40+2).
Before midnight I got in the shower, and good luck getting me out. I was in the shower for hours! I sat under the water, leant against the wall, and would only lean forward onto all fours to have a contraction before flopping back into my seated position. Surges now felt similar to the sensation of vomiting. We were ready for more support so we asked Charlotte to come, which she did at 2:15am.
I moved onto the toilet at 4am because contractions had slowed down. I faced backwards, my head resting on the cistern. That was intense. My feet were raised on cans of beans, putting me in an even more squatted position on the toilet. I wouldn't let Andrew leave my side. Charlotte suggested we try to get some microsleeps between contractions so we rested on the bed. It was here that I had a crisis of confidence since it had now been over 30 hours. My body was doing exactly what it needed to and I really did want a low intervention, drug-free birth if possible. I just had to stay out of my head. I wanted them to tell me how much longer it would be, but of course, they couldn't. They didn't give me false hope but were the best cheerleaders in supporting me with lots of positivity; reassurance I craved. They reminded me that I'd come so far, done incredible hard work, and things were going really well. We discussed and decided it would be productive to have a vaginal examination, which may help shift my mind set. My cervix was almost 9cm dilated. In hindsight, I was likely in transition.
It was time to move forward. Andrew thought I’d love it in the loungeroom where they’d filled up the pool, surrounded by fairy lights. He suggested I give it a go and I was happy to be directed. Getting into the pool felt amazing and things progressed well. I felt strong sensations, different from anything I'd felt so far, I could really feel my body stretching. Charlotte had the mirror and could see that things were visibly progressing, too. I felt new pressure in my bum. We were getting close.
The baby’s heart rate was checked often at this stage, and it was low. Our second midwife, Ellie arrived at 8:30am which was a breath of fresh air. She suggested I hop back on the toilet which I was nervous about, but knew it would be effective. I had some loud contractions and remember thinking, “it's the morning, our neighbours can probably hear me on their way to work!”. My body started pushing by itself, which was wild. I felt down to see if I could feel the baby’s head, but was unsure. I moved to stand where the midwives were able to catch the baby if it was coming. Ellie said “We're going to meet your baby soon” and I couldn't believe it. They were eager for baby to arrive due to the low heart rate so I helped with some active pushes. I felt the head come out but then recede, I knew it was completely normal but feeling it was surreal. I felt the stretch as the head was crowning. At 9:06am, after 23 minutes of pushing, our baby flew out, Charlotte did well to catch! Bubs immediately started crying and was passed up through my legs to hold.
Andrew announced that we had a baby girl who we named Frankie, and we settled to rest on the couch. Whilst on my chest Frankie did a breast crawl, which I’ve got a special video of. After enjoying some well-earned toast, I had a physiological third stage to birth the placenta. Andrew sat behind me so I could hover my body off the couch whilst he carried the weight of me to push. Thankfully, due to my skilled midwives, the position I was birthing in, and the preparation I did throughout pregnancy, my perineum was safe, and no stitches required. From the moment Frankie was born, you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. We were SO ready to have her in our lives.
I experienced the most incredible birth and we now had our precious little daughter to show for it.
Birth story by Madeline.
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