Charlie came along to pregnancy yoga and fully embraced the Wild Embers way. Turning up every week even when she really couldn't be bothered because she knew pregnancy yoga was more than just yoga for pregnant people. As the weeks went on Charlie's curiosity in homebirth grew, her husband however was a little more apprehensive. After a positive chat with a Midwife and a 2 hr homebirth confidence workshop with me their minds were made up and they fought so hard to achieve their homebirth against so much adversity front medical professionals. It means so much when parents share the birth stories, photos and feedback with me but I really do enjoy it when partners go out of their way to share their feedback. This is a quote from rob “I will happily advocate for home birth, it was an amazing experience” xx
The birth story
10/04/2024
On the morning of my birthday I was 40+5 weeks pregnant and our scheduled induction was booked for the following day due to Gestational Diabetes guidelines. My husband & I decided to have a “f*** it” day and decided to travel down to west quay for some light shopping and lunch whilst our 3 year old was at nursery. This was my way of trying to accept that I wouldn’t have my home birth after all and to try and enjoy the day. On the way down me and my husband talked about the induction process and to what point we where happy to go prior to electing for a c-section, if natural birth wasn’t going to happen. So we where both clear when the time came my husband knew my wishes. At this point I finally accepted tomorrow we where going to have the induction and finally meet our little boy.
Whilst at west quay I started having very random contractions but I pushed it to the side and continued to enjoy our little shopping trip, we had many false starts earlier in the week.
The rest of the day flowed like any normal day, we had dinner with my mum I blew out my birthday candles on my cake before putting my 3 year old to bed and saying goodbye to my mum as she departed home…..This is where everything changed very quickly, my contractions started as my 3 year old fell asleep at 7:40pm.
Earlier in the day I’d bought a sex bomb bath bomb from lush with the hope the clary sage would be the final thing that would send me into active labour so I ran my bath and got in. This is when my contractions really started to kick in, very intensively every 8/9 minutes or so. At this point I knew I was going into labour and quickly. (Even though my husband and mother didn’t believe me) I got out the bath and got myself down stairs to help my husband set up my birthing area. We lit candles, put on my aromatherapy, started filling up the birth pool and turned on all the fairy lights.
By this time my contractions were 3 every 10 minutes so we called the labour ward and my mum to come back to look after my little girl incase she woke up.
Through each wave of contraction I used my Freya app to support my breathing and counting whilst using the comb to squeeze in my hand. I used my kitchen counter to support my body as I swayed side to side through each wave of contraction as my mum rubbed my back in gentle motions.
My husband had only just finished filling the birth pool when I knew I needed to get into the water and he helped me in. I settled myself against the side of the pool leaning forward on my knees as I felt this was the position my body was telling me to be in. My mum and husband continued to take it in turns to rub my back, offer me drinks or placing a cold wet flannel on my forehead.
The first midwife arrived at 10:10pm followed shortly by the second midwife. I felt myself zone out as I concentrated on breathing through each wave whilst continuing to squeeze my comb. I was offered some gas and air but quickly turned this away as it affecting my “zone”.
I then felt my body transition and I knew birth was near, The midwife’s at this point left me to it, they quietly observed from a distance as I let my body do what it needed to do. I began to push as I gripped my husband for support and felt a massive balloon of water pop with the first push, the following push I felt his head crown and at 10:39pm I gave birth to my son and lifted him from the water onto my chest. I was hit with a strong wave of emotion, I couldn’t control the tears of happiness I felt in that precious moment.
I was beaming! After having a negative first birth experience 3 years ago with an episiotomy and a ventouse delivery, I was so incredibly worried that when it came to birthing my baby, I wouldn’t be able to do it. However I let me body take over and trusted it would guide me through step by step which it did.
My home birth was a truly magical experience and has had such a positive impact on my breastfeeding journey, postpartum recovery and general mood. The whole experience was incredible calm, relaxing and empowering and I couldn’t recommend home births enough.
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