The homebirth story of Jensen

Sorry…it’s a long one! This story starts on Monday 10th February, I woke up still feeling nauseous from the night before and wondered…could this be the start of something? I still had two days to go until my estimated due date so I knew it could be any day now. I dragged myself out of bed and got our daughter Darcey ready for nursery with the intention of returning home and carrying out a few last minute nesting jobs including batch cooking meals to freeze for when the baby arrived. However I returned home and decided to abandon all plans and just curl up on the sofa…that’s what my body really wanted me to do so I listened. By the afternoon I was having mild period type pains on and off but told myself not to get too excited…I laboured for three days with Darcey so it didn’t necessarily mean anything. That evening we followed our usual routine and decided to get an early night. Nick, my husband, was mainly concerned with whether he needed to bother ironing his shirt for work the following day or not. I told him, he should iron it as I still wasn’t convinced I was in labour. I got a shower and I had some tightening’s that seemed slightly uncomfortable so decided to track them. It was 9pm when I came to the conclusion that I was in the early stages of labour. I was having mild surges roughly every 10mins. I took some paracetamol, jokingly said ‘just think the baby could be here by morning’ we laughed and went to bed.

1:30am I woke with more purposeful surges, by 2am I couldn’t stay in bed any longer I knew I needed to move around. I went to the toilet after feeling a slight trickle. I thought it was just a show but in hindsight it was probably my waters. We went down stairs and Nick started to tidy Darcey’s toys away and set the room up just as we had planned….We had lavender and mandarin aromatherapy oils in the diffuser, lots of fairy lights, candles and positive affirmations hung around the fireplace. He also inflated the birth pool and put sheets down on the floor. The room was quickly transformed from toddler friendly living room to calm, tranquil birth space. Our safe little bubble. While Nick was sorting the room I was on the birth ball focusing on my breathing, imagining a golden thread seemed to work best for me at the time, which was one of the exercises I learnt at pregnancy yoga with Sharon at the Hart Space. By 3:30am I was having surges every 2-3 minutes and lasting around 50 seconds. I was coping really well but things seemed to be moving along so we contacted the hospital and put the tens machine on. We also called my sister to come around to look after Darcey if she woke up. 10mins later the on call midwife rang to say she was on her way and would wake the second midwife since it was my second child. I felt too much pressure sitting on the ball so moved onto all fours on the sofa and rocked my hips through each surge and focusing on the positive affirmations.

The midwife arrived about 4:40am and as she was setting up the second midwife arrived too. I was examined and pleased to hear that I was a good 5cm dilated. I felt like I was smashing it and we were already half way there. The midwife asked if we had decided against using our birth pool as it up but it wasn’t filled yet. The only reason we hadn’t filled it was because a midwife at the home birth talk had told us that your midwife would advise you when it was time to fill the pool so we were waiting for the go ahead. She told us to start filling it right away and hopefully it would fill in time. After my examination I needed a wee. I had a few strong surges on the way to and from the toilet and by the time I got back to sofa Nick had just turned the hose on for the pool and bam!!! I got a strong urge to push!! I told the midwife as I wasn’t confident I should push with only being 5cm!! She asked me to breathe through the urge but after a few surges it just didn’t feel right going against the natural urges and I think the midwife could sense this. She told me she couldn’t see baby’s head but believed me and to trust my body and go with it. I moved down onto the floor staying on my knees but using the sofa to support my elbows. I started using the gas and air which really helped me focus on my breathing and began to push with each surge. Nick was by my side the whole time doing exactly what I needed of him. It was so quiet and calm…apart from a few low groan’s when I was pushing which got the dogs barking but Nick quickly put them out of earshot. I felt in complete control and very powerful! I never doubted my body for a second. By 5:45am my baby was in my arms. A boy!! It was the most amazing and empowering experience. We spent the next few hours doing skin to skin on the sofa. Darcey came down to meet her little brother but was actually more interested in the toast and all the birthing equipment that was out.

I didn’t get the water birth I had planned but it really didn’t matter! It was just incredible! I never thought I would have a home birth and actually only decided when I was 37 weels! Now I can’t imagine anywhere else I would rather birth.

Hypnobirthing has helped me make some of the most informed decisions I’ve ever made in my life and I can’t thank Jenie enough for teaching us hypnobirthing.

I would also like to give special thanks to Alison and Joyce our lovely midwives.”