Birthing at Home

Our second precious little boy, Benjamin was born just over two months ago and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Back in my pre mummy days I could never of dreamed that child birth could be such a liberating and empowering experience. Before the birth of my first son, Jonah  I was pretty scared of labour. Fortunately I stumbled across hypnobirthing in my third trimester. Although we didn't have the time or finances to go on the course I followed the relaxation exercises and practised the breathing techniques as best as I could. Jonah surprised us and came 5 days early, but we were prepared thanks to the exercises we had done and I was excited to be finally meeting our baby. Jonah was born without too much fuss (albeit A LOT of noise!) in a local hospital. The birth was fine but I felt it could of been a lot better without the interference from the midwives, who were very keen on me birthing on my back and harrased me into very forceful pushing. Thanks to my stubborn nature I managed to ignore them for the most part but still felt it could of been better. As with most first time mums I struggled to feed Jonah and they immediately told me he had to have formula and being pretty out of it I went with it. It took me a good 4 months of struggle and hard work to get Jonah completely off formula and solely breastfeeding. I am now proud to say he had good old mamas milk until he was well over one, before he chose to wean himself.

Becoming pregnant again I was determined to do things my own way and to make sure I had the birth I wanted. Birthing my baby in my own home seemed to me the best way of ensuring this and just felt so right. Having heard so many good things about water births we decided to go for a home water birth. Again I practised all my relaxation and breathing techniques that had helped me so much first time round. Benjamin decided to make his grand entrance in to the world very promptly on his due date. My husband was amazing, taking total control in getting the pool sorted and creating the perfect setting for me to birth in. We worked together breathing through each contraction and after only a couple of hours my contractions suddenly changed and I knew baby would be born any minute. Without the interference I had last time I felt in total control and in tune with my body, it was quite incredible. At some deep level I knew I was working with my baby and the whole experince was very bonding for all three of us. Just as the midwife got to us I could feel baby's head emerge and told her that baby was about to come, which he did with one more big birth breath. Poor thing slipped under my legs and ended up bobbing in the water for a second while I scrambled to pick him up! I was so overcome with joy and disbelief that it had gone so well that it took me an hour to stop crying. Although the midwives that came were really helpful, we were pleased to be left on our own, which we were after a couple of hours. What a difference to the post natal experince I had in hospital. What a joy to be sitting on my own sofa, with my own cup of tea and my own three boys by my side.

Whenever I told people we were planning a home birth we undoubtedly got the usual exclamation of surprise and "your brave" response. Most times I shrugged this off and kept my confidence that I was doing the right thing for me and my baby, but I did have wobbles and thoughts of irresponsibility rang through my head especially as D day approached. But having now come out the other side I can honestly say the birth of my second child was one of the most empowering and awesome experiences I am sure I will ever have.