The Birth of Baby B – Natural Home Birth #2

Let’s start with at the beginning. If you’ve followed me this pregnancy you’ll know I did not enjoy it. I mean, I didn’t enjoy my pregnancy with E but I felt like I could function pretty well in the third trimester. This time around my body (and often my mind) felt like it was falling apart. I longed to be 40 weeks and be at the stage where baby could come, then when I got to about 39 weeks I remembered what labour was like and figured I didn’t mind waiting a little longer. 😅 I had been in excruciating pain for much of my third trimester but with chiro and physio, it was feeling pretty manageable at this stage too.

If you’ve read through my birth story with E you’ll know that I had a positive and empowering natural home birth. I spent a lot of time during that pregnancy educating myself on childbirth and preparing to have a natural drug free birth. All the mental work that I did definitely paid off! I practiced hypnobirthing, used affirmations, visualisations and all sorts of tools to make it through labour. I made sure to go through The Calm Birth Method again this time to prepare my mind as much as possible. But this time was quite different and I didn’t really use those tools. Let me walk you through it!

I was ‘due’ on Thursday 5th November. I was prepared to go into labour earlier but expected to be pregnant past my guess date again. I tried to pay very little attention to my due date, so much so, that I refused to tell most people when it was. From 39 weeks I started to experience Braxton Hicks at night time and each night they would get a little more intense and consistent. Often they were 5 minutes apart when I was lying in bed so I would go to sleep wondering if I would go into labour. Buuuut each morning I would wake up still pregnant. I wasn’t worried as babies come when they come and I had zero interest in exhausting myself with any of the ways to supposedly induce yourself. Big walk? No thanks. Eat a pineapple? Instant heartburn. Have a little *ahem* intimate time? I HIGHLY DOUBT IT.

On the morning of Tuesday 10th November, 5 days overdue, my midwife Isobel and student midwife Kelsey were at my house for my appointment and I joked that I would go into labour that night. As I was sitting through the appointment I was having constant Braxton Hicks. I had lost my plug the day before and was feeling quite crampy so felt like labour was near. In my head 41 weeks was my MAX (for no reason other than that’s when E came). Sure enough, the rest of that day I felt a lot of pressure, needed to go to the loo quite often (just wees… tmi? This is a birth story, its all tmi. lol). I just knew labour was close!

At 5pm I was outside playing with E when I felt a sudden dampness. I mean, not a completely unusual pregnancy sitcho (tmi again, soz), but I went to check and decided it was definitely a little bit of my waters. Not wees. Phew. At about the same time my midwife called by to drop off the birth pool liner. I told her what happened and she said to keep her informed. I quickly got to work tidying the house, changing the sheets on our bed, and a bunch of other little jobs.

Fast forward to 7pm and I was sitting in my egg chair (theee best) on a lovely warm evening watching hubby mow the lawn as E ran around after him. It was one of those moments where you know your life is about to change in a big way, so I just sat soaking it all in, in a moment of gratitude. I was starting to get some consistent contractions, around every 5 minutes or so. They felt just like period pain. At about 8.30pm I decided to call my midwife and tell her what was going on. She made a plan to come to our house soon. We took E over to Aaron’s parents’ house so she could be settled there incase things happened fast. I cried. My baby was about to become my big girl.

Around 10pm Isobel and Kelsey arrived. Contractions were getting slightly more painful but still very manageable. Because it was my second baby we wanted to be prepared if things were to happen quicker. Isobel’s back up Jo (who was at E’s birth) arrived shortly after. This time I had decided to have my Mum and sister India present at the birth too. They came at about 11pm. We sat around chatting and telling stories and I started to feel a bit bad that everyone had arrived and there wasn’t a whole lot happening. Jo had to leave, so she went off and another back up was organised.

At about 1am I was still much the same, so sent Aaron, my Mum and sister to bed to get some sleep. Aaron had been up since 3am the day before (dairy farm life) so was exhausted. The contractions were painful and consistent enough that I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep through them, but not strong enough to justify everyone staying up. By 2.30am I was feeling pretty tired so tucked up on the couch and tried to get some sleep. I drifted off between contractions and also needed to go to the toilet every 20 minutes or so, so definitely not a restorative nap! I kept dreaming and then waking up to the contractions so felt kinda delusional. Isobel and Kelsey found places to have a sleep too. It was going to be a long night.

At about 4am I went down to the bedroom to lie on the bed with Aaron. I was feeling quite nauseous as well as extremely shaky. I kept shivering even though I wasn’t cold. Isobel told me my body was just working hard. At this point I started to get a bit nervous and even had a little cry to Aaron. I knew that being nervous would slow me down so I tried to think positively. I inhaled Balance and diffused Clary Sage to try manage my emotions. Things were moving slow, contractions were still about the same, I was tired and wasn’t sure how long this would go on for. I knew the pain that was to come too and didn’t feel prepared. I asked Aaron to pray for me and call on God’s strength. We lay in bed for a while then Aaron suggested Isobel check me to hopefully put me in a better headspace. At 5am she examined me and to my relief I was 7cm. Phew! Most of the way there. Baby was continuing to move down and I was still feeling constant pressure to go the the toilet. I had been clearing my bowels often most of the night. (Again, tmi. Brace yourselves, this is a birth story peeps). In my mind I kept comparing what I was going through to my first labour. Once I got to 8cm in that labour, I hopped in the pool and basically had back to back contractions for 4 hours so was preparing for something similar. I moved to the lounge and Aaron started setting up the pool and getting water for it. I was feeling AWFUL. Terribly nauseous and shaky. I even vomited at one stage. My body was doing its job and although I wasn’t constantly experiencing surges, there was still a lot of work happening.

At 6.30am I hopped in the pool. Everyone was awake and back in the lounge by that stage. The back up midwife Deidre also arrived. Hopping in the pool provided instant relief, relaxed me, put me in a better headspace buuuuut the contractions slowed down. Dammit. I decided I wanted to listen to music so put together a playlist of calm worship songs between contractions. After an hour in the pool, out I came to walk, bounce on the swiss ball, and try get things moving. Walking did bring on contractions but also freaking hurt standing up so I wasn’t particularly keen on that option.

Contractions were around 3-5 minutes apart which meant plenty of socialising in between. I tried to ‘get in the zone’ so things would progress but it felt so pointless closing my eyes when literally nothing was happening. I was starting to realise that maybe I was being a bit too social and that was slowing things down.I joked that I needed to be like a cat and go hide in the wardrobe. Have you seen an animal go into labour before? It’s really quite interesting. I’ve watched both our cat and dog go into labour and they both did similar things. Pacing, acting uncomfortable, trying to find a dark, private spot. They instinctively seek out somewhere intimate and peaceful. So at around 9am, that’s exactly what I did. Aaron and I went down to the bedroom again and rested and cuddled and talked about how I was feeling. THIS is when things finally started to amp up. Contractions started to get quite a bit stronger. At 9.30am Isobel checked me and I was 8cm, with baby quite a bit lower. We were close! I lay there and squeezed Aaron’s hand through each contraction, breathing through it. I knew I needed to get back to the pool so made my way to the lounge and had 5 strong contractions on the way. I braced onto Aaron each time. He was amazing.

At 10.30am I hopped into the pool and knew it was all on. Contractions were STILL (I know, come on) a few minutes apart but were VERY intense. With each contraction I said to Aaron “another one” as I held on to him and braced. Defs no socialising between these ones. Mum fetched me cold facecloths for my back as a leant against the side of the pool. I had a pillow I leant on and bit into with each intensity.. I could feel my cervix wide open and said to Aaron that baby will be here very soon. At 10.45am my waters burst with an almighty pop. The next few contractions I could feel baby moving down as my body worked with each surge. For the first time during labour I started to become vocal. A friend once told me you know baby is near when you start roaring like a stag. Haha she’s right isn’t she?! I ditched the pillow as it was awfully hot and grabbed Aaron’s arm instead. I may have even sunk my teeth in at one stage. Oops. Soz mate. He said he was trying not to laugh as it obviously was not a time for laughter. I asked for pressure on my back, then shortly afterwards asked for it to stop. It was so good having those tiny breaks as I could communicate what I needed quietly to Aaron. It just felt like him and I in the room which was very comforting. I started to breathe the baby down which was an awesome (like awesomely painful) experience because my body was doing the job without me having to exert extra energy. All of a sudden baby was crowning so I gave an almighty push and the head was born. I asked Aaron what happened because I wasn’t quite sure. Was I done? Was I not? Once I knew the head was out, I gave one last ginormous and long (ok, it felt long but it wasn’t actually) push and baby boy was born. 3 minutes of pushing. THREE MINUTES.

Aaron exclaimed “its a boy!” I turned around to have a look and take baby to hold to my chest and sure enough, there was no mistaking it was indeed a boy. New Wine by Hillsong Worship was playing. Aaron, my Mum and sister were all crying and congratulating me. I wish I was one of those people that feels all gushy and emotional when their baby is born but I was just relieved he was out and I was done! He was born with a full head of thick dark hair which is SO different to E when she was born.

Twenty minutes later I was really feeling the pressure of the placenta so asked if I could get out. The cord was clamped after it stopped pulsing and Aaron cut it. I stood up, gave my tummy muscles a teeny squeeze and the placenta basically just fell out and into a bowl that my Mum had previously been using to make muffins. Ha! How I love natural home birth!

Baby boy was handed to Aaron for skin to skin, while I shimmied down to the bedroom so damage could be assessed. I thankfully only had a tiny tear that didn’t require stitches. PRAISE THE LORD. I think the worst part of birth is dealing with the damage afterwards. Like, I got my prize, gimme a break already right? I showered, got dressed and went back to the lounge. The atmosphere was incredible and almost euphoric. Everyone was so happy and so full of love for this little man. Seeing a new life come into the world is quite something! I gave him his first feed and those hormones did their job, meaning I bled everywhere and had to reshower. Gah. Oh well. I came back, we sat and enjoyed Mum’s freshly baked muffins together. It was so special!

Aaron’s sister who had been looking after E brought her over to meet her new sibling. Another moment that caused a few damp eyes! Once everything was all tidied up, Aaron, baby and I headed to the Winton Maternity Centre for three nights of postpartum care. We planned to go with our first baby but didn’t because she was born on Christmas Eve and we didn’t want to spend Christmas Day there.. Ohmygosh, our stay was INCREDIBLE. We had beautiful meals, 24/7 support, the loveliest nurses and a LOT of rest. I almost didn’t want to leave. It was so special to be able to have that quiet time together and for me to be able to sit and rest and put my feet up for four days. It’s a completely free service but I would happily pay plenty for that kind of help! E stayed with my parents while we were there and had the best time. THANK YOU MUM!

So that’s that! Another successful, drug free home birth! This labour was wildly different to my first but still beautiful and empowering. I was stoked with a much shorter period of intensity but felt frustrated by the slow build up. I found that I didn’t really need to use any of my hypnobirthing techniques besides breathing, because the contractions were so spaced out.

A BIIIIG thank you to my midwife Isobel Devery. You’re not allowed to move or retire from midwifery until I’m finished having children because I can’t possibly imagine having to have anyone else. Thank you also to my student midwife Kelsey Erb, back up Deidre Kennedy, and the lovely staff at Winton Maternity Centre for your top notch care.

Your Questions Answered

How do you deal with no pain relief?

Is it odd that it never even crossed my mind second time around? Hypnobirthing was a huge help! Keeping calm and relaxed during any birth, but especially a natural home birth actually helps you to experience less pain too. Obviously the end of labour hurts but its not long. Gimme labour over pregnancy any day. Also, the water is amazing!

Why home? You’re so brave!

I think people that birth at hospital are brave! Statistically a low risk woman has better outcomes at home or a birthing centre. I just want to feel calm and relaxed because I know that helps labour to progress smoothly and assists in producing all the right hormones. I know if I want the best possible outcomes, then home is the best place for me.

What techniques do you use to handle transition?

This time I purely used breathing techniques because transition and the pushing stage were SO SHORT. Half an hour for both. Last time I used visualisations, breathing, and affirmations. You can read more about it in E’s birth story.

How was recovery this time around?

Amazing! No stitches (14 stitches last time) so pain down there was basically gone after four days! I even felt quite good walking around straight after labour. I mean, as good as you can be when your hooha just went through that. My sister said she was really quite surprised at how good I looked and moved around straight afterwards. Boob and nip pain were similar to first time though, but that eased and I know that soon enough I’ll be breastfeeding anywhere and everywhere without giving it a second thought. Afterpains are a witch though! But again, didn’t last too long.

What was that magical place where you stayed?

It was the Winton Maternity Centre! You can birth there and/or receive postpartum care there. It was the best! Country Manor caters the loveliest meals and the nurses are there for 24/7 support. We were actually the only ones there for our whole stay! I found it great to have someone assist with baby and breastfeeding. Even thought I was breastfeeding just 9 months ago, a 14 month old is a liiiittle different to a newborn. They fetched me toast in the middle of the night, made sure I kept up the pain relief and ALL the things. We had a double bed so Aaron could stay, which was great! He just had to pay $20 a day for meals. Other than that it was free! Its the type of care that every woman should receive after having a baby. Good old fashioned care like our Mamas received.

Well that’s a wrap! Welcome to the world little B. You are so loved!