I had birthed my first daughter the previous year at Montrose Maternity Unit and thanks to some self taught hypnobirthing and a bit of luck she arrived in the birthing pool two hours after my contractions started. I was shocked by the speed and relative ease of my first born’s arrival so the following year, when I found myself pregnant again, we decided to plan for a home birth. This was partly driven by the closure of MMU but also something I felt empowered to do thanks to hypnobirthing.

I decided to do a one on one hypnobirthing course with Jade to refresh my breathing techniques and visualisations in the hope it would give me the best chance of achieving and coping with a home birth.

The 9 months (40 weeks + 4 days to be precise) flew in second time round and despite a bit of resistance from my community midwife (I think she was more nervous about my homebirth than me!) I was finally set up with all the kit and ready to go! It was around 11pm on a Friday night when I decided the niggles I’d been having all day we’re now turning into contractions. Given the speed of my first birth, my partner started to fill the birthing pool we had hired and I phoned the on call midwife to let her know she may be needed soon. I felt calm and excited at the prospect of meeting my second baby (sex unknown). I put the TENS machine on and got into my birthing zone straight away. I felt so relaxed and in control. I surprised myself at how well I was coping with contractions. At 12.30am the midwife arrived and started timing my contractions but kept her distance, as I had requested in my birthing plan. The second midwife arrived at 1.30pm and wanted to examine me despite my notes saying I did not wish this. However, she only asked once and left me alone after I declined with a mid-contraction shake of the head!

My partner was struggling to get the birthing pool to the right temperature and I could tell baby was about to make an appearance as I was struggling to keep control of my breath. I managed to talk to tell him to abandon the pool and come and support me on the living room floor. At this point I requested gas and air as I could feel the burn which I hadn’t experienced during my previous water birth (I really think the pool helped to minimise the stinging during crowning). The midwife didn’t think I needed it yet and was a bit concerned my baby’s heart beat had dropped but I knew it was because she was being squeezed on her way out. Pop! The head appeared much to the midwives surprise and with the next contraction Lucy’s 7lb 13oz perfect little body arrived at 2.32am on the living room floor!

Apart from not getting to use the birthing pool and a slow, uncooperative placenta delivery (which required the injection and some traction) it was just as I had planned. I had achieved my home birth and kept my calm. I was exhausted but elated. After the placenta delivery around 4.30am, daughter #1 woke up and she, daddy and baby Lucy cuddled in bed while I had a shower. I then climbed into bed and the midwives quietly cleaned up then slipped off into the night. It was all very surreal. I had done it. I had created my family and child birth wasn’t this scary, undignified act I had been lead to believe. I felt like a lioness with her cubs. Like superwoman. Like the happiest, most tired but content I had ever been.

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