Home Sweet Home Birth

I wanted to share with you all Callie's birth story, however every time I sat down to write it, I would get so far and then feel overwhelmed. It wasn't that it was horrible, quite the opposite! But as anyone whose been there knows, it's an emotional and physical rollercoaster in so many ways!

To start, I should mention that I never did any antenatal classes. Pregnancy in my head, and the actual pregnancy I experienced were significantly different in certain areas. But I always knew my body would know what to do, so as much as I planned to do classes, when I ended up being poorly and missing them, I decided i would be fine without. I was right. Here is our story, and I've not held back on the detail ;)

7am on June 2nd, her due date, I woke up to a weird pop. It felt like a tiny balloon popping in my side but I put it down to baby kicking. Not long after, I had pink discharge. I kept an eye on it but didn't want to worry anyone just yet as I wasn't sure what it was.
I was due to go swimming as we do every Friday morning, so I was thinking if it IS my waters, I can't swim, so I need to make a decision soon. With that, more pink discharge.
I cancelled swimming and text a photo to my poor poor sister (who actually WAS eating breakfast at the time) who confirmed it looked like waters. I was just about to text my midwife when I felt more come out so I checked and there was a blood clot too. I rang triage at 7:37am and by 8:30 we were in there being checked over. I was having mild period pains, every 2-3 mins, but they were not painful just uncomfortable. They sent me home around 9.30, confirming that it was my waters that had broken, and said I had 24 hours to go into labour or they'd induce. They didn't check to see how dialated I was as they generally don't do that once your waters have gone, as there is a large risk of infection. The generic thing we kept getting told regarding contractions is that they have to be a couple of minutes apart and you have to be unable to talk through them before you ring the midwife, unless you get anything green / brown come out in your waters in which case you'd ring up again straight away. Because my contractions were so close together from the get go, I was a bit concerned I wouldn't know when to ring. I decided to just wait until I couldn't speak through them.
We went home, mum went home to change and I said to her to come back straight away if she liked, as we could sit and watch a movie or two.
As we blew the pool up, I ate half a bowl of cereal, thinking I should start getting some calories into me. The contractions were still only minutes apart but were getting stronger every few minutes. I was leaning over the counter in the kitchen thinking 'I don't think I can talk through this one....'. but I was really conscious that I didn't want to ring the midwives too early and end up with them sat there for hours waiting.
At 11:30, I started wondering if this was going to happen faster than we thought. I felt confident that it was all going fine, but I thought maybe we should start filling the pool halfway slowly, because we could always top it up later when labour 'really' kicked off. Little did I know it already had. 11:57 is when my phone says I rang my sister - she had had a home birth this time 4 years ago with my nephew, so she was my go-to for how it all worked. We spoke for 10 mins about how she called the midwives at 11pm and didn't give birth until 7am so I felt better about ringing my own midwife. We rang triage and the midwife rang back saying she was 40 mins away but was en route. By this point, the contractions were super painful and I was finding it hard to get into a comfy position during them. I ended up on all 4's on the sofa biting into a pillow. Within the next 5-10 contractions, my body started pushing. I got my mum to pull my trousers and underwear off to check what was going on between contractions because it was unbearable now, and as much as I could hear her saying 'try not to push yet', I couldn't argue with what my body was doing. My mum said nothing at the time but after she told me lots of fresh blood was coming out, which worried them. At this point I asked for cold flannels, water and ice cubes. Every time I contracted I had an ice cube in my hand and I squeezed so hard it would be fully melted by the end of the contraction. 

So after the midwife hung up the phone, according to my mum, Callie's dad and her just looked in horror at each other. I asked them to ring an ambulance immediately because I knew I couldn't wait and baby would be here soon. The hospital is 2 mins up the road, so we knew they'd get here before the midwife, and even though I wasn't panicking, I knew we needed a health professional there otherwise  mum would have been delivering her. The ambulance felt like it took forever but it was probably only 10 mins. I remember hearing updates 'they're just down the road'....'can you hear that siren, that's all for you'. It helped. They came in and immediately gave me gas and air. What a relief!!! I could cope better with each push, whilst they sussed me out. In between contractions (now about 30 seconds between), we got out to the ambulance and they laid me down - this was SO uncomfortable!!!! They were about to leave for the hospital when the midwife knocked on the door just in time!!! She gave me a check and could feel baby right there so said after the next contraction, 'let's get back inside and have this baby'. By this point, the contractions were manageable thanks to the gas and air. I had managed to stay calm in between which I remembered from a talk by Sarah from DevonMama hypnobirthing at a Mothercare event I attended. I remembered how she said that 'fear creates tension and tension creates pain' and that you shouldn't go into labour scared. I remebered how she said that if you were scared, you'd start to not trust your body and that would flood your body with adrenaline instead of oxytocin. When you're full of adrenaline, you go into fight or flight. I remembered how she made us clench a fist in the air and the faster we clenched and let go, the more we did it, the more painful it got, because all the blood wasn't reaching my arm. I remembered how she said this is what happens to the uterus when you panic - blood rushes to the arms and legs to power the fight or flight response - but the uterus needs blood to bring it oxygen and if the blood is rushing elsewhere because you're panicking it's only going to cause pain. Blood contains oxytocin, which fuels labour and makes you feel positive, so the lesson here was NOT TO PANIC. I didn't, and it worked. And to this day, I thank her for that.

So, the pool wasn't full but I could feel baby wasn't going to take much longer, so we went straight into the living room and they got me on the sofa. I couldn't lean back as it hurt so Callie's dad sat behind me giving me something to lean against. 

I was pushing, seriously now. Baby was coming down the birth canal and I had to give up the gas and air to really dig deep and push. I was waiting for the 'ring of fire' and then suddenly, there it was. Unlike what I'd read before, it only hurt between pushes when the head was just sat there stretching my skin, but when I pushed it really relieved it. (By the way, pushing really does feel like doing a giant poop. The whole pressure is in your bottom!)

And then it happened. 'Just pant now Saira!'. I've watched enough episodes of OBEM to know that that meant the head was almost out. The midwife very sweetly let me feel her head (it felt like a slimy ball), and then with the next two pushes, I gave birth to what felt like an octopus! She was out, and as they lifted her I was able to hold her little smiley body. 

Baby Callie was born at 1:51pm, and went straight onto my chest. She pooped immediately all over my tummy but I didn't care one bit. She was beautiful. Perfect. It was overwhelming like I'd never felt before.
We delayed cord clamping until Callie was pink and the cord had stopped pulsating, which took about 10 mins. I then had the sintocin in my leg to deliver the placenta. In all honesty I was more scared of this part than the birth, but it was fine! I actually said (in my gas and air filled state) 'is that it? I've done farts bigger than that'. Haha! 

The last part was the stitching. Callie's dad and my mum cleaned up baby and I shuffled into a comfortable position on the sofa whilst they did their work. It took a while as I'd torn but I barely felt a thing - in part because they let me loose on the gas and air (honestly, you've never felt properly drunk until you've had gas and air!), and partly because they used lidocaine to numb the area (that was the worst bit).

By 5pm, the midwife had done all the paperwork, cleaned up, we had deflated the pool, and Callie had already breastfed. I was told I needed to do a wee by 7pm or to ring triage, and then the midwives were gone. We were sat there with a baby, in shock at what just happened. I was lightheaded and realised I'd just burnt near 3000 calories in labour on half a bowl of cereal, with only gas and air. I felt like Superwoman!

Food ensued, and there began out adventure into parenthood.

So what do I think about homebirths? I think they're incredible. There is no way I wouldn't try and have one again in the future, I think they are such a wonderful way of involving the people you love in the most emotional moment of your life. I am so glad that my Mum was there and I wouldn't change it for the world, I feel so proud that she got to see her granddaughter being born and she was there to share the experience with us. I will always be grateful to her for being a part of it, for keeping me calm and for the way she first held Callie and looked at her with so much love that my heart melted knowing just how much this little girl means to her. 

 

Team homebirth all the way – don't ever think negatively of the option. Do your research, speak to midwives, because honestly it will be the best experience of your life. 

I would just like to end by saying the most gigantic thank you to the Plymouth Jubilee homebirth team who are the most incredible women I've ever had the pleasure to meet; every single midwife we've had during pregnancy birth and since then has gone above and beyond to make sure me and my family are okay, nothing has been too much for them to do and I will for ever be indebted to them. Thank you is just not enough.

Any questions about home births, please don't hesitate to message me!!

Saira xo

Did I mention we love Water Babies?

I know I shout it from the rooftops, but I really do love our swimming lessons! The main reason being that this little pickle's face just lights up the second we get in the car and she spots her Happy Nappy in the swim bag.

Of course, working for Water Babies, it was inevitable that we would splash into the pool eventually, but I don't think I was totally prepared for how much it would become our favourite thing to do together. Before I had Callie, I used to excitedly explain to all our swimmers and future swimmers about what we do, how we teach YOU to teach your baby to swim, why water safety is so important, and how to make the most out of bath time. Now, having spent the last 9 months swimming through the first 3 Chapters, we've jumped into Chapter 4 where things take a slight change and suddenly it's all coming together!

Whereas Chapter 1-3 have an emphasis on bonding and safety, Chapter 4 starts really working on getting little ones understanding what to do should they ever find themselves out of their depth. When I give talks at Mothercare and other events, I always start by saying that drowning is STILL the 3rd most common cause of accidental death in infants under 5 in the UK - it's WAY too high! So it's really important that we're teaching our children about water safety from a young age, and what I love about our lessons is that we achieve that (and more!) but all whilst having so much fun!  

Another thing that I'm so thankful for, more for me than Cal, is the social aspect of it. I didn't do much in the way of antenatal classes, and the same thing happened after she was born with baby groups. I have lots of friends who are amazing, but I soon realised how nice it was to have friends with babies around the same age. I was lucky to be part of the '101 ways to raise a human' community of MumsNet Mums who all had their babies around June 2017, but with 101 women all over the UK, actually having people I could grab a coffee with wasn't as easy. I did my taster term with some lovely parents at Derriford, and then splashed into Chapter 2 at our beautiful plush pool at St Mellion International Resort so Cal could have her Auntie as her teacher. Jumping into an already-established class was scary, and then paired with the body-conscious feeling I think every new Mum feels, I was a little out of my comfort zone, but boy did they make me feel like one of the gang from the second I stepped onto poolside.

I absolutely love swimming with my little girl, and can't bang on about it enough. Even if she does decide she wants breakfast mid-lesson....! But it wouldn't be Water Babies if we didn't have a giggle :)

If you want to come join the fun, drop my lovely colleagues an email on bounce@waterbabies.co.uk or leave us a message on 01752 605627. If you're not local, head to www.waterbabies.co.uk and search for your nearest pools. You absolutely won't regret it!

Saira xx