"Home birth of my daughter"

My husband and I chose to have a home birth for our second child and wanted to share the fantastic experience we had with the Ayrshire home birth team. 

Our son was born at the maternity unit 3 years ago and whilst we had a wonderful labour and birth experience I had a 3rd degree tear and the repair and aftercare wasn’t great. I was told by 2 consultants at the time that any subsequent children ‘must’ be born by c-section. At my booking appointment this time round the midwife was quite insistent that this would be a c-section delivery due to my previous tear. I asked about the risks of tearing again and she offered an appointment to discuss with a consultant. I took this opportunity but also did my own research as I felt that a c-section is major abdominal surgery and I wanted to avoid that if possible.

A home birth is not something I would have ever considered before but I had been following the team's social media and went along to their ‘meet the team’ event when I was about 14 weeks pregnant. My booking appointment had really bothered me - I felt that professionals were making choices for me about my pregnancy and birth and I wanted to be as informed as possible. My first impressions of the team were that they were all very knowledgeable and women orientated. They seemed to think there was no real reason for a c-section and after the consultant discussion myself and my husband made the decision to transfer our care to the home birth team. 

Our named midwife, Mary, first came to visit when I was around 28 weeks. She explained the home birth process and how it worked. At every appointment Mary took the time to explain what she was doing and as I got nearer to my due date she offered personalised aromatherapy and arranged for another midwife, Karen, to come out for some acupuncture. Mary got to know me, my husband and son and we built up a good relationship with her. 

I went in to labour the same day she had been out for an appointment but things escalated quickly and my husband called the maternity unit only about an hour before our daughter was born. Midwife Lorna arrived and our daughter followed just a few minutes later! She was born in a birthing pool and we were a bit unprepared with cameras etc as it happened so quickly but the lovely Lorna took photos on her own phone to make sure we captured the moment. I hadn’t met her before but Lorna immediately put me at ease and it is a real skill she has to be able to go into a stranger's home at a very vulnerable time and make them feel so comfortable.

Our second midwife Karen arrived about an hour later and she tidied away the birthing pool whilst my husband attended to our son upstairs. Lorna & Karen were a wonderful team, both had a very calming presence and we appreciated that they took themselves to another room to give us some privacy as a family to bond with our new baby.

My main fear was having another 3rd degree tear and having to transfer to hospital but thankfully Lorna was able to suture a lesser tear in my own living room. The midwives left around 5 hours after arrival and you would never know a baby had been born that morning!

Lorna checked in later that day and came out to do some of our checks in the following week. She came on Christmas Day and even brought gifts for our son and daughter which was so thoughtful and kind!

Mary came out to do our final few checks before handing over to health visitors.

The continuity of care throughout the team is fantastic and both myself and my husband have not stopped talking about our experience as a whole. Although the birth wasn’t quite the serene and relaxing pool birth I envisioned it was amazing to be in our own home. One thing I don’t think I ever mentioned to any of the midwives is that we had a traumatic miscarriage management in our first pregnancy and I find going to the hospital stressful and it brings back very painful memories - being able to avoid the place completely was something I didn’t know was possible!

We can’t thank the home birth team enough, every midwife we met was so enthusiastic and clearly loved their job. Mary, Lorna and Karen are a real credit to their profession and I feel so privileged that our daughter was born at home and we were supported by these lovely midwives. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this team to anyone even remotely considering a home birth.