"HomeBirth in Water birthing pool"

We first met our midwife Frances at home, we had discussed the possibility of having a home birth and were initially apprehensive. After carefully considering the pros and cons, we really felt a home birth would be a much better experience,, we really felt comfortable once we understood what was involved. We had a lead Midwife Frances who was highly experienced and in the months before our due date, we got to meet all of the team through home visits.

Our baby was monitored on each home visit for growth and all the regular checks and we had researched a local business which rented birthing pools. we also attended a few hypnobirthing classes remotely which helped bridge any gaps in knowledge on our part. We really felt  full trust in the homebirth team, it felt personal and  we felt it was the best option for us and our baby for a  safe,  relaxed and confident birth.  Our pool was hired from Marie from Maytreearch and she explained about back massage in labour to ease pain and about setting up the pool/ fill times.

We felt very prepared ahead of the labour and we had excellent support when we went 2.5 weeks overdue, we were told should we need to speak to a midwife or consultant , just to call anytime, it genuinely felt like they cared about us and we really felt lucky to have these awesome health care professionals looking after us.  

Our labour started at about 12.30am and we called the midwife at 2.30am after contractions became increasingly intense. She came immediately with Pamela (also a superstar) after advising to start filing the water pool. They were supportive and reassuring but let us follow our hypnobirthing plan, they offered guidance and reassurance which was exactly what we needed. Our birth unfolded exactly as we hoped, without assistance or trauma,  and fairly quickly (3.5hrs)- all worlds apart from our first birth where we had an induction resulting in an assisted birth in theatre.

Our first birth felt clinical and prolonged over 4 days resulting in a longer healing and recovery time and left us  exhausted. It was quite surreal having our baby at home, and despite being very overwhelming initially with how quickly it happened. It was so comforting having  a cup of tea and toast on our sofa, while cuddling our new baby , 10 minutes after giving birth.

The team were so amazing at helping with the baby once she was here and having the first few home visits to check back in on the baby, meant we felt the care level was excellent and consistent. Thank you to our wonderful midwifery team and a special mention to Frances and her team again, for being amazingly supportive.