The Birth of Albie

First time mum / Homebirth / Hypnobirthing / Water birth

Written by Amy

11.15pm – After a relaxing day pottering, I got ready for bed and told baby that I was ready when he was! I couldn’t believe it, but I immediately felt a popping sensation, followed by a sharp pain. It was like he had been waiting for the signal!

I tried to go to sleep, thinking things would take a while to get going. 3 minutes later I had another contraction and started timing them. From my first contraction they were 3-4 minutes apart. My husband got back from work at around 11.30pm and my MIL who was living with us was in bed, so I asked them to start setting up the living room and get the pool inflated while I laboured in the bedroom upstairs. I used the Freya hypnobirthing app and upbreathing techniques for the first hour. The surges were getting quite intense so I asked my husband to call the midwives. It initially went through to voicemail (!) so he called the hospital who referred us to an MLU that was further away, and they were able to get a midwife on the way.

Once that was confirmed, I really relaxed into the surges, and things quickly escalated. I used a TENS machine when I started to feel overwhelmed and that felt AMAZING. I was on all fours in the kitchen, then felt the need to hang off my poor husband as my breathing started to change. There were no breaks between my contractions at this point and I started to get the sensation of needing to bear down.

My husband and MIL had the pool set up just in time. My MIL ran away upstairs with the dog and my husband took his position next to the pool. I didn’t want to be touched at all, and my body took over from this point. I felt my transition and my breathing changed without me even thinking about it, into big downward breaths. I kept my black nightdress on and hopped in the pool. The relief from the warm water was immediate and gave me a break before the second stage began.

At this point the midwife finally arrived! She was able to check baby’s heartbeat, and I could see that each time she checked it it was further and further down which was really reassuring. After 20 minutes of pushing (which I didn’t find painful at all – it was so satisfying feeling the head come down!) my beautiful baby boy was born in the water. The ring of fire is real, but other than that I found the second stage of labour incredible and pain free. I felt like superwoman.

I delivered the placenta outside the pool because I was getting it encapsulated, and needed some stitches afterwards. The second midwife arrived 20 minutes after baby did! Other than a slight setback of fainting due to labour being so quick, I had the most perfect birth I could have hoped for, and I was riding high on the oxytocin for days afterwards!

Thank you Mollie – I would never have had the confidence to go for a home birth if it wasn’t for you.

Baby Albie, 8lbs 8oz at 39+1 weeks. Born at home on 16th September 2021.