Baby no.3 | Our second home water birth experience
I knew the minute I found out I was expecting our third baby that I wanted a home water birth again after the success of our home water birth with our second son Dexter. With two young children and no local family, it made the most logical sense too.
The only thing we never expected was being pregnant and giving birth in a pandemic. Fortunately, we had luck on our side as our hospital trust never stopped home births, instead closing the midwife run birth centre that I gave birth to Henry in instead. This obviously worked in our favour which I am very grateful for and my home birth choice was never questioned by my lovely midwife.
As our last birth (we’re definitely not having anymore babies I swear!) it was pretty much perfect though admittedly quite an intense experience. So here goes, our second home water birth experience, in a pandemic.
I guess my labour story really starts the day before after we went for a long walk (and to get some instagram photos) after which I was getting twinges throughout the evening and night to the point I took painkillers to help me sleep. I didn’t think much of the pains, thinking they were just from maybe over doing it on our walk, but hindsight, it was probably my body starting labour.
The next morning (Monday) I woke to some mild pains in my back like period pains which made me think I could be in labour. I rested a bit, Dann took Henry to school and I put Dexter down for his nap. At this point I was getting proper contractions, but sparodically. I started timing them on an app, and had my ball inflated so I could bounce and do a bit of reading as a distraction. At half 10 I called our labour line as although I wasn’t following the exact guidelines for contractions, they were definitely getting painful and I had to pause to breathe through them. After a chat with the midwife, we decided to wait and call back when I wanted the midwives to come out. I lasted half an hour before I decided I needed the midwives to come out as I was starting to get a building pressure going downwards with the contractions. 11am they agreed to send a midwife out who called at 20 past to say she was coming out, would be a maximum of half an hour and did I feel like baby was on her way so would require a second midwife. The answer was a definite yes.
I’m not 100% on the time the midwives arrived, but our first midwife Maggie arrived with her student and turned out to be the same midwife who had attended Dexter’s home birth in the second half just in time for his arrival, and who also assisted as a student, at Henry’s birth. It was an absolute joy to see her again. The second midwife arrived shortly after. They got themselves set up and brought their kit in. Offered the gas and air which I was very glad to see and checked my vitals before doing an internal exam on the sofa. I was between 6-8cm dilated. She reckoned 6cm but dilating fast, and was given the go ahead to get into our pool.
We’d been organised this time around. Dann had inflated our La Bassine pool (hired again from the Gentle Births Birthing Pool Hire) before the school run, and then started to fill it when I called the midwives the second time. It was full and at temperature when they arrived as we used our kitchen and bathroom taps to get it filled quickly. I think it was around about a 30-40 minute fill time and our boiler, thankfully, kept up this time!
Dexter woke from his nap at 12, just before I got in the pool, and we called a friend to grab him who was already planning on a play date with another of our friends.
Now I’m not sure on timescales from this point, but from getting in the pool and Temperance arriving wasn’t all that long. Long enough, but she wasn’t hanging about. I knew I was pushing, and there was action happening as the midwives were behind me with the mirror – I was lent on the side of the pool, kneeling, with the gas and air – and the doppler was being used after every contraction. They felt pretty intense, more painful than Dexters, or rather I felt far more aware of the contractions and the pushing feeling.
I felt her head come out, and seconds later her body slip out too which shocked me a lot as I wasn’t expecting her to come out just yet, and definitely not all at once. I vaguely recall them saying she was coming in her sack, but it turns out it burst just as she came out. She basically didn’t crown, and took everyone by surprise with her delivery. The midwives helped me move back so she could be passed between my legs and up on to my chest. Her arrival time was 12:47pm, with Dexter watching the whole thing.
It was a great birth, if a little intense and quite fast. One of the more memorable parts being the placenta delivery. I opted for the injection so moved from the pool to the sofa with the help of the midwives. Just as I was about to lay on the sofa, the placenta dropped and hit the floor by my feet. I obviously apologised to the midwives and asked if their shoes were OK (I’m apparently incredibly polite during and after birth) and they had a good laugh about it.
All in all it was a lovely birth experience to finish with. We all had a cup of tea together with our lovely midwives, Dexter went on his playdate so we had a couple of hours as just Dann and I with our baby girl before he went to get Henry from school.
The clear up was all done before he left too, including the pool. Aside from the placenta incident, home birthing really isn’t all that messy to be honest, especially if you have a lot of towels, which all went straight into the washing machine before the midwives left.
I can’t thank the community midwife team at Southampton NHS Trusts enough. My two home births have been wonderful experiences with the kindest and most supportive ladies.