Birth Coaching Company News & Birth Stories

Hi Maureen,

We are all doing really well here. I am now getting around to writing my birth story! 

Thank you again for supporting us in homebirth number two! Labouring spontaneously and being at home were so important to us and after a little derailment in the last few weeks we are just so happy to have done it again. Second time was somewhat different! You had told us it was likely to be quicker but I was taken a little by surprise! My latent labour started at 2am Sunday morning. It was extremely mild and the surges were short. It was a little odd to me that they were quite frequent, at least more than I expected. I guessed approximately every 10 minutes. Still, they were mild so I felt we were early stages and I didn’t wake Ralph (he was in with our daughter Florie anyway).

I eventually got up at 6.30am and Florie was awake so Ralph sent her to get up with me. I said ‘I have been having surges since 2am, but don’t worry, they are mild, you go back to sleep as one of us might as well be rested’.  Surges were still mild but similar in their rhythm. With it being mild I was thinking what I would do with the day, Ralph even said we might get out to do some gardening! My mum and dad came for Florie around 10am (we felt that was best for her). By now I was having to stop and focus a little as a surge came but they were nothing too intense, maybe a little longer. As soon as Florie left about 10.30 ish I felt I needed to lie on my bed in the dark…the first surge after that was VERY intense, like things had suddenly ramped up. Ralph was moving bins and cars as the midwives had suggested we do and then planned to start on the birth pool. Another intense one and I called Ralph as I was a bit taken aback by the sudden change. I felt they were coming with shorter breaks now and longer. I wasn’t doing strict  timing by a watch but with a rough check they were roughly a minute and I was getting two in ten minutes. This change all happened over 10 minutes too. I suggested he call triage and let them know. I wasn’t sure whether we needed anyone as they were short albeit frequent. Then I had bloody mucus and immediately felt I had to stand up and felt pressure downwards. I said to Ralph I think the baby is moving down, I could feel pressure on my perineum and it was all sounding familiar from what we had discussed and I thought I need the midwives now! Triage were contacting the midwives but we hadn’t heard so he rang back for approximate timing. We weren’t getting anything back quickly so they suggested calling 999 to have incase the midwives didn’t make it and there was any assistance needed after we birthed for me or baby. At the same time he’s trying to get a birth pool up and full! I felt like I then went into transition as my whole body was shaking. Everything you had taught us about was so helpful for me to feel in control as I felt I knew what was happening. Eventually we got told a midwife was 7 mins away and paramedics 5 mins. I felt a huge relief once Sam our midwife arrived at 11.37am. There was a point when I thought it would be Ralph and I birthing the baby and I felt ok, the baby is coming no matter now so if it’s us then so be it, but having the midwife felt like that extra partner, reassurance and support. Sam got me downstairs although the pool wasn’t full but I didn’t care, I just knelt over resting on the couch. Felix was birthed at 11.56am, in his waters! 

We did manage to squeeze in visualisation during the head coming and one detonates when I was in the bedroom so we were pleased to implement these in the short space of time! But what really also helped me to feel in control was the knowledge from our sessions previously, our recap as well as your notes - I was able to feel the changes and progressions much more this time too. Ralph was so incredibly calm despite having to navigate getting things ready and be on the phone a lot and this helped me stay calm and focused too. In retrospect it’s nice to have had one baby in water and one on land as it did feel different! The placenta came physiologically soon after and then the pure bliss of immediately lying in my own living room on my own couch came. Honestly there is nothing better! The midwives stayed till about 2.30pm and it was wonderful just us all relaxed and enjoying the experience we all shared, leisurely doing all the things that needed to be done and feeling so joyful with Felix and having done our second home birth! 

Thank you so very much! 

Felicity and Ralph 

Hi Maureen,

I hope you’re okay.

We just wanted to share with you the amazing news of our baby birth on the 29th August, same day as my birthday 🥳 

I barely had an early labour stage, or if I did I didn’t notice it… irregular contractions started 4 pm and by 5 pm I had regular and established contractions. By 8 pm I noticed the urge to push as my breathing changed and we called the midwife. 9:30 pm the midwife did a vaginal examination that quickly confirmed that I was fully dilated and the head was visible.

Due to some logistics problems and the speed of the labour the birth pool wasn’t quite ready until 10 pm so I waited with some gas air help… I jumped, in and after some down breathing and a few pushes Alma was born by 11:15 pm.

She was 3.64 Kg, no complications, no tearing, breastfeeding and lots of skin to ski  within the golden hour and placenta came out naturally.

The Labour was 7 hours approx, which made it quite shocking but hypnobirthing helped us to get through it in a stage of hypnosis and to relax and stay in control of my mind the whole time! 

Thanks a lot for your help in empowering us with knowledge, tools and attitudes that helped us to make of this a wonderful and incredible positive experience!

We are amazed by the fact that this way of birthing is not so popular and we are happy to give any further feedback or support in promoting positive births!

Love,

Jael, David and Alma