« The home water birth of Jye »

The home water birth of Jye, told by his mother Tracy.
 
The idea of having a homebirth never crossed my mind at first. I'd had my first baby at 18 and was a bit naive about the whole thing, I knew HOW the baby would come out and to expect it to hurt but that was about it.  My first and second births were quite traumatic really. There was lots of intervention and I lost faith in myself and my body to be able to birth my babies without the need of drugs to get them out! 

3 years later, I was expecting my third baby. I wanted it to be different, I wanted to do it on my own. So I went off to hospital at the first signs of labour and was lucky to be there on a quiet night with a wonderful midwife who understood my wishes to have as natural birth as possible. It was calm and things progressed nicely as they should. When it got to the point where I felt like it was too much, she
suggested labouring in the bath for a while. Fantastic! Only, by thetime the bath was filled – my babe was earthside! No matter, I actually DID it on my own, no drugs and no intervention. Faith had been
restored. 

It was only a mere 9 months later that I got married and conceived on our honeymoon. This time I opted for the family birth centre instead. The fear was gone now. I booked into the centre after visiting and being informed that I should be allowed to birth in water. After hearing that, I was determined this child of mine was going to be born into water! Imagine my dismay at 19 weeks when I went for my first
visit only to be told I was absolutely not allowed to birth in the water. I was so disappointed, but I decided to explore my options.

Surely someone, somewhere would let me have the birth I wanted. This was the time that I discovered the world of homebirth. I immediately sent in my application to a government funded program and hoped and prayed that I got accepted. Places fill up very fast and at 20 weeks, the chances of getting a spot were pretty slim. There was no need to worry though because I got a very prompt reply and a few short weeks later, I met my midwife Marilyn. She was fantastic, guiding me through the ins and outs of what to expect. I looked forward to meeting with her every appointment and she was very maternal towards me – always giving me the biggest hug when she left. 

Our meetings were so different to the hospital. She'd stay at least an hour and we'd talk about all sorts of things – the birth, my previous births, different tests(plenty of info so I could make an informed decision) – she got to know my kids. I got to know her and I knew she'd be a welcome addition
to our birthing space when the time came. 

And so the days rolled on and I had a few false starts(embarrassing I know, after 3children!). My due date came and went. I tried to not stress about it because I felt like it was going to make the wait even longer. I will admit that I did feel a little anxious, I was frightened of being transferred to the hospital if things didn't go according to plan. At 40 weeks and 5 days – my first 'overdue' baby – I woke at around 3am to a mildly painful surge. After the false starts I had, I couldn't help but smile to myself. That was most definitely a real one. I rolled over and hugged my husband while he slept, I didn't want to wake him yet but I was practically bursting at the seams knowing that our little boy would be earthside that day. I squished down the excitement as much as possible and tried to go back to sleep. So different to the rush of getting the car packed and other kids off to be babysat and then drive to the hospital. My birth space was ready, the kids were fast asleep. I could just enjoy this special moment. While I dozed, I was woken a few times by surges. It was around 5.30am that I decided to get up and wake up my husband. He then went about calling his mum before she got ready for work so that she could come over and get the kids ready for school.

We phone Marilyn around 6ish to tell her that things were happening and we decided she should come over. My babies don't tend to hang around in the womb for long once they decide it's time to come out.

   
 
The surges kept coming. I can't tell you how far apart they were, I didn't feel it necessary to time them, just as my midwife felt it wasn't necessary to do any internal examinations – my babe would come when he was good and ready. I got hubby to fill the birth pool, which was conveniently beside my bed. The candles were lit and the oil burner going. It was very serene if you ignored the TV going quietly in the
background. I was already in the birth pool by the time Marilyn came and I gently laboured away. My surges were nothing like what I've experienced before, they came in clusters – three on top of each other and then a big break. I moved around in the water a lot but didn't want to get out, it was tough getting out to use the toilet and I tried so hard to be quick so that I wouldn't have a surge on dry land – it hurtso much more!!  

 
 
My backup midwife arrived at some point, close to 10am I think. It was her day off though. I just remember her and Marilyn sitting quietly in the hallway while I continued to labour. The surges went up a few notches by around 10.30am and I remember saying aloud that the babe is going to be born at lunch time. I was finding it hard to get comfortable now, the pain was radiating into my back. Hubby was on hand holding and water pouring duty(pouring the water from the pool over a flannel on my
back = bliss). I was beginning to get sleepy at this point and I dozed off between surges, not really noticing my back up midwife leave at 11.30am to go to an appointment with the promise that she'd be back in time for the baby. 

At this stage, things happened fast. I had a burst of energy and decided my knees were hurting, so I rolled over into a sitting position. The next surge I had was the uncontrollable urge to push. It was time
already! My midwife urged me to get back on my knees, which I did and my hubby was kneeling in front of me on the floor. Thinking back, I had such a major death grip on his elbows. The poor man must have been uncomfortable, but to his credit, he didn't utter a single complaint. My midwife made a quick call to another midwife who was nearby to comeand be her backup.  

 
 
I felt my little boys head move down into my pelvis and then the streeeeetch, oh boy did I roar as loud as I could and thanked my lucky stars it was midday and the neighbours probably wouldn't call the cops! My midwife happily stayed aside and snapped photos as my baby turned and my waters broke. She asked if either of us wanted to touch his head but I was still roaring away, I knew he would be big and I felt every bit of how big he actually was. Hubby had wanted to touch him but my death grip on his arms could not be loosened. With one more giant roar, my little boy was born into the birth pool and floated up between my husband and I. I quickly pulled back and scooped my boy up into my arms
and sat back in the pool. He was still quite blue and unresponsive, so we did a lot of talking and stroking to get him to respond. At this point my midwife stated that she would need to give him a few puffs of air with the bag – she was quick and 2 minutes after he was born he finally gave a cry and opened his eyes to see what his mummy and daddy looked like. Even during all of this, I didn't panic. His cord was still attached and pulsating. I got out of the pool and onto our bed so we could attempt breastfeeding and wait for the placenta to be birthed. Around now is when the second backup midwife arrived and she was disappointed that she missed all the action!! Our little boy, who we named Jye, latched on and had a long feed. It only took 30 minutes for the placenta to arrive.  

 
 
Jye really was the big baby I expected, weighing in at 10lb with a 37cm head (and now you would understand the loud roaring I did). It was the most amazing, empowering experience - to birth my baby at home without any intervention, just the way nature intended.  

 

 
 
  

I found out in August last year that I was expecting again and now I am eagerly awaiting my second homebirth in around 11 weeks time. I just know it's going to be as amazing as it was the last time.
 

  

Tracy is a mother to four boys, and step mom to one girl. She is expecting another soon, and is planning another home birth! You can read herblog, Crazy Beautiful, here