Hi Jo,
So one day after his estimated due date our wee surprise arrived… Turned out to be a boy! July 9th, the story of our amazing and empowering homebirth of baby Rowan.
Rowan arrived after a week of early labour signs… Constant backache and a few irregular contractions that would come and go. On Wednesday night after trying to get comfy and ending up on the couch in front of the fire i got up to go toilet and thinking I had wet myself, realised my waters had broken so at 3:45am things started to move along a bit more. A few hefty contractions followed but again nothing really stuck so I tried to get some rest.By 7am things were ticking along and we let my midwife, Jo know what was happening.
I was feeling so calm and at peace this whole time, lots of pacing and hip circles and warmth were helping me ease through the contactions.
Our daughter Olive was up now and reminding me to “breath and stay calm Mamma” whilst helping me do my EFT as I paced around the house. Nothing like a 2 year old to remind you why you are doing this! At 10am my midwife arrived and asked if I wanted to be examined to see how many centimetres I was dialated… Turned out only 2cm. Midwife, Jo left, but was doing visits in the area as now we are thinking this could all go on for a while. To say I was really dissapointed would be an understatement as I felt like these contractions were pretty darn full on already… But I didn’t let this get to me and tried to get some rest and sleep in bed. After 10 mintues of being insanely uncomfortable in bed, it was a hot shower that made me relax again and the loud labour began!
I was stomping around like an elephant, breathing through contactions and shouting through them too. Massage was also a life saver with Jo’s special birth oil which I couldn’t get enough of on my lower back. My Mum was pottering around the house and at about 12pm I told her I needed to get my Partner, Maarten who had taken Olive to the playground home as this was getting full on. Midwife, Jo arrived not long after him and it was all hands on deck for the birth pool as I was fast stripping and making sounds I didn’t know I could make! I felt like I was splitting in two and that the intensity of each contraction could not increase anymore. I kept visualising each contraction as a wave that would gush in and out, or in my case I would shout it out!
Going between the toilet, stomping around the lounge and leaning on walls, I felt it was time to push and climbed in the not quite full birth pool. My Mum and and Maarten were racing between the kitchen and bedroom filling as fast as the water would boil! That birth pool was amazing, gripping the high sides and resting between each massive contraction was brilliant.
At 2.26pm Rowan made his entrance like a wee fish in the pool squirming around, after my amazing midwife Jo untangled him, cord wrapped around his neck twice and his body once I lifted him to my chest and a little blow on his face he let out quite the cry! At this point Olive and my sister returned from the park… I will never forget her face as she met her baby brother for the first time, a look of pure disbelief, love and awe as she saw us in the pool! After delivering the placenta, Olive watched as her Daddy cut Rowan’s umbilical cord. Climbing into my own bed for skin to skin was perfect and having my family surround me was just beautiful as we all got to know our new family member.
I feel truly blessed to have experienced this amazing birth, where I felt totally in control of the situation, trusting my body and baby and having a midwife who believed in me and gave me the space to do my thing, which I really valued. It was an intense and short active labour, but thank goodness for freedom of movement, that is what got me through those “I can’t cope” moments. I know that your preggy yoga classes and all that I have learnt from you, also greatly shaped this experience, so thank you Jo for all your wisdom 🙂
I shall be booking in for that postnatal massage soon!!
Fern xx
