Anna Brown - Better Births

I phoned my mum and asked her to come and collect our daughter so that we could concentrate on the labour. I did hip circles on my birthing ball, as advised by Emily, to help dilate my cervix. After my mum left, I was struggling to talk through contractions. They were coming every two and a half to three minutes. It had only been about an hour and a half since I had my sweep, so I thought surely I'd still have ages left. I phoned Emily to let her know that things had ramped up, but I told her I felt as though I was coping well at the moment. She advised that my husband should start filling up the pool with water and I could get in to use it for pain relief if I wanted. She also informed Heather who was on call for births that day .

Heather phoned me a few minutes after I had got off the phone to Emily to check how I was doing, and even though it was only a few minutes later, I suddenly couldn't cope with the pain anymore. I couldn't talk and was crying through contractions. She stayed on the phone to me to listen and gauge how I was labouring and said that she was going to drive over immediately. I still thought that I probably had ages to go until I delivered the baby .

Heather arrived and by this stage I was on all fours in my lounge and I was ‘mooing’ loudly to get through the pain! I suddenly felt as though I couldn't go through with the delivery and remembered that feeling from my last labour as being incredibly close to having the baby. I still couldn't believe that it was all happening so quickly .

Heather helped me take my underwear off and asked my husband to get our birth kit ready and put the shower curtain out on the floor as the baby was likely to be out a bit quicker than we all thought! The contractions were becoming unbearable and I felt a huge urge to push. I asked for gas and air and my husband stayed with me and kept talking to me the whole time, encouraging me to keep going. My body seemed to do most of the work as each contraction felt so strong and made me involuntarily push. The position I was in really helped and was the most ‘comfortable’ one to be – leant forwards over the arm of an armchair. By now Kirsty had also arrived who I had seen at all of my antenatal appointments. It was so nice to have two familiar faces at my delivery .

Heather had a mirror which she put on the floor between my legs so that she could see how close the baby was to coming out. Every step of the way she was incredible and told me exactly what to do. When to push and when not to push. She was so reassuring and if I felt panicked or scared, she seemed to read my mind and told me exactly what was going on, which was hugely calming .

Once the baby's head was out she told me to reach down and put my hand on his head. It was the most incredible and emotional feeling I have ever experienced. I burst into tears and felt so much relief that he was nearly out. To be able to feel his head there was just amazing! With the next push he was out, and Heather helped pass him to me as I sat back and brought him to my chest whilst I sobbed (with relief and happiness!) .

Just after our baby was born and as I brought him to my chest, Kirsty used my husband's phone to take a few photos of the three of us. I hadn't realised they were being taken at the time and they are the most precious photos! I'm so grateful to her for taking them for us!!

I opted for physiological management of the placenta, so I didn't have the injection. About five minutes after delivering my baby I felt a lot of pressure down below and Heather helped me deliver the placenta, which was quick and pain‐free. Heather and Kirsty helped clean me up, covered my sofa in towels and protective sheets and helped me lie back on the sofa and enjoy skin to skin with my baby. I put him to the breast straight away. I then realised the birthing pool was still filling up! My husband hadn't had time to switch the tap off, but luckily it was only half full .

The cherry on top was when the midwives brought me a cup of tea and a brownie to enjoy whilst I chilled on the sofa with my husband and our gorgeous new baby in the comfort of our own home. They really do go the extra mile .

Heather, Kirsty and all the members of the team we met along the way were absolutely amazing: kind, compassionate and incredibly professional. I am forever grateful that they made our home birth experience so special. I can't recommend the Homebirth Team enough .

Every night in my 39th week of pregnancy I kept going to bed thinking: is this it, will we get to meet our baby tonight? It's such a weird feeling having absolutely no control of your body and not knowing when such a big life change will happen .

I'll be honest: it felt really lonely waiting, especially as my husband was working all week. I kept telling myself you just have let it go and trust my body will do what it needs to do when it's ready to do it. As I knew from practising hypnobirthing, my body would not begin the process of birth until it was fully relaxed and ready .

On the Thursday of that week, I was woken just after midnight by my waters breaking. It wasn't the big surge of water you imagine but enough to know that things were starting. I took myself to the bathroom, told my husband James and headed back into bed to try and get some rest. The surges began slowly so I started timing them using a brilliant app called ‘Freya’. Every time a surge (contraction) would start, I would press the button on the app and it would count through my surges. I messaged my midwife an hour later to let her know and also my student midwife, Maddy, who had been following my journey through pregnancy since my first appointment with the community midwife .

After a few hours, I decided to curl up on the sofa under a blanket with only a candle for light (Jo Malone London – Mimosa & Cardamom – a scent I'd been drawn to through my pregnancy) and listened to my birthing playlist through my headphones. Still counting and breathing through my surges .

Ollie (our three year‐old) woke up around 6.00 a.m. and by this time my surges were getting stronger but were still comfortable. He and my husband James started getting all the things needed for the birthing pool – old towels, waterproof sheets, the pool, hose, etc. He even got a chair from his room to put inside the pool, so I had somewhere to sit; this was particularly funny .

About this time one of my best friends messaged me this perfect quote: ‘My job is simply to relax and allow my body to birth my baby.’ Reading that along with my prepared positive affirmations, I was feeling strong and powerful at this point. I found walking around the house and taking myself from room to room to experience the surges really lovely. At one point I opened the front door to breathe in the sunlight and spring air. I remember looking out of my bedroom window a lot at our garden and spraying some of my Basil & Neroli Jo Malone London fragrance. It reminds me of bright spring mornings, and this was exactly what it was like this particular morning as the sun was rising .

I asked James to call the midwives around 8 a.m. as the surges were more powerful and he would be having to take Ollie to playschool at 9 a.m. and I didn't want to be on my own. They arrived around 8.30 and the pool started to be filled. Again, Ollie enjoyed helping with this job, as well as getting out his doctor's kit to show the midwives and playing them some tunes on his guitar. He kept them highly entertained. And I was so happy he was around for this part of the labour .

The midwives arrived so quietly, just coming into my bedroom to listen to baby's heartrate and taking my blood pressure. Apart from that they completely left me alone. I remember thinking I should offer them a cup of tea, but they just helped themselves which was perfect. I also remember thinking they must be so bored; but they were great, so patient and so calm and quiet, just letting my body do its thing. I really appreciated not having that transition to the hospital this time round (as I had done with Ollie) .