The empowering home birth of baby Marnie

I was advised by a friend to look into Hypnobirthing during my first trimester so, after reading a couple of books on it (Katherine Graves and Siobhan Miller), my partner Alex and I decided we'd like some practical guidance and training, and found Yvette after some online research.

The course was very helpful and gave us both more confidence than we'd expected; Alex had started out somewhat sceptical, if supportive, of my decision to have a homebirth (I've never needed to go to hospital for treatment, with the exception of a trip to A&E with a drunkenly twisted ankle, and was very uneasy with the prospect), but was a total convert to the idea by the time we finished with Yvette a month and a half before my due date. For my part, I had gone from apprehension about my ability to get through the birthing experience at all, to excited anticipation and being enthusiastic to try the techniques I'd learned. I had already used them successfully during blood tests, as until this point I had a fear of needles that had been with me since childhood, and was impressed with how effective the breathing had been in helping me deal with that fear.

I had convinced myself that I would begin labour two weeks past my due date, so when I started to experience unusual back pains after dinner three days before my due date, I convinced myself that it was nothing and went to bed. After dozing for an hour or so, the feeling became more intense so I got up to roam the house and try to relax.

By midnight the feeling (an intense backache every 5-7 minutes or so) had not abated, so I called the midwife unit, who advised that what I was experiencing were indeed surges, and we agreed that I would sit tight and call back once the surges were more frequent. I left Alex to sleep for a little while longer, knowing that he would need all of his energy to support me over the next day or so, and attempted to finish prepping the front room, which we had (typically) not quite done.

By around 4:30am, I was struggling to achieve anything useful between surges, so I went back to bed. Alex woke up at this point and began to talk me through the breathing exercises we'd learned, which I must admit had rather fallen by the wayside in my distracted state. We called the midwife unit again, and had a midwife with us by 6:30am. She sat with us for half an hour or so before deciding that it would be a little while yet before I reached established labour and leaving.

Somewhat disheartened that I might be doing this for some time (I'm quite impatient), I did my best to focus on my breathing. By around 9am, my surges were coming thick and fast, often feeling like there was no rest at all between them, and when I went to the toilet I discovered fresh blood (about the amount I'd expect to see at the beginning of my period).

Alex called the midwives again to let them know, and I could hear him on the phone with them asserting that we'd rather not come into the hospital at this point (they initially suggested this due to the blood). They arrived at the house maybe half an hour later, and after checking me over let me know that the blood was my mucus plug and nothing to worry about. At this point, I was very much in the throes of established labour and incredibly relieved to hear that I wouldn't be needing to go into hospital in my current condition.

After this point it's all a bit of a blur - Alex filled the pool while I stayed in the bedroom, bracing and making some interesting cow like noises (he has since assured me that I wasn't as loud as I had thought). The midwives asked if I would like to stay on the bed or move to the pool, and I opted to move to the pool (thank goodness, as our sheets and mattress topper would have been ruined otherwise).

I spent an hour or so in the pool before the midwives asked me to get out - during this time they had been monitoring the baby's heartbeat (I'm afraid I got rather short with them about this, as the constant monitoring was making me physically and mentally uncomfortable) and had decided that I had spent too long in one position.

Alex made me eat half a banana, as I had only had a smoothie up until that point and was clearly running out of energy. I have to say that, until this point, I had been so focused on framing the surges as intense...well, surges, rather than pain, that I'd forgotten entirely that there would be actual pain as the baby's head crowned. 

I'm not sure entirely how long this last part took - probably not more than half an hour - but eventually I felt something give and I was told that her head was out, meaning just one more little push and along came the rest of her.

Marnie Ilse McMillan was born 7.7lbs at 12:45 on Friday afternoon, just in time for lunch. I absolutely couldn't have done it so quickly without Alex and almost certainly would have ended up in the hospital without his firm intervention, which allowed me to focus solely on the job at hand without having to worry about being transferred. 

Eilidh, Alex and Marnie

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