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Katie's homebirth story

Leading up to Tommy’s birth I had had multiple days of feeling tightenings for a few hours which would fizzle out, I found myself getting my hopes up over and over that we would meet our baby that day and then feeling disappointed when labour would not start. So on Thursday when I began to feel pains I discounted the sensations, blaming it on eating too much for lunch haha. I carried on with my day and night, I went to bed with my 4 year old son, Willy. My partner Cob was on nightshift that night and when I awoke at around 1:30am with an increase in sensations I asked him to come home so he could be rested for the following day. When he arrived home at 3:30am I got out of bed and tried to relax in our bathtub, soon finding that it was the most uncomfortable, hard, cold place to be at 40 weeks pregnant and in labour!! I managed some more sleep and the following morning I pottered around the house playing with Willy, cleaning, making food and trying to remain active. After a few hours I put on the TENS and found it so relieving I was able to have a nap.

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At around 1:30pm I woke up and I was worried that my resting had halted labour but I was feeling too distracted by the noisy boys playing in the house so I asked them to go out for a while so I could try to labour upright and more actively in the lounge room.
By 2:30 contractions had intensified so SO much! I began shaking and vomiting and suddenly felt hot and cold. I removed the TENS thinking it may have been contributing to the shakiness and I asked Cob to return home, and messaged both Cara and our midwife Courtney and asked them to start making their way to our house.


Cob arrived home just after 3 and I asked him to start blowing up the birth pool, we both still thought we had hours to go as my labour with Willy had been long and intense with a very long coached pushing phase. I retreated to our bedroom and knelt on the floor with my arms and head on the bed as this felt the most comfortable for me. I started to get an urge to push so was calling out for Cob who was ignoring me to focus on the pool, he thought I was ‘just carrying on a bit’. He later said he was convinced I was nowhere near ready to birth so didn’t take me seriously!
 

Cara walked through our front door at around 3:30 (I think) and came straight to my side. I told her I had the urge to push but I didn’t know if I just needed to use the toilet. I can remember Cara helping me into our bathroom and I remember feeling awkward because I thought I just had to poo and Cara didn’t leave the room haha. I was saying over and over ‘I’m not ready I’m not ready’ because our midwives hadn’t yet arrived, but my body started to take over and I could no longer control the urge to push.

 

I felt my waters break into the toilet and very soon after I was able to feel the top of our baby’s head. Cara was calling for Cob who still didn’t think anything much was happening and as a result, almost missed the birth! Luckily he eventually came to see what all of the fuss was about, just in time to see the head, he grabbed a towel and Cara guided him to support the baby as the body emerged at 4:01 pm. I can remember looking down and seeing that it was another boy and feeling so over the moon with love that we had another son and that the birth had been so swift and straightforward. Tommy started crying instantly which was a big relief and Willy and our dog Charlie both ran into the room to meet their new baby brother.


Our midwives arrived shortly after, I moved to our bed and stood a little later to birth the placenta. I was then tucked up in my own bed with my baby and brought cups of tea and snacks. I can remember feeling so content and cared for during that time, it was such a contrast to our previous hospital birth! All of mine and Tommy’s health checks were done there in our bed, Willy bossed Cara and our midwives around for his own drinks and snacks, and everyone cleaned up around us and left us as a family of four.


The entire labour and birth felt so surreal, I had no idea birth could be this magical and calm, completely undisturbed in our own home.

Katies one piece of advice for mothers and partners about to birth:

Invest in a doula! Whether it be for birth or postpartum, preferably both. We have had doula’s for both births which took vastly different journeys, but the support we felt from our doula’s at each birth made the world of difference to our experience.

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