A natural first labour and birth at home

We are so thankful to Kay for her support throughout pregnancy and for helping to give us the natural homebirth we really wanted.

Being Company Directors of a Health Centre and my husband being a Chiropractor, we both believe in the importance of living a healthy & natural lifestyle. Because of the philosophy behind chiropractic we believe that the body is designed to heal itself when looked after properly. As a result of this I really wanted a natural birth but was aware that with birth you can’t predict what is going to happen. My initial thoughts were that surely it was safer to have your baby (especially your first) in hospital just in case something went wrong?  I know many people also assume this to be true. My husband and I had been discussing home birth vs hospital birth. At this point I was convinced of having our baby in hospital but in a birthing unit where there is access to water pools and if need be you can easily be moved to the labour ward if there were complications.  I had always wanted a water birth and so this seemed like a good option.

As it was my first baby, I was a bit apprehensive about the birth and my husband recommended we looked up getting a private midwife for extra support, which is where we came across Kent Midwifery Practice. We both felt that it would be great to have the same midwife throughout my pregnancy & for the birth. Having looked at the website, I decided to call Kay to make a consultation to see if this was right for us.

I spoke to Kay on the phone and immediately felt at ease even though I hadn’t met her yet. We arranged a consultation and she came to visit us in our home. It was during this consultation that we were able to discuss home birth, my birth preferences & any questions I had regarding pregnancy or birth. I was learning that home birth was generally safer due to a lower rate of medical intervention, it made me start questioning my initial birth preferences. Kay was extremely knowledgeable and gave me lots of information to let me make my own decision regarding homebirth. She also had a list of previous clients who were happy for me to contact them regarding their birth experiences with Kent Midwifery Practice & she strongly recommended I call at least 3 of them before making any decision to whether we would go ahead & book her. Each client I spoke to made me feel more at ease & confident that it was the right decision for me to book Kay for our care.

Following this, I made the decision that I wanted a home birth rather than the birthing unit at the hospital. I really wanted a water birth and I knew in that there was no guarantee that one would be available. Throughout the pregnancy Kay helped me to feel confident with any concerns I had and it was lovely getting to know her! She also helped me to make informed decisions regarding the type of labour I wanted & regarding our baby once she had been born. Once I had passed my due date I was a bit apprehensive as I really didn’t want to be induced, so we made the decision to wait and let nature take it’s course. We knew deep down that the baby would come when it was ready.

On Friday we had already booked an appointment with Kay at 2.30pm (which was about a week after my due date). By the time she came to us I was starting to have some contractions/waves and was making use of a birthing ball & the TENS machine intermittently. The appointment went really well & our baby was sitting really low in my pelvis. About an hour or so after Kay had left, I got a fair bit of what I thought was a bloody ‘show’. I wasn’t sure and it seemed there was quite a lot of blood so I decided to speak to Kay on the phone who offered to come and visit me. I knew I’d feel better about everything so asked her to come. She came and assured me it was normal, at this point my contractions/waves were starting to get more regular & I was needing to use the TENS machine on stronger settings. As the contractions were getting closer together & stronger Kay decided to stay with us and encouraged us that our baby was going to be coming that night! A while later I got into the water pool (I can’t recommend this enough!) as felt I needed something a little bit more. The pool was amazing and really helped me to relax in between contractions. My husband and Kay were both extremely supportive and encouraging- I don’t know how I would’ve done it without them! Kay took an attentive but unobtrusive approach. I didn’t have any vaginal examinations but she monitored my blood pressure, pulse and baby’s heart beat regularly to check all was well. Everything went smoothly and 7 & 1/2 hours of active labour later our beautiful baby girl Havilah was born! I felt proud of myself that I was able to deliver our baby at home with only needing to use the TENS machine & water pool for pain relief.

I will definitely choose to have a water birth at home next time. We are so delighted with our little girl and shes such a contented baby. Thank you Kay!