So here I was on the Journey of home birth. Every birth is so personal, it is something that you will never forget, I wanted ours to be perfect, so I quickly began to research on-line and read anything I could about the home birth experience. There were a few things we needed to buy, towels, sheets, tarpaulin. But really that was about it. As my 36 week appointment loomed, I decided to pack my hospital bag just in case. At 36 weeks, the midwife came to our house to discuss how the home birth would work. She brought a bag full of hospital sheets and gloves and we discussed where and how the birth would take place. She was so laid back by the whole idea, my confidence grew and grew.
Next stop was to order a birth pool. Aileen at NCT gave me the number of a company not too far away, I made the order.
So with the pool on order and the towels bought, all that was left was to wait for labour day to arrive.
Okay so there were some things that I did, during that wait, in preparation for the big day. For me there were three elements that were invaluable for my home birth, I honestly believe that I could not of got through that day if it had not been for the following three things.
- Pregnancy Yoga.
- Hypno-birthing.
- Exercise / walking.
I started Pregnancy Yoga when I was 14 weeks pregnant, and I went almost every week up until the week of the birth. I also did a one day Yoga-birth workshop at 38 weeks. The weekly Yoga sessions worked for me because not only did they help me to feel calm throughout my pregnancy, but I also used a number of exercises at home in the week leading up to the birth, which I am convinced assisted with my delivery. The one day workshop was great as Boyf came along (he would say under duress) and it prepared us both by giving us tips on positions to use at each stage of labour.
During one of my Yoga sessions we were lucky enough to have a guest speaker, Katy Redford, who had started Hypnobirthing sessions at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport. Katy explained the concept of Hypnobirth and the idea that fear makes us tense, which as a result makes labour slower and more painful. The idea of hypnobirthing really appealed to me, however I just couldn’t afford to pay the £200 fee to go on the course. So instead, I downloaded a couple of Hypnobirth sessions onto my Iphone and fell asleep to them each night. Sometimes I would listen to them in the bath, and if nothing else, they made me feel very calm and positive about the looming B-day.
I had done masses of reading during my pregnancy and knew that exercise would serve me well. I walked as much as I could, and in the last week I was walking at least 3 miles, sometimes twice a day. I could feel the pressure building up in my pelvis and I knew that the baby was very low. Come B-day this really helped as I had a very quick labour, the baby was in the right position and I had the endurance to stay upright.
You may not believe me, but I knew the day I was going to go into labour. Don’t ask me how. I just knew. I knew I would have exactly a week from finishing work and I knew it would be a Friday. So, the week leading up to the birth, I tidied the house from top to bottom. (This wasn’t so much for the baby, but because I knew we would have so may visitors!) I stocked up the freezer. Bought Tea and biscuits for the midwives and set about transferring our home into a labour ward.
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