We were so pleased to welcome this little man on Wednesday, 6 days late but at home.

It was a slow start and I spent the morning watching Netflix and eating bacon butties (beats tea and toast).
My contractions were of no real pattern but one warm bath later they increased and intensified so it was a call to the community midwives. They arrived at 3pm, all relaxed and we chatted as they monitored the contractions from a far. I knew it was time to go in the pool then at 5:40pm he arrived.

My first born, my son was born in hospital with no problems 41+1, 6/4/14. I had chosen a hospital birth because of my previous history of pelvic fracture but I always really deep down wanted to have him at home; but I risk managed the situation and was happy with my decision in the end. I used hypnobirthing and was completely calm. It was special I will never forget it. No drugs apart from good old natural oxytocin.

With my second born, my daughter, born 8/7/17 I was going down the route of hospital birth in the MLU as it was a good experience and I hadn’t really been asked anything about my birth plans. I had chatted about my thoughts on the hypnobirthing refresher course with the lovely Sandra. She got me thinking about my deep down thoughts about homebirth. With a new seed sown I spent weeks pondering before mentioning it to the midwife. For reasons I won’t go into I ended up discussing it with the manager of community midwifery who offered a visit from a very ‘’homebirth friendly midwife’’. Well that was it, the fabulous Midwife gave me that final confidence to go with my gut feeling.

When my wife mentioned home birth to me my first reaction was ‘no way’. I have a son with a previous partner; his birth was a scary experience. Epidural, Episiotomy, Forceps, not crying when he was born, taken away without explanation. And then my ex-partner got an infection and was in hospital for weeks. So what if that happened this time to my wife? However, when I really thought about it; talked to the midwifes who were an excellent team, it was a good idea. It would make it a better experience for me, i would be in my own home where I can relax.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, Nancy almost 5 years ago, my midwife told me I’d be a perfect candidate for a home birth. I was intrigued, I’d never heard of anyone have a home birth! My husband completely dismissed the idea, with it being our first baby we didn’t know what to expect with labour. I knew I wanted a natural birth if possible, but was open to the possibility of pain relief.

When the time came, I took one contraction at a time and managed to remain in control. I stayed at home for as long as possible, chilling out in the bath and eating toast. I enjoyed being in my own environment; just me and my husband. I was only at the hospital for 90 mins before our beautiful baby girl entered the world, with only the use of gas and air.

Fast forward 2 years when I fell pregnant with my little boy. I knew I wanted my home birth this time! I bought myself a book about home birth and educated myself and my husband. It wasn’t long before he was completely on board, too.