Category: Birth Stories

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Jasmine’s Story

I thought I’d share my birth story as I don’t think there are enough out there to promote home births. Mine started out a bit rough, but in the end it was magical.


Alianah Louise born on the 29th of July at 6:53pm, at home. Weighing 7lb 12oz. What I had concerns for turning into a negative birth story ended up incredibly positive.

I started contractions Thursday morning (the 28th) at 10:30. They were 3.5 minutes apart, each lasting for 40 seconds but were very mild. I rang the midwifery unit to let them know, as I was wanting a home birth, only to be told there was only one midwife on call that evening and so they couldn’t send her out (they have to have 2 attend). My contractions went off kilter at 12:30, I had a nap and they came back at 3:45. They got down to every 2 minutes for 40 seconds, and then stayed there for hours – still very mild (for me anyway, I have a very high pain threshold).

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Normalising the Use of Slings and Carriers During the ‘Fourth Trimester’, and Beyond!

Did you / do you use a baby sling or carrier?

One of our volunteers has made this video for one of their Occupational Therapy Degree modules at Sheffield Hallam University. They are currently on an extended scope placement working to normalise baby wearing, particularly during the fourth trimester (the first 3 months of baby’s life).

Melissa comments:

‘Having a baby absolutely turned my life upside, this little being suddenly needed everything from me and I found it so overwhelming, with my past experiences and identity lost in a haze of sleep deprivation. A turning point for me was when a family member bought me a stretchy sling. I learnt that I could keep baby happy and content on me, whilst freeing up my hands to do other things. Even being able to make food or a hot drink without my baby screaming made such a difference, as well as getting out and going for walks. Using the sling also kept my baby happy in shops and I found I felt less panicked and stressed.

Some of the benefits of using a sling or carrier, from the video Melissa has made
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Charley’s Story

💙 Known baby boy: Ezra Jude
⏰️ 6.6.21 @ 11.42. 39+6 w
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Fourth baby and 2nd boy
⚖️ Weighed 3.156kg 6lb 15.5oz (my biggest baby!)
🏡 First planned homebirth but ended up BBA
🏨 MLU transfer, 6hour discharge


What an amazing experience and it still doesn’t feel real or like it’s even my story to tell! I feel so lucky I got the birth I dreamed of, even though there were a couple of little hiccups along the way.


I’d been having quite painful tightenings over the last few weeks, they tended to happen on a night time and become quite strong but then disappeared by the morning. They started at 36 weeks and at first I did think he was going to come early as all my other babies have arrived before their dates (35 weeks for my first baby, 37 weeks 2nd baby and 38 weeks 3rd baby). Once I got to 38 weeks I just decided it was my body preparing for labour and maybe I was doing a bit too much too.

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Celebrating All Things Home Birth!

We were asked by our Local Maternity System (LMS) to make a Home Birth video for a virtual carousel.

For the last few years we have regularly attended the monthly carousel at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, to promote home birth as an option to local families and answer any queries.

Since the corona virus outbreak, these have been unable to run and have been greatly missed by many.

We have put together a simple video featuring real local home birthing families and their reasons for having a home birth. We hope you enjoy watching!

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Amy’s Story

I have always loved and found the long birth stories really inspiring and totally amazing during pregnancy so ‘Sorry not Sorry’ for the really really really long post… it will take a while to read so put your feet up!

Pregnancy overview; I found out 9DPO, burst ovarian cysts at 4 & 8 weeks, hyperemesis-gravidarum from 5 weeks, PGP, 2 lots of reduced movements and a history of surgery making me consultant led until after 20 weeks when I made my case and he made me midwife led.

After 2 weeks of latent labour preparations, once early labour started, things progressed quicker than we realised at the time, and almost without the midwife.

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