Unplanned Homebirth (BBA) using hypnobirthing
Rachel shares her unplanned home birth (BBA) story, after a very swift labour in the height of covid. Rachel’s pregnancy followed the loss of their first child born at 22 weeks.
Hi Megan, I wanted to share my birth stories with you. I have followed the birth-ed course for the births of both my children after a recommendation and I cannot thank you enough for all of the brilliant work that you do. I know that I would have felt a lot less empowered or informed without you, please keep doing your amazing work!
Kira Rachel, born 07/06/2021
Pregnancy and birth after loss
Planned hospital birth, actual homebirth
Partner was infectious with Covid at the time
Magical, amazing experience
The very short story is that Kira arrived on 38+5 on 07/06 at 6.30am at home, on the bathroom floor,
after a 4 1/2 hour labour. It was intense but I wouldn’t change anything about it!
(Much!) Longer story...
Last March I was pregnant with a little boy. At the 20 week scan we found out that he only had half a
heart, and my partner and I made the heartbreaking decision to end the pregnancy. 2 weeks later I was
in hospital, induced and ended up having an epidural to help with the pain. The care we received was
exceptional and I cannot fault the way we were looked after, but I had no idea what to expect, and I felt
incredibly unprepared for the birth itself and the process as we hadn’t got there in our pregnancy
journey yet.
Fast forward to October 2020 and I found out I was pregnant again, and this time I was determined to
learn everything I could about labour and birth, and really plan for all eventualities. I wanted to go into
it feeling confident. I live in the Netherlands and my friend recommended your course to me, and from
the 20 week scan after we got the all clear that everything was healthy with baby, I started.
I had the dream pregnancy and throughout spent time reading, learning, following positive birth stories,
listening to podcasts and the relaxation scripts to educate myself! I was prepared!!
Or so I thought..
At 37 weeks, and one week after my mat leave started, my partner caught Covid. And not the “tested
negative, it’s annoying I have to quarantine myself”; type, the type that knocked him out and had him in
bed barely able to move with fever etc for 10 days straight. We isolated from each other in the house,
slept separately and took distance from each other and everyone else. I didn’t see other people for a
week until I’d tested negative twice. My excitement and oxytocin levels plummeted, and I just tried to
keep a lid on my stress levels and stay safe. I went from wanting baby to come, to wishing she’d stay
inside a bit longer.
Knowing that Kira had been head down and low in my pelvis for a number of weeks we thought she
might be quite early, so my partner asked me to ask a friend to be my back up birth partner. I went from
having a plan; to thinking my partner would miss the birth completely. I even
made a vision board so that if I was on my own, I could use that to boost my oxytocin.
At 2.00am Monday 7th June I woke up with cramps, went to the bathroom and saw that I’d lost my
mucus plug but my waters hadn’t broken. Everything I’d read told me as a first birth I had hours ahead
of me so I went back to bed with a hot water bottle and tried to sleep/doze and used my UP breathing
to get through the contractions.
I do remember thinking though that it was very strong, and I couldn’t sustain contractions like that (or worse!) For hours and hours.
At 5am I started timing the contractions and at 6am went downstairs to wake my partner up, again
thinking I still had lots of time. He asked me to call the midwives, as in NL a midwife will always come to
the house to assess the situation and support before recommending going to hospital. At this point my
partner had literally hauled himself out of bed, and made it to our kitchen table before staying there for
the duration of the birth, hoping his meds would kick in asap to allow him to function.
I should also say that from our insurance (we all pay private healthcare insurance here) that we had a
homebirth box ready to go just in case, which has everything you need in case of home delivery (cord
clamp, plastic sheets, gauzes etc). Another side note, midwives here don’t carry gas and air, so it’s all
natural birth or go to hospital for an epidural. I am eternally grateful that I learnt hypnobirthing
techniques and practised my breathing for so many months.
The midwives answered the phone to me screaming “you have to help me!”; and then my partner took
over the conversation despite him feeling horrendous. He also called my friend to come and help.
I was in the bathroom at this point and he came in to find me naked, sweating and on all fours breathing
very very hard, thinking she was coming right then. He asked if I wanted anything and I said the ice pack
from the freezer for my forehead... It came wrapped in a tea towel with the instructions “don’t put it
directly on your skin”. Well I didnt listen to that as it just wasn’t cold enough, so I was on all fours with
my head on the floor on the ice pack in front of me. Not sure if that counts as a UFO position but it
worked for me. The only regret I have about my birth is that I walked away with ice burn on my
forehead!!!
All I could hear was my partner’s voice saying “Just breathe, don’t push”... I could also hear our playlist in
the background and that was it. He was outside the bathroom just holding himself together and also as
he was still infectious, was trying not to come close to us.
My friend arrived at 6.20 and the first thing she said was “;I can see the head” The midwives still weren’t
here and I thought I would be catching my own baby! My partner called the midwives to see where and
thankfully they were just outside suiting up into full PPE.
Kira arrived at 6.30 am, 4 1/2 hours after my first contraction and 10mins after the midwives walked in. I
immediately went into shock and could not stop shaking because of the adrenaline. The midwife said,
“I’m going to pass her through your legs to you”; and I remember thinking I couldn’t hold her and that I
would drop her, and so just looked at her on a towel before being helped to my feet and walked to my
bedroom and my bed next door. My partner couldn’t believe he could hear crying so quickly.
The first hour was beautiful (and a blur!), we had skin to skin, waited for the cord to turn white and then
my partner cut it. Kira had her first feed and I had two tiny stitches from where she came out with her
hand up with some local anaesthetic, all in my own bed with my music playing.
Over the next few hours the midwives checked us over, cleaned up everything and made sure we were
ok. It was amazing to be straight back in my own bed.
Since then it’s been a dream. Kira is perfect and has just exceeded everyone’s expectations. I have
recovered exceptionally well which I put down to staying as fit as possible for as long as possible during
pregnancy, and the lack of injury through proper breathing and my positioning for birth (knees in, calves
out), or maybe just a bit of luck! And most importantly my partner is recovered from Covid so after the
first two days of him not even being able to touch or hold his daughter, he is now fully involved and they
are completely bonded.
I do have some tips for home birth though if you’re planning one and especially if you’re not!:
1) Pack a mini birth bag for your house (stuff for baby and you/food/blankets). This was a lifesaver
when I was trying to direct people to get things after she was born as it was all in one place.
2) You never know what might happen, but I never consciously thought about where I would give birth
at home. I ended up on the bathroom floor, but if you’d asked me to choose then I wouldn’t know what I
wanted. Have a think.
3) I didn’t get to use anything I had prepped like snacks, essential oils, music, massage etc. But the
process of getting it all together made me feel confident and in control beforehand, which made what
could have been a scary situation feel very calm. Plus you can eat all the snacks after!
4) Go with the flow!! Stay calm! You got this! You are a superhero!
Thank you Megan for all of your amazing resources and information. I know I would have not felt as
calm and in control as I did without you and your course. Hypnobirthing is literally life changing!
Thankyou so much Rachel for sharing your story! Use our online course to prepare for birth like Rachel did!