I’ve always known that I would want to birth at home as I’ve never felt particularly comfortable in hospitals and research shows that the more comfortable you are when in labour, the more likely it is to go well and have less complications.

When we did our course with Anna, we were surprised at how much information we learnt despite having informed ourselves with other courses, studies, books and various Instagram accounts. Something for example that I think really saved us is the idea of having three birth plans written up: home birth, hospital birth and caesarean birth. Anna’s course taught us about all kinds of birth and made us feel much more comfortable, even with the idea of a caesarean; something before I just couldn’t wrap my head around. It was far from my number 1 choice but learning about the process and different options available to us was peace of mind.

I went into labour on 2 January and by that evening I wasn’t able to sleep because of the contractions but the next day my labour wasn’t progressing. It was so slow and I remember that the day after that, 48 hours later, I was so low and had hardly any energy. I’d been able to sleep a bit on the first night but on the second night the contractions were worse and even though I used my TENS machine, I hardly slept and I even threw up once. My birth partner made such an enormous effort to support, feed and hydrate me all the while keeping the birth pool hot for two days! 

On 4 January, our midwife came to visit and even though I had initially decided that I didn’t want any vaginal examinations, I was desperate to know how many centimetres I was dilated, as my contractions were still not regular and there was no sign of active labour. Luckily, on Anna’s course we’d learnt about long labour and I’d also read and listened to lots of birth stories with long labours. This was great for keeping calm and reminding ourselves that what we’re used to seeing on TV or hearing from friends isn’t the norm! It’s not always as simple as your waters break, you rush to hospital and have your baby. Having three births plans ready and packed in our hospital bag was a great tip that I’ll always recommend to others, too.

After asking for a vaginal examination, my midwife informed us that I was 3 cm dilated. My partner was a little bit pessimistic and had told me that he thought I’d be at 1 cm so when the midwife told me I was at 3 cm, I was so delighted that I managed to muster up some energy to go for a short dog walk with my partner. Luckily, we took the car and when my contractions ramped up, we drove home and got into active labour mode!

We dimmed the lights (even more) and put our birthing playlist on and as I was swaying, my waters broke. Progress!!

My partner let the midwife know and I got in the pool which had been ready for two days (God bless my partner and our boiler).

The second the midwife arrived I was given gas and unexpectedly I threw up again. This made me a little bit nervous as I was relying heavily on using gas but our midwife encouraged me to try again. I followed her instruction on how to breathe it in with long breaths and from then on it was fine. No one is really too sure of the time, but the estimation is that I went into active labour at around 18.00 and our son was born at 23:47. 

It was a serene and sweet end to the everlasting labour that had dragged out and our midwife and the second midwife, who was called out to attend once we were nearing the end of labour, were incredible medical professionals. They respected our wishes so kindly and were so helpful with breastfeeding, skin to skin and even helped us put everything in place in terms of sleeping arrangements. Angels.

People talk about birth trauma and postnatal depression with fear and I know that it was something I was keen to avoid at all costs. After our birth, even though it was so positive, I can completely understand why. When I closed my eyes for days after, all I did was relive our birth and the beautiful moments, as well as the hard ones, but mainly the beautiful ones because we were lucky. After half an hour in the pool with our newborn son, we continued skin to skin on the sofa, started breastfeeding and the placenta came out after 57 minutes. After all protocols, vit K, weighing, etc., the three of us went to bed and slept for 5 hours in peace. It was bliss and we were on cloud nine for days.

Thank you, Anna, for your knowledge, support and encouragement. We will always recommend your courses! ✨