Category: Blog

I laboured and gave birth to my first baby in a pool at the now sadly closed Jubilee Birth Centre at Castle Hill Hospital. Everything was so relaxed, calm and non-clinical, I knew that I wanted the same experience again for any other children I had. Although it had been on the cards on and off for quite some time, I was gutted when it was closed for good. When reading a local newspaper article regarding Jubilee’s closure, I saw that there was a Home Birth Group for Hull and the East Riding so I joined their Facebook group and began to attend the monthly meetings as I knew that I wanted a home birth for my second child.

We only have a small house, so after re-jigging the furniture and dismantling the dining table we inflated the birthing pool on my due date so that we were as prepared as possible. Labour began five days later after a long late morning walk; my son was being cared for by his grandparents on the day.

Continue reading “Arlene’s Water Birth”

It was a shock to find out I was pregnant at the end of October 2015 with my 4th child, I hadn’t been with my partner long, we decided to keep the baby. I suffered awful bouts of morning sickness, extreme tiredness, and many weeks not been able to eat properly. Then my partner decided he didn’t want a child with me and when I was 11 weeks – a week before Xmas 2015 he upped and left and I dealt with the pregnancy alone. I then lost my job due to being pregnant at 5 months… I knew from that point this child would be so special to me and my other children.

My midwife mentioned I was the perfect candidate for a home birth, as I already had 3 children with no complications and all 3 births were straight forward. I was apprehensive as I didn’t know the ins and outs of a home birth. 32 weeks pregnant came and after much thought and research I decided to go ahead with my home birth – mainly due to the fact I had no birthing partner, no family, no proper friends.  I was so scared… scared of being pregnant and alone, scared of giving birth alone, scared of having a baby alone. My due date was 4th July 2016 – Independence Day!

Continue reading “Diane’s Story”