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).
I eventually decided at 12am to settle my toddler for bed and go in to be assessed so I could see where I was in the grand scheme of things. At 2am we were back home from the midwifery led unit after finding my cervix was still thick, only 2cm dilated, and I had a stretch and sweep. The contractions were more intense, but I fell asleep next to my 20 month old until about 9am the next morning.
I had no contractions at all, until 12pm when I got a hot bath with the essential oils the midwife had sent me home with. They started about 7 minutes apart but weren’t really in a pattern, to the point the midwife called to check on me and said if it still wasn’t progressing by the same time tomorrow, I would need to go in to the ward to be assessed and monitored. She did however inform me there were midwives on call that night for me to have a home birth.
By 2:30 I rang the midwives to ask them to come and assess me as my contractions were much more intense. They arrived at 4:50ish after having to wait for their clinics to finish. At about 5:40ish they checked my cervix (per my request) and said I was 3-4cm and my waters were bulging. After similar happened with my first born I knew I needed to almost bear down so they would finally burst. And that’s exactly what happened 5 minutes later – though I managed to avoid the toilet entirely and they sprayed all over the bathroom 
Almost immediately I felt the need to push with each contraction, and by 6:50 the midwives had me stood up (a battle in itself), clinging onto my mum for dear life and pushing until her head popped out. One more contraction and she was born.
Giving birth at home was a completely surreal experience. The midwives were completely hands off unless asked, and it was so quiet and supportive.