After a long break I would like to start contributing to this blog again.
I recently (Aug 11) had my baby boy Finn at home in water.
Wonderful to be able to experience the difference it makes being in your own environment.
It was a lovely sunny day and I was out walking alone in the park whilst having contractions every 4 minutes or so.
I was in the pool for the last hour, and as vocal as in my first hospital birth, but no-one told me off this time!
Finn was lovely and alert after birth, unlike my first birth when I'd had diamorphine, and that made a real difference to breastfeeding.
I had to transfer in after for tearing, I had a 3c tear and had to have a spinal, but as I had already had my homebirth and physiological third stage, I did not find this too traumatic. I had Finn with me for the transfer and his Dad held him while I was in theatre.
I found the spinal stressful and I could have done with more support at that point, trying not to panic whilst the staff were very routine about what they were doing.
I was in over night and kept Finn on me all night and fed, I was the only one on the ward breastfeeding and felt sad in the morning when I heard one woman after another tell the midwife that they had planned to breastfeed but their babies wouldn't latch so they were giving bottles, all had had cesareans.
I'm hoping to train as a peer supporter now as I know how hard the first few days can be, I fed my daughter for over a year, so I knew when Finn found it hard to latch, that with perseverance and a calm attitude, that it would be ok.
For a doula, this was a pretty unplanned birth, even up to 3 days before (birthing at 40+6) I was 3 hours away from home, I was on my own for most of the labour and called a friend to come at the last minute who arrived with her dog, we hadn't discussed her being there and she had never seen a birth, but she was a fabulous birth partner, taking gourgeous photos, loving me unconditionally and tidying up after I transferred!
Having run a homebirth support group for 6 years, I'm glad I can now speak from experience!
