Who loves a homebirth story?

I first became aware that home birth was an option when I did an antenatal class with Geraldine Cahill from Cuidiú. It all seemed very lovely but it was a little late for us to go about organising and we'd have needed time to consider the whole idea. I did meet a few very normal people who were "HBers". That helped and somewhere between baby number 2 and baby number 3 I began to think HB was a good idea!




I considered having a homebirth during my 3rd pregnancy but it was not to be. My OH wasn't so into the idea of home birth though he was born at home himself (the 7th baby of 10 and last to be born at home). We were living west of Dingle, Co. Kerry at the time and we were an hours drive from the hospital -he found that off putting. It bothered me more that we were three hours from CUMH and only an hour from Tralee hospital: I didn't have good feelings for the place tbh -my mom had been in Tralee General when she was sick and like most other Irish hospitals the stats looked unfavourable to the natural birth that I was planning and was fairly confident that could be achieved in CUMH. Whatever about the stats, I was a lot more comfortable with Cork University Maternity Hospital where I had my 2nd baby and found it all to be quite a positive experience. Gas and air, pacing and a very helpful midwife who massaged my back. The stats didn't worry me so much as I knew I could have a positive experience there. So instead of having a home birth we traveled to Cork a few days before the EDD and stayed until Number 3 was born.

Getting the ball rolling....

When it came to baby number 4 we were living in Cork, 10 minutes from CUMH to put DPs mind fully at ease (all excuses previously used were abolished). I was very interested in birthing at home. I figured it would be more comfortable for everyone and I really wanted my 11yo daughter to experience a real birth. It's part of life and I didn't want her to be the star of the show at her first birth. I wanted her to have some idea of what to expect.

To get the ball rolling I contacted a friend to get an idea of how to go about organising a HB. 

I find it odd that HB is not something that is presented as an option on that first visit to the GP! 

I looked up the HBA website and got a number for a midwife and gave her a buzz, she was able to fit me in. It was somewhere in the first trimester and the ball was rolling. I have no idea how HB works in other areas of the country -I think there is some sort of a scheme in Cork that isn't everywhere but it wasn't all that hard to arrange at all (once the GP's office figured out what to write on the forms under "place of confinement" and the hospital worked out who needed to refer me to the HB clinic). 
I visited the hospital for a scan at 12 weeks and one more hospital trip at about 20 weeks. After that, my care was shared between my GP (who would not attend my birth at all any more than he would if I were planning a hospital birth) and my midwife (the same one who would attend my birth). With a hospital birth it's usually shared between GP and hospital...so the midwife visits replaced those hospital visits. We were able to meet our midwife and ask 100 questions. She really put DPs mind at ease -it turned out that while I was a tad worried about baby being born with any surprise problems that might need medical attention, DP was worried that something would happen to me during the birth and he'd be on his own with 4 children. Our midwife would be well prepared to spot any problems quickly and have us whisked up the road to CUMH if necessary.

Eviction before the move :P

The last few weeks of pregnancy were a bit stressful tbh. We were due to move house about a fortnight before baby was to arrive but the moving date kept getting pushed out, closer and closer to my due date and was finally pushed to 10 days after the EDD. I was fully convinced I'd be labouring in a removal van but at 40+6 things got started and we gave the Midwife a buzz, just a heads up that things were starting and her sleep might get interrupted before morning -I think it was about 11 when we called. I expected things to go slowly as we'd taken a trip to Cobh when labour number 3 started. Mary arrived within an hour "to check up things" and I think she knew she'd be staying as the bags came in from the car before she even saw me. She'd seen me earlier in the day so perhaps she even expected things to get moving then. Contractions were getting more intense and I knew Mary needed to stay when she got there.

DP was filling the pool and I was taking pictures it seems :P Actually I see a little foot in the shot (and I know we'd put the 5yo and 3yo to bed much earlier) so this must be a  picture of the practice run a few days before -it'll give you an idea of what the real pool preparation was like though! I hadn't really considered a water birth at all but as "Will you have a pool?" was the first question people asked me if I mentioned my plans to have a HB I,thought I'd better get a pool just incase I wanted one -though I'd had 3 natural births and never wanted a pool before! I borrowed a pool from a friend and bought a liner for it.

I don't think I'll ever hear the end of my having told DP to turn off the immersion earlier on in the day as he kept putting it on. I told him (in a lecturing tone of voice I'm sure) we'd put on the immersion when labour started and that we'd have plenty of time. But when push came to shove (he he he) the water was slow to heat and we were waiting on enough hot water and boiling kettles before the pool could be used. (I think you are supposed to boil kettles when someone is in labour anyway, indeed for any other emergency situation it's best to pop on the kettle.) Once there was enough water for comfort I hopped in (I may have taken off some of my clothes somewhere along the way). The water was everything everyone says it can be -I was able to relax and being weightless make everything so much easier. My waters broke with a pop and a gush. I wasn't in there too long and I needed to get out of the water again. I hadn't planned a water birth and the water was a little low for safety (I'm quite tall so we'd have needed the pool quite full). The second midwife arrived and I got excited about meeting my 4th child. We woke my 11yo daughter as she insisted we wake her if the baby were to come in the middle of the night. But there was another while to go. 

The baby was facing my back (and not facing my belly) and this made the labour a little tougher and slower. I understand that babies usually turn around but my baby was also quite big (which we didn't know until after) so she didn't have much space to turn and hence she didn't. I think its called being "posterior" or "OP", I should look up a bit about it really, but I'm lazy! My two previous births I often compare to vomiting -I didn't experience an "urge to push" the pushing "happened" in the same way that one might throw up. I was waiting and waiting for this feeling to take over but it never did. I'm not usually the most patient person but I was happy to wait for my baby to arrive. Between contractions  I closed my eyes and rested. I could see my baby marching towards us with a full army of soldiers from the far side of a hill - chanting, coats of arms and spears. Closer and closer all the time. I was full sure it was a boy, but I'm always wrong about gender!

This stage of labour was a lot of work. At one point I was simply exhausted. Mary suggested that I move to another position to help things progress and I said something along the lines of "I need to rest, can I lie down" and I was expecting some encouragement to stay upright and let gravity help, to keep going for another 10 minutes or something like that. I was very pleasantly surprised to be asked where I'd like to rest and then helped up on to the couch, no questions asked. My body said to rest and I rested. Labour progressed. I had to get back up after a while and we tried the birthing stool for the second time. This time baby's head was born and we saw her full head of hair. Mary helped me to move onto all fours to birth the rest of my baby I think it's a position suggested by the great Ina May to help deliver shoulders, when baby is bigger.

Delish on day 1

Fianna (named after the old Irish army) was born by the couch in our old house and names over a week later in the new house. My older daughter tells me one foot was born a little later than the rest of her and that I was entirely naked. I just remember being entirely dignified for the entire labour and birth and then seeing her little face and all her hair. I may have removed my glasses alright as she was very blurry and I even thought she was a boy at first. She was amazing and beautiful and we loved her immediately.

I'd never had any stitches after the other births and wasn't sure what to expect in that regard. DP held the naked baby for warmth and skin to skin and they snoozed together while stitches happened. He got peed on twice before he thought to get a nappy on her. Stitches weren't so bad really but there was talk of sending me to hospital for them so I suppose they were a bit worse than they felt. Recovery was a lot easier without stitches -I'd not even had grazing on my 2nd baby and only a little on my 1st and 3rd. I suppose she had a feed before or after that -the kind of thing I should remember I suppose, but I don't...but she did feed well from the beginning. A great guzzler! She was weighed at some stage too -11lbs. 5kgs. The midwives had taken a guess when she was born and were spot on. Sumo baby! I can't say it was my favourite birth -but i think this baby had the best birth she could have had at home. A friend who is a midwife suggested that there would have been interventions and all sorts of pulling and stress in the hospital if a 4th baby were to delay like this little one did. Obviously she wasn't stuck - and I wasn't the slightest bit stressed really. Just waiting and waiting. I hate waiting, but I'd have hated her birth to be traumatic or to have an unnecessary interventions. She found her way eventually so she certainly wasn't stuck!

Everything we owned was in boxes. DP moved the spare bed down stairs to the sitting room so I could get around a bit better (I think he actually said it was "so you can make your own tea" and I got cross about that), DD1 went back to bed and the boys got up to meet their sister. That was the early hours of Tuesday morning and we moved house on Friday!! I shouldn't sound like an active participant in that tbh -my stuff moved house while I rested up in a friends house with my baby for the day. I even had another friend call around to help make the beds and all before I arrived home! Bliss. I do have a lovely village.

11lbs (5kg) born by the couch (we brought that when we moved).