Sami’s positive home birth story

Sarah & Zak’s Home Birth Experience Using Hypnobirthing

Sarah and Zak took part in one of my online Hypnobirthing Course during the Covid pandemic. They used everything they learned to support them during the home birth of their first baby. It’s a beautiful story! I hope you enjoy reading it.

Finding Claire & Hypnobirthing

We found out we were pregnant at the start of March 2020, a few weeks later we were put into a national lockdown, cue everything closed, and services stopped. I had to go to all appointments and scans on my own and with the uncertainty of the effects of Covid-19 on pregnant women and babies it is safe to say it wasn’t the first pregnancy experience I expected to have. However, there were some benefits, lockdown coincided with the worst of my morning sickness and my husband was home to take care of me.

Obviously, there were no NCT or other pregnancy classes running in person so when I came across Claire’s Through Birth & Beyond - Hypnobirthing Course running online I was interested to find out more. I joined the free taster which was really informative and reassured me that Hypnobirthing is just a really practical and scientific method of achieving your best birth possible rather than any kind of hypnosis etc.

Exploring our options

Having my background in dance I really enjoyed learning about the physicality of how the body works during birth and how keeping your mind relaxed and in control during the contractions can change the physicality of your body. There were also some great tips about dealing with interventions leading all the way up to what to expect with a caesarean, so I felt prepared no matter how my birth went. It was also a really fun thing to do as a couple and gave my husband lots of practical ways he could help during labour.

It was during the course that the idea of having a homebirth came up, it wasn’t something I had considered before but as I learned more about how being in a safe, relaxed environment was beneficial and natural for birth, as well as all the practical benefits of not having to drive to the hospital and deal with the hospital restrictions, it became more appealing, and after discussing it with Claire we decided to go for it.

Deciding on Homebirth

I was already 28 weeks by the point I decided to opt for a homebirth and so I was transferred over to the homebirth team for antenatal care. The Fife Homebirth Team are incredible and as soon as we met them, we immediately knew that we had made the right decision. Visits were now all done at home and my husband could attend too, meaning he could hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first time and ask any questions he had as well.

Claire’s course helped me to know what questions to ask of my midwife and what I wanted to put in my birth plan, so I felt prepared for any scenario including the unexpected.

I felt quietly confident that all would be well and that I would get the birth I was aiming for but equally I knew there is a lot I can’t control so I took the attitude that I would plan for a homebirth but not be disappointed if things didn’t go to plan because it was easier to plan a homebirth that turned into a hospital birth rather than plan a hospital birth that turned into a homebirth.

The antenatal care from the homebirth team was also so good that it was a benefit on its own, even if I went to hospital at the very start of labour we would still have benefitted from their amazing care.

My waters breaking first was one of scenarios I was worried about as I knew that if the waters weren’t clear or labour didn’t start quickly enough that I may end up having to go into hospital to be induced. Thankfully, the waters were clear and as it was the middle of the night we decided to try and go back to bed and rest and see what happened knowing we might have a long couple of days ahead depending how things progressed. However, within an hour I was having contractions so I got up to go the living room and try and relax leaving my husband to sleep so he could be fresh for later.

I phoned the hospital to let them know what had happened but that I didn’t need anyone out yet. I put some music on and started timing the contractions which very quickly told me I was in established labour. I kept going until 6:30am when I woke my husband for some support as the contractions were getting stronger. I phoned the midwife at 7am to ask her to come out as I was feeling things ramp up quite quickly, but I said there was no rush as I was expecting things to take a while. The midwife arrived at 8am and set up. I then asked for some gas and air at which point the midwife asked to examine me to see how things were progressing as she didn’t want me to run out of gas and air if things were going to take a long time. I think to everyone’s surprise I was already at 7cm, and I knew instinctively that it wasn’t going to be long. My husband and the midwife started filling the pool while I went into the shower for some pain relief.

As soon as I got in the pool and had the gas and air, I felt much better. However, after just a couple of contractions in the pool I felt the urge to push. The midwife encouraged me to lean over the side of the pool to be in a good position and after just 9 minutes of pushing Sami James was born (before the second midwife had even arrived) in the pool at home at 10:35am weighing 9lb 8oz.

We stayed in the pool until the cord went white and my husband cut the cord. The placenta did take almost an hour to come but thankfully I didn’t suffer any major bleeding and no stitches were required. I loved being able to jump in my own shower at home to get cleaned up while my husband did skin to skin. Sami took to breastfeeding straight away so the midwifes did their checks and were all cleaned and packed up and gone by 2pm leaving us to snuggle up in our own bed as family of three.

I am so grateful that everything went so smoothly and to plan

I am so grateful that everything went so smoothly and to plan and I’m also thankful I did the course with Claire as without learning what we did I would never have considered a homebirth before.

Since Sami has been born we have had to have a couple of hospital stays due to Sami needing hernia surgery and then having bloody nappies and I found myself using some of the techniques I had learned on the course to be able to stay calm and also be able to advocate for myself and Sami and be able to ask the right questions such as “What are the Benefits, Risks and Alternatives?” This was so useful as due to Covid restrictions I always had to go alone with Sami. Thankfully, he is fine now, and the hospital stays just made me even more grateful for my homebirth.

- Sarah and Zak, Group Hypnobirthing Course