Kerensa Faulknor Walker-Smith was born on the 14th August at 1.48pm at home as we had planned with our favourite midwife from the homebirth team and another that we had met previously also.

I woke up at about 4.30am that morning feeling what I thought might be ‘surges’, and I just waited a few out to convince myself before waking Ben.  I can’t remember all the timings but they were reasonably frequent already at this point.  I went to the toilet and had a show so woke Ben up but said  Iwould just try to get some sleep  This didn’t really happen as we were too excited and after a few more surges my membranes released although there was no a huge volume.  Ben called the delivery suite as we had been advised at about 6.30am for them to contact the homebirth team.  They advised a warm bath and paracetamol and didn’t seem clear about the homebirth team details etc so we contacted our midwife directly who was already up and about.  She asked him to let her know when the surges were more frequent.  I think they came at around 10.30am in the end by which point I was completely in the zone with balloon breathing and listening to the rainbow relaxation.  I found that I had the need to rotate both feet and ankles during surges throughout which was a bit bizarre!

Thye left me in our bedroom where I had remained from the beginning, only coming to observe me every now and again.  I had already stated in my ‘wish list’ that I did not want vaginal examinations or regular monitoring.  I think they auscultated (listened – Kat :-)) 3 times with a pinard in total and all was fine. I didn’t engage in much conversation, preferring to be within myself but was able to be really direct with Ben surrounding my likes/dislikes, which makes a change from the usual way I tend to beat around the bush which he appreciated! I was initially quite nauseous so just drank orange juice with ice and iced water plus nibbled on a few nuts and dried apricots. Apparently I spent quite a lot of time on the toilet in the latter stages but although I don’t think Ben formally read any of the time distortion scripts, somehow there was a huge element of this as time seemed to pass so quickly, it lasted around 9 hours.  I was really aware of the changing characteristics of the surges and other sensations which I continue to reflect on as amazing and really helpful to know where I was.  I think I moved downstairs to the pool with about 1.5/2 hours to go and it was lovely.  Whilst I can’t say I didn’t experience pain, it was tolerable and akin to period pain, particularly when I was feelign the urge to bear down, I was extremely comfortable and relaxed between surges.

Whilst in the pool Ben continued to read scripts although I told him he was reading the wrong bit at one point as he was still talking about balloon breathing when I needed to be ‘J breathing’!!  I did try J breathing and had the line from the book that ‘pushing is a rude concept in gentle birth’ in my head however my body didn’t agree with this and seemed to want me to go with the natural expulsive reflex to help it along. So, it wasn’t a particularly quiet delivery at the end but felt right.  I was ‘pushing’ for just over an hour and encouraged to change positions a few times, when I stood up everything moved very quickly and Kerensa was born within 2-3 surges after that.  He was very long and i think we all looked on in amazement as he was halfway out!

I lifted him from the water with help from the midwife and we all just stared in amazement, not even caring about the gender until she asked if we had noticed. There was no cry, he appeared extremely calm and pinked up well.  Unfortunately he was grunting, had nasal flaring and was making excessive respiratory effort without improvement after 15 minutes so we agreed that an ambulance should be called to take us to hospital.  I delivered the placenta physiologically before the ambulance arrived and was extremely dizzy when I stood up so was taken on a stretcher holding Kerensa skin to skin. It was obviously a very emotional and difficult time but all was dealt with very well by the professionals involved.

Apologies for the long-winded email, it has been my first opportunity to write this down and help me to process it!  Without a doubt hypnobirthing ensured we had the birthing experience we wanted and we cannot thank you enough for the fantastic introduction!  I have continued to recommend it to anyone who would listen!

Btw…i also consumed the placenta in a smoothie and am certain it helped me to regain strength after the significant blood loss!

Thank so much once again,

Carly and Ben