Second HBAC Waterbirth for Third Baby
Becky (a midwife!), James and George share their second VBAC story of the birth of their third baby, born at home in the birth pool.
My tightenings began at 7:30pm on a Sunday night. This was our third baby and second VBAC, so when I realised that this seemed to be the real deal (after quite a few false alarms!) I got into my labour mindset and focused my mind on distraction - music, smells and dancing! Singing and dancing (more like swaying!) through my latent phase contractions really helped. I also soaked a cloth in my favourite Lenor and placed it near me during my up & down breaths - thank you for that tip in particular, it really helped!
By 4:30am I felt we should head to my parents house, which is where I planned to birth. My contractions were 4-5 minutes apart but only lasting 20-25 seconds, and I felt in myself that I wasn’t in ‘active’ labour yet, but by 6am I felt I needed Entonox.
I called the homebirth team and the most wonderful midwife was on call (who happened to be a former colleague), and said that it didn’t matter that my contractions were short lasting - she was coming anyway (cue sigh of relief!)
When she arrived she asked if I would like to be examined, which I did, and when she said I was 3cm dilated I wasn’t disheartened as she (and I) felt that things were progressing. At around 8am, I got into the pool (a gorgeous, albeit short lived relief!) and started using the entonox.
I will admit that when I entered what must have been the transitional phase, my focus went out of the window a little bit, until that famous urge to push took over! At that point I knew we really were close to meeting our baby, so a focus and calmness came over me, and my positivity returned. In one long push, at 9:51am our baby’s head was born, followed a minute later by his body (cue lots of ‘oh my god, it’s a boy!’ from myself and my family!).
I had a physiological third stage and birthed the placenta in the pool 40 minutes later. Somehow, the pool water stayed remarkably clean, and so for a good while I held my new baby skin to skin and revelled at his amazingness - and I felt like a blooming superhero!
Even as a birth centre midwife myself, I found your course so helpful. I would (and do!) recommend anyone due to give birth to prepare with these helpful tips, as they really help to focus your mind in labour. So thank you for helping me achieve my dream birth! Xx
