Bethan's Beautiful Home Birth
- thebirthbase
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
My amazing friend and client, Bethan, shares with us the story of Bodie's home birth. With her first birth experience being rather speedy (4.5 hours!), Bethan naturally expected second time round to be even quicker, however this wasn't the case. Bethan explains how she put trust in her body, understood her birth rights and made decisions that felt right for her throughout her labour, and these were respected by the amazing Northampton Home Birth midwives. Bethan's birth partners, her husband, sister and mum - made the most incredible team, cheering her on and supporting her every step of the way.
I love how Bethan has described all the sensations of birth, and how they gave her the confidence to carry on and fully lean into the experience.
I hope you enjoy reading her story, so many amazing takeaways to be found here.
Bethan - I am endlessly proud of you!
'Bodie’s Birth Story:
Being pregnant second time around was very different to my first pregnancy. I didn’t have anywhere near as much time to solely focus on the little life growing inside of me but one thing I knew from the start was that I wanted to do a refresher hypnobirthing session with Kristina. I also knew I wanted to try for a home birth again (unfortunately didn’t get one with my first labour) so I asked Kristina to create a session with a focus on all the positive reasons why home birth was a great choice for us, as well as a recap on what my husband could do to support me and the science behind birth. After the session, my husband and I felt so prepared and I was once again incredibly excited to give birth, as I had been the first time round after completing the hypnobirthing course. My first labour was very quick (4 and a half hours) so I was expecting the same again.
Fast forward to the night before my baby boy’s birthday (41 weeks): I started having a few twinges so we prepared the birth space. It felt like the most tranquil, calm environment- birth pool, twinkly lights, blow up bed with cosy bedding and my beautiful birth board (inspired by Kristina’s). We then had a movie night with our eldest with lots of snacks and snuggles to get the oxytocin flowing. 2:30am on the day of our littlest son’s arrival (41+1) I woke up with more intense contractions. I told myself I’d use my hypnobirthing breathing techniques to support myself through 10 contractions before waking my husband- I made it to 8 and then felt I needed his support.
He immediately woke up and got to work calling my other birth partners (my mum and sister) and our home birth midwife. By 4am everyone had arrived and I was breathing through contractions on my birth ball.
At this point nothing felt too intense/painful and I was happily breathing through and then smiling and chatting with everyone in between. My birth partners got the pool filled while I asked to have an examination and was told I was 5cm dilated- I had made it clear in my birth preferences that I wanted to dictate when/if I had any examinations and this was respected from the first moment.
By 5am I got into the pool and started to use my comb from Kristina’s birth pack and listened to positive affirmations while continuing to use the breathing techniques. By 6:30am I was feeling quite tired having not had much sleep and I ended up having a little cry. One of my wonderful midwives had me look at my birth board to refocus my energy and remind me that all of the work I was doing was bringing me closer to meeting baby boy. My eldest was picked up by my Dad at 7am and I think knowing he was being looked after really helped me to relax into everything.
I got out of the pool at 7:30 as I felt something wasn’t quite right- I felt like I wasn’t progressing (spoiler: I was right). My husband seemed to know that I was focusing on the time as I had (wrongfully) assumed this labour would be even quicker than my first and was getting frustrated that it was taking longer (even though I know my labour was still very short compared to most!!). He kept telling me that I was doing an amazing job and that we would meet our baby soon and to just try and forget about what time it was, I don’t even think I realised I was doing this but he was completely right and that shift in mindset really helped.
I asked for another examination at 8:30 and I was told I was 4cm- baby had shifted position and my waters were bulging. After a discussion with midwives and my husband, I used the BRAIN acronym that Kristina taught me and decided to have them break my waters. This really changed everything. The instant relief felt euphoric and as soon as I stood up the contractions became so much more intense and I physically felt my baby drop down. I flopped (for lack of a better way to describe my extremely ungraceful reentry) back into the pool and things really ramped up. I still had ahold of the comb, tried a few UFO positions and found I was most comfortable on my knees and hanging my arms over the edge of the pool. This was also a good position to cling onto my husband who I wouldn’t let leave my side (even when he was desperate for a wee).
At 9am I started crying and saying I couldn’t do it- at this point I heard my sister say “hello transition” which made me smile because I recognised the signs and knew it meant I’d be meeting my baby soon. My birth partners reassured me constantly, reminded me that I was strong and capable and that I’d be meeting baby boy soon.
I actually declined foetal HR monitoring around this time because I was finding that it broke my concentration on my breathing as it felt uncomfortable- I think without hypnobirthing I would have just gone along with it out of a feeling of obligation but knowing I had the right to decline made me feel more in control in the moment. The midwives were very respectful of this decision and resumed when I was happy for them to do so (it was only about 10 minutes but it was the time I needed to refocus and get in the zone).
The mooing was loud by this point as I was breathing my baby down. With each contraction I didn’t actively push, I just listened to my body and let it do its thing- the female body and all it’s capable of is utterly incredible. I was panting between contractions and could feel baby bobbing up and down, slowly stretching and giving my body the time it needed to adjust. I remember at one point actually saying “Kristina will be so proud of me”- teacher’s pet through and through 😂.
I definitely felt the moment of baby’s head crowning this time around as I had no pain relief but it spurred me on because I knew I was going to meet my baby so soon. I had made a point of saying I didn’t want gas and air during the home birth planning appointment as I had it with my first and felt a bit loopy and out of control during my first labour- I wanted to feel fully in control and present this time around. Thankfully my midwives were extremely well-versed on my birth preferences and didn’t offer it to me at any point. I remember saying over and over again in my head, “ask for gas and air, ask for gas and air” like a bit of a mantra but I knew it wasn’t what I truly wanted so I’m glad no one said it- I think just knowing the option was there felt comforting.
Baby’s head was delivered at 9:35am followed by his body at 9:36. I caught my baby and brought him up to my chest for our first cuddle. We had a beautiful golden hour, waited for the umbilical cord to stop pulsing before my husband cut the cord and I birthed the placenta in my own time in the pool. Baby boy and I then got out the pool and got snuggled on the airbed and he had his first feed.
Giving birth is the most incredible, euphoric, mind-altering experience I’ve ever been through and this time around I felt so in control thanks to all of the incredible things Kristina taught me (and a massive shoutout to the comb- the mvp of the pain relief options I gave myself). Whenever I hear the wonderful news of someone being pregnant I always urge them to consider hypnobirthing- I genuinely believe I have had 2 positive birth experiences thanks to learning the science behind birth and therefore being able to fully trust in my body and what I’m capable of.'
If you'd like my support with a 1:1 birth prep session, or a group hypnobirthing course, get in touch via thebirthbase@gmail.com or come check out my socials @thebirthbase.
If you enjoyed reading Bethan's positive birth story, have a look at some other amazing client birth stories here...
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