“The birth of our second little one was a beautiful lesson in patience and the power of knowledge.”

I’m so delighted to share this Home Birth story from Gemma & Ryan.

I was lucky to meet this lovely couple when they came all the way from Melbourne to attend my in person group class as they prepared for their second birth (if you want to join one you can book here).

The way Gemma tuned into what felt right for her and her body in labour shines through, supported by Ryan and her midwives. There’s a lot of wisdom and oxytocin for you to soak up in this one. Thank you so much to Gemma for sharing it with us.

So grab a cuppa and put your feet up, enjoy this birth story and know that I’m thinking of you if you’re going towards your own.

Story by Gemma

"The birth of our second little one was a beautiful lesson in patience and the power of knowledge.

I was convinced our second baby was going to come two weeks ‘early’ just like our first.

Little Lonnie had other ideas. At 39+5 after weeks of period like pain and tightenings the real show began at 3:00am, the morning after our lovely midwife called to let us know she was off call for the next 3 days.

The contractions were mild but coming regularly at 7 mins apart. Our first birth had contractions come hard and fast and went from 12 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart in no time, this would be quicker than our first – statistically that’s how it works, right?!

At around 9am we got our first born ready and sent him off with his nana. I had the TENS on and the contractions were still fairly regular. I was labouring at home, had the birth pool inflated and was ready for our planned homebirth. I was sure the contractions would ramp up when Ryan and I were alone. We said our goodbyes and settled in with an oxytocin boosting movie, put down the blinds and had a cup of tea. I was ready to do this!

I relaxed into early labour and waited for things to progress but the contractions became more irregular. We watched another movie. Nothing changed. I knew that it didn’t feel as though his head was engaged so I decided to change it up and try to get things moving again. I took my knowledge got onto the birth ball and started doing circular motions with my hips, figure 8s and whatever else felt right in the moment. I felt him move down further and my contractions became more regular and intense. Over came the midwives. I was in a mental battle between not wanting to expend too much energy and wanting things to keep moving so I tried relaxing again. The same thing happened, my contractions became more sporadic and less intense. We continued this back and forth dance for hours. I drew a line in the sand, threw out my notion of relaxing and followed my instincts knowing that I needed to move my body to help things progress. I got back on the birth ball, did some lunges, kept visiting the toilet and again things began to ramp up. It was almost like electricity was moving across my pelvis when I felt his head engage so I knew I was onto something. Ryan was pushing on my pressure points through the contractions and I was using the TENS and my comb."

"Around 6pm and after a whole lot of patience the midwives announced they might duck out for some dinner. Ryan agreed this was a good idea and although I couldn’t verbalise it my mind was screaming “no!” I ripped off the TENS and turned on the shower, I needed something more. I let out a moooooooooooooooo and turned the shower back off. The midwives looked at each other and decided dinner wasn’t going to happen. I made my way to the birth pool and what felt like a very short time later I was pushing him out. I didn’t consciously recognise the feeling of him decend but I called out “BABY”. The midwife checked with a mirror and said she couldn’t see him coming, yet they trusted me. I trusted me.

After a few very intense contractions I was pushing. There was no option to breathe him out as everything in my body was pushing. His head was born after a couple more contractions. I heard the midwives laughing as they said he was dancing. His hand by his face wriggling around. I somehow waited for the next contraction and out he came – all 4.11kg of him. I was so exhausted that I didn’t grab him straight away and asked for the midwives to get him for me. They kept calling “pick up your baby” as I had written in my birth plan that I wanted it to be my job. What a gift they gave me."

"At no point did I feel unsafe or that I needed to transfer for pharmacological pain relief. The knowledge I had gained in preparing for this labour was everything I needed to get me through – honourable mention to the comb, TENS, Rhea Dempsey and Midwife Lauretta. My cervix wasn’t checked once as per my wishes and I delivered the placenta physiologically (and dare I say easily). I got some stitches thanks to his entrance dance, had a shower and climbed into my own bed with our beautiful baby. The perfect birth for our perfect boy."

Gemma & Ryan

Thanks Gemma for sharing your story.

Much love -

*Information shared is of a general nature only and is not medical advice — please see your own care provider for specific and individualised information and advice. All personal strories & photos are shared with permission.

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