Pregnancy
What is a home birth like (parents)? (Video)
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Lorna: I wanted a home birth because I had a healthy, active pregnancy, I felt quite confident about the idea of giving birth and was looking forward to it. I had a very supportive partner and we both felt confident that giving birth at home would be preferable for us.
Sue: My first thought was that I wanted a hospital birth and then as the classes progressed it just felt more and more that I wanted to be in my own space and we had such a positive birth experience that it was completely the right thing to do.
Lorna: We set up the spare bedroom as a room to give birth in and we’d laid down a plastic sheet and got everything covered and ready for it. I got scented candles which I thought I’d want but in the event actually when I was in labour and I walked into the room I said ‘get those candles out of here’ because it wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t have music or anything I just really wanted to be able to concentrate, so it was low lighting, very calm atmosphere and I felt very in control I think because it was my own space.
Shamila: I started contracting about 1.30 in the morning, it was really lovely because we were just together for sort of five and a half hours.
Ingo: I think we called the midwife a little bit late and then it took a little bit longer for the midwife to arrive so basically I thought at some point that the baby might just pop out before the midwife actually arrived.
Shamila: In the end we ended up with three paramedics in our front room and the midwife arriving twenty minutes before Leyla was born because she’d been stuck in traffic. She’d suggested that we call emergency services in case Ingo needed to deliver the baby and three guys came in and they were like, to each other: ‘so who delivered a baby most recently?!’ And thankfully the midwife came through the door ten minutes later, bustled in, checked Leyla’s heart rate, all great, so we just started laughing and knew everything was all right by that point, examined me and said, head’s right there, go for it, two pushes later she came out which was incredible, it was really, really fast and as far as I was concerned, pretty painless. I think Ingo had slightly more of a panic when he thought that he might have to deliver a baby, luckily he didn’t have to in the end.
Sue: My first thought was that I wanted a hospital birth and then as the classes progressed it just felt more and more that I wanted to be in my own space and we had such a positive birth experience that it was completely the right thing to do.
Lorna: We set up the spare bedroom as a room to give birth in and we’d laid down a plastic sheet and got everything covered and ready for it. I got scented candles which I thought I’d want but in the event actually when I was in labour and I walked into the room I said ‘get those candles out of here’ because it wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t have music or anything I just really wanted to be able to concentrate, so it was low lighting, very calm atmosphere and I felt very in control I think because it was my own space.
Shamila: I started contracting about 1.30 in the morning, it was really lovely because we were just together for sort of five and a half hours.
Ingo: I think we called the midwife a little bit late and then it took a little bit longer for the midwife to arrive so basically I thought at some point that the baby might just pop out before the midwife actually arrived.
Shamila: In the end we ended up with three paramedics in our front room and the midwife arriving twenty minutes before Leyla was born because she’d been stuck in traffic. She’d suggested that we call emergency services in case Ingo needed to deliver the baby and three guys came in and they were like, to each other: ‘so who delivered a baby most recently?!’ And thankfully the midwife came through the door ten minutes later, bustled in, checked Leyla’s heart rate, all great, so we just started laughing and knew everything was all right by that point, examined me and said, head’s right there, go for it, two pushes later she came out which was incredible, it was really, really fast and as far as I was concerned, pretty painless. I think Ingo had slightly more of a panic when he thought that he might have to deliver a baby, luckily he didn’t have to in the end.
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