Here is my homebirth story.. baby born on wednesday evening...
at home, as planned, having practised natal hypnotherapy.
was so quick only 1 midwife made it here on time (just)... other arrived 10 mins later....
the best experiance ever and a bit of luck i planned to be at home..... i wouls never have made it to hospital and had i have tried she would have been born in the car...
had to justify my decision to so many people who thought i was mad / stupid / very selfish for not planning to be in a hospital, but clearly for me it was right, and i took after my grandmothers of super quick labours, following horrendous HG pregnancies!
(copy & pasted from the natal hypnotherapy thread)
"Hello
I will add my views too... I gave birth 3 days ago, at 40+3 and have been using the CD's since 16 weeks pregnant.
What an amazing homebirth I had!!!!!!!!
I have always been of the opinion that giving birth is natural / normal / part of life that the whole human race has done before etc, so when i herd about "hypnobirthing" I knew it was something i wanted to try, and i fell into the "natal hypnotherapy" version, when i found one of the CDs and the NCT nearly new sale
I liked it, bought the book, and read it cover to cover, and was positive about birth (and planning a homebirth) from before even being pregnant.
The CD's and the book just confirmed to me that there was nothing to worry about, and i didnt.
I wondered if these "pains" could be contractions at about 1330, but wasnt sure.... had some lunch, made some bread, then went upstairs and listened to my CD again. I realised they probably were contractions, but were NOT unbearable or anything.... i just breathed and they were gone again.
called daddy and hospitsl at 1530.(only called hospital as my midwife said please call before 1630 if in doubt so community midwife on call could not be called out a few moments after getting home, otherwise id have waited longer)
Midwife called me at 1600.... all fine.. i made some flap jack
1700 OH home and TENS machine on level 1
we had some tea
she called back at 1900, by which time i was having to lean on table and breath during my conctractions... 4 mins ish apart, 45 seconds long.
1915 i wanted to be alone, so while OH filled my pool, i went up to my bedroom, put down blackout blind, and just laboured by myself if pitch black room... all fine, very relaxed, calm and silent
2130 i vomited so decided to call hospital to let them know.... midwife called me back and said she'd come round. Was relieved she was coming but not desperate...
2200 ish midwife arrived... brings in stuff etc etc
starts to do her ' midwife stuff' at 2210 ish i think.... so we wait for gaps between contractions for her to do pulse / BP / examine me...
probably examined me about 2220... 7cm....
went to loo 1 last time (I think i had transition on the loo! i made a aggghhhh noise!) and tried to make it downstairs which i did just, between contractions...
Pool too hot so knelt on sofa....
waters went
4 contractions later she was out at 2237.
No pain-relief except TENS which by birth was up to level 4 and on boost for duration of the birth!
Much faster than i imagined possible, and i had no time for my pool / birth music / to be naked (which were all crucial parts of my birth plan for me!) but im sure the saying "breathing in golden light (for the count of 4) breathing out releasing tension (for the count of 6)" made each contraction only last 4 breaths...
all completely manageable and not really painful at all. (id describe a nasty paper corregated card cut as worse than giving birth)
My 2 stitches (with about 10 puffs of gas and air) were far far worse than the birth itself.
For me the hour after birth was much much worse than the hour before.
I cannot recommend the CDs enough..... and birth was so much better than even i had ever imagined, and even though i was pretty certain everything would be fine!