Positive Home Birth Story

💕Adanna-Sarai Positive Birth Story 💕 First time parents Known baby girl ⚖️ 7lbs 10oz 3.475kg 📆 39 + 5 2 days before her due date ⏰️ 12 hours early labour / 3.5 hours active & down stage 🏡 Planned home & water birth Before I even knew I was pregnant, I wanted to have a home birth. So, it was a no-brainer that at my first appointment, I requested to be transferred to the home birth team and was matched with my wonderful midwife, Polly. I am very grateful to God for my very safe and uncomplicated pregnancy. No morning sickness—the biggest problem I had outside of the regular aches was Pelvic Girdle Pain. I was truly lucky and blessed. At around 37 weeks, I started my ‘get this baby out’ program, determined for her to arrive on her due date—despite only 4% of babies actually doing so. A week before, I noticed my bump had dropped, so I figured it might not be long before she came, but being my first pregnancy, I tried to manage my expectations. The morning of the 5th was a really good day. I had heard a lot about how doing what got you pregnant 😉 could induce labor, so my partner and I gave it a try. I didn’t think much of it, but I could tell things felt different down there—my cervix had definitely shifted into position. We went for a walk in the park and stopped by Homemade café. It was a chilled-out day for us—we just cuddled and soaked it all in. Lots of feel-good hormones and oxytocin were flowing. At around 3 p.m., while still cuddling, I shifted into a kind of child’s pose with a pillow under my bump—and I felt a snap and heard a pop. I was shocked, like, What the hell just happened? I felt a slight cramp, waited a second, and then felt a trickle in my pants (definitely not like the movies). I went to the bathroom, and the fluid kept coming—an almost milky color—so I wasn’t sure. I called the midwife advice line, and they confirmed it sounded like my waters had broken. I didn’t feel any cramps until about an hour later, around 4 p.m., which was a relief. Things were starting—exciting! Baby girl was ready to meet us. While waiting for a midwife to check me over, I made the worst-tasting dinner through early contractions, and my partner started preparing the birth space—putting up my affirmations, blowing up the pool, and getting everything ready for our baby’s arrival. Around 11 p.m., the midwife arrived and checked me over. I was about 1 cm dilated, but she said my cervix felt ripe and soft, joking that the baby would be here by morning. I asked for a sweep to help things progress and continued to labor. The surges definitely intensified after the sweep. I started using up-breathing techniques and took a bath to ease the surges. Shortly after, my sisters arrived with snacks—one a nurse, the other a newly qualified midwife. We chilled and gossiped as my contractions got closer together. Naomi, my midwife on shift, checked me every five minutes but decided to wait a little longer to let me progress further. By this time, I felt I needed some relief, so I started using the TENS machine. It helped slightly, but as things intensified, we tried to rest. The surges became stronger and harder to control with just breathing. I needed to roar and moo and moan through each one as they became longer and sharper, waking me from sleep. The environment was so soothing, and I feel like resting between surges, using my breath and voice, really helped. My sister ran me another bath to ease my surges, but it was getting harder to move without assistance. I started using two combs in my fists as a distraction. The surges kept building and building. By this point, I stopped tracking them and asked my midwives to come back. I think I was in established labor at about 4:47 a.m. The midwives stayed quiet and let me labor, checking on me intermittently without disturbing me. By about 6 a.m., I was out of the bath, rocking and mooing through the contractions. My sisters and partner used counter-pressure on my pelvis to take the edge off while starting to fill the pool. By 6:30 a.m., I was in transition and felt the urge to push. I could feel her head getting lower. Pushing actually felt like it was helping me, but I was mindful that I wanted a pool birth, and the pool was still filling with just a hose. Finally, by 6:50 a.m., the pool was ready, and I stumbled my way into it. As I walked, I felt more of my waters release. Getting into the pool felt amazing—it took the edge off and allowed me to feel more at ease. At 7:03 a.m., I just sat there, resting through the surges like I was in a hot tub. I asked for another cervical check to see how far I had come—I was now 8 cm. I felt slightly discouraged because I didn’t want to be in labor much longer. It already felt like forever, and I was in the pool. I just wanted this baby out. I turned onto all fours, knowing gravity would help move things along—and it surely did. As soon as I turned, the urge to push became uncontrollable. I started to scream. I felt her coming, but I thought it was too early to push. (Thinking too much with my head!). Holding onto my fiancé, I screamed and let my body take over. It was so hard to surrender to labor and stop tensing—tensing would only prolong the process. I was really in my head, but she was crowning. I felt her head between my legs, and we were just waiting for the next surge. I could feel her jumping out of me, and I cried for help. My midwife and sisters encouraged me— “She’s almost here!” “You’re doing amazing—keep going!” That final push felt amazing—just releasing it all. My midwife guided her through my legs, and I needed a second to take it all in before I opened my eyes to my new reality. Then I saw her. I pulled her out of the water and held her to my chest. She was so beautiful—so alert and relaxed. She barely cried. A head full of hair (and no heartburn throughout pregnancy!). We sat back in the pool, soaking it all in, waiting for my placenta to come. As we sat, Ada Ada by Flavour (a Nigerian Igbo artist) played. My fiancé and I had decided to keep her name a secret until she was born. And right at the perfect moment, her song came on—Ada (short for Adanna, meaning “first daughter”) and Nna (meaning “father”). That’s when we told my sisters her name: Adanna-Sarai. My placenta came shortly after I stood up to get out of the pool. We kept it attached to her as long as we could, soaking in that golden hour. While I was being checked and stitched (first-degree tear), my fiancé did skin-to-skin. Once the cord was cut, she was weighed—3.475 kg / 7 lb 10 oz. My first birth was so empowering and fast. In hindsight, it was truly amazing that my body did this—and I’d absolutely do it again. Thank you to my midwives—Polly (who couldn’t be there), Naomi, and the home birth team in Nottingham—you guys are absolutely phenomenal. Of course, thank you to my wonderful fiancé and sisters for putting in the work and looking after me. I am forever grateful. And thank you to my body for doing such an incredible job and birthing my beautiful daughter, Adanna-Sarai. I now have a wonderful, bouncing 4-month-old, and I continue to see the benefits of having her at home—for her and for myself.