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Anyway, despite a lot of ridicule and negativity from others and a lot of apprehension from me, Ian and I decided to have one last stab at a homebirth although neither of us actually expected it to work out As expected we had hurdles from day one so we took the decision to share our plans with as few people as possible in order to keep our spirits up. I was classed as high risk because of "previous big babies" and "previous pre-eclampsia" with Flynn and was assigned the most anti-homebirth consultant at our local hospital. At my first appointment he scrawled all over my notes in red pen with "homebirth not advised" and told me that the safest option would be an early induction as my baby was "exceptionally large" and I was not, I thanked him for his opinion and told him that I was largely ignoring it and that I was also refusing the GTT that he wanted me to do. At around 6 or 7mths my bloods showed an abnormality with my glucose levels so I ended up with the dreaded GTT anyway which was thankfully normal At my 36wk appointment they told me that the baby was transverse and too big to turn and that I would need a C-Section at 37wks by 36+6 and every trick in the book we managed to get him cephalic (highly recommend tight cycling shorts and moxibustion - at the same time of course for full comedic effect!). Things then progressed smoothly - and my community MWs were really supportive - until the day before my due date when my fabulously well behaved BP went up to 150/110 queue re-run of Flynn's birth, straight up to hospital for immediate imprisonment My bloods were clear though and my protein levels dropped and the baby was happy so we struck a deal with the SHO that I could go home on bedrest and daily BP checks and avoid admittance unless my diastolic went over 95. Just for added effect she scrawled over the rest of my notes with "Still wants a homebirth after being advised of medical risks"
I decided this time not to attempt any form of self induction, for some reason I felt it wouldn't be safe. The baby was also posterior right up until last week when it finally shifted to LOA and then engaged (then I couldn't walk anymore ). On Sunday, one day after my due date, Jan 8th, I lost my plug and on Monday morning started having mild contractions every now and again and had lots of watery bloody show. The contractions kept petering out though everytime the boys came near me and stopped totally that night. On Tuesday the same thing happened again, I took myself off for some reflexology that evening which gave me the best night's sleep I'd had in ages, I had a full night's sleep and woke to nothing in the morning on Weds the 12th. Ian decided to go into work late so I could have some rest in bed. By the time Trisha came on the TV I realised the contractions were every 5 mins and had been going for 2 hrs - the best run yet - so wondered if things might finally happen. I went downstairs and shut myself away in our study which we'd set up as the birthing room with the pool, lots of candles, beanbags and duvets. I drew the curtains, burnt some oils and lit some candles and shut the door on the boys so I couldn't hear them. By about 10:30 I decided that things felt pretty laboury so we called our friend to take Seb and Flynn for the day and phoned for a midwife. At about 11:30 the midwife arrived and I asked for a VE to see if she should stay, contractions were very irregular and quite mild and she found me to be 3cm dilated and told me she was staying (I told her she'd be in for a long day if she did!).
Lunchtime'ish I put my TENs on and rocked around on my ball watching various crappy TV programmes and practicing some visualisations from the hypnobirthing I'd learnt with Flynn. When I'd reached full power on my TENs and my BP was just shy of 95 (our agreed transfer level) I decided it was time for the pool. My notes say I got in at 3pm but it felt like I was in there for hours! My Bp immediately dropped to 65, lower than my booking reading and contractions immediately lessened in itensity which I thought meant everything would slow down or stop completely, as in Seb's labour, but now I know it was just because I was so relaxed. I'd used the pool everynight for a fortnight before for my SPD pains so felt really at home in it and knew how I was most comfortable, I also added some lovely oils of lavender and Neroli which I'd been using everynight. By about 3:30 the contractions were starting to bite and the midwives were having to really help me keep calm and breathe through them, hypnosis was getting less effective and I was on some mega potencies of homoeopathic remedies, dished out by DH who'd been given a crash course 2hrs previously.
I then felt a pop and a gush and told them that either my waters had gone or I'd lost all control and had a giant pee in the pool much to my shame. The MW informed me that it was probably waters and I felt very proud of myself that for the first time in 3 births I'd avoided the dreaded amni-hook.
At around 3:45pm the pain all went into my back and became pretty unbearable and I realised that if I pushed it didn't hurt during a contraction. I told the midwives (a second one arrived at some point after I got in the pool) I was pushing and they told me to stop it and breathe through the contractions until I couldn't stop myself. They asked me to have a feel of my bits and explain what I felt, I felt nothing but some pretty grim bulging and a handful of piles , then they asked me to examine myself and see if I could feel a head, I told them I really had no idea what I could feel but there wasn't a head there unless I was giving birth to a giant haemorrhoid. They clearly thought things were imminent though as they donned their fetching plastic aprons and farmers elbow length gloves. I told them things weren't imminent as I hadn't puked and that I always puked once I hit 7cm, so no puke meant no progress as my puke bucket was still spangly new and empty next to the side of the pool.
At around 4pm I felt a huge pop, felt like my bits were tearing open and felt something drop down out of me and was utterly convinced I'd had a serious uterine prolapse I quickly realised this wasn't the case as I felt like someone was driving a flaming double decker bus through my minnie at break neck speed. I braced myself on the side of the pool, bit down hard into the padded side and screamed. The MW told me the head was born and to touch it, I told her I didn't want to and I didn't want to do this anymore please put it back up. I considered asking to use the entonox after weighing up whether the pain relief would be worth the copious vomitting which would inevitably ensue and swore at myself for not going to hospital where I could have had an epidural. I also swore at my body for not giving me my normal 2 minute slithering out second stage (this was my longest ever at 14 minutes long). The MWs told me to get on all fours and push hard and not scream, I didn't quite manage the screaming part At 16:13 the baby landed on the pool floor looking very blue. I scooped it up and gave it a huge cuddle in shock that we had actually had a baby at home I didn't need to look to see what we had when the MW asked me as I had a hand full of squidgy warm testicles so my instinct was right all along and we had our little Rafferty.
A short while after the pool started getting bloody so we got out and sat on a duvet on the floor. The cord stopped pulsating so Ian cut it and was the second person to hold our little boy I opted to have synto by this point as the placenta wasn't appearing and I wanted it gone. A few minutes after the jab it was out in it's hugeness. Rafe was weighed, we all thought he was in the mid 9lb range so were surprised when he tipped the scales at 11lb 3oz Then whilst the MWs cleaned up I went and had a lovely hot lavender bath whilst Ian held Rafe. By 6:30 everyone was gone and Seb and Flynn were back home eager to share their toys, over enthusiastic hugs, kisses and drinks with the newest arrival By 11pm we were all in bed after thebest tasting curry I'd had in ages! Since then we've not done much except constantly feed!