When sarah met chiara
Mum of three girls Sarah shares the unplanned home birth of her youngest, Chiara.
After booking an induction at 40+3 and three stretch and sweeps, an unplanned home birth was the furthest from Sarah’s mind. It started with mild back aches in bed, and ended an hour later with baby Chiara being delivered in the shower one minute before the ambulance arrived.
Sarah tells her birth stories in her own words…
Throughout my pregnancy I had Hyperemesis or more commonly known as HG and with my previous births I assumed this would be no different and I would deliver at 37 weeks. When that week came and went the real waiting game started. Little did i think i would be 40+3, talking and booking an induction and getting a third stretch and sweep. On that Wednesday the induction was booked for over a week away bringing me to 41+4.
It all began on the same Wednesday night, the night after the appointment, where I woke up with a constant dull back ache where I thought I needed to just go to the bathroom and all would be good assuming it was from the S&S earlier in the day.
Little did I know the next hour was going to be a whirl wind and a baby would be born.
After going to the toilet the pain just never left, so I jumped in the shower but nothing was easing the pain. It wasn't bad enough to warrant a trip into maternity. At 11.55pm I made a call to maternity to let them know that I was experiencing back pain and was advised to take some panadol, monitor baby's movements and try and sleep it was likely from the S&S.
After taking the panadol, I ended up back in the shower, where it went from 0 to 100 real quick.
I chilled for about 20mins before I thought "this is getting intense really fast" and thats when I started to yell out to my husband who was in bed asleep but through 2 closed doors and a shower running he couldnt hear me. I was also keeping in mind that my other two kids were asleep in their beds and that waking them up was the last thing we needed.
Once Michael finally heard me and came rushing in, all systems were a go! He had to ring my dad to come and watch the girls, and once he did that it was too late. This baby was coming, so I got him to call maternity back and to tell them that the pressure was unbearable and that my body was pushing. I could feel the baby's head moving right down however my waters were still yet to break.
With my husband on the phone to maternity we were advised to call the ambulance so with the midwife on my phone talking to me while im in the shower,
Michael called 000 where i was then out on speaker with the lovely man who guided us through the delivery until the paramedics arrived.
With one push my waters exploded, like a massive water balloon exploded and i knew that from what the midwife was saying that once they go baby's head was going to be right there. With another push she wasn't wrong. The head was right there, but Michael was going in and out of the room because he needed to open the front door for my dad and the ambulance so i was advised to hold out if i could before pushing again incase baby flew out.
Once he came back we were good to go, one push and the head came out, another push and we had our baby girl in our arms. Caught by Michael in the shower. Just the two of us.
The lovely 000 call centre man then began doing his cross checks such as making sure she was breathing and crying.
At 1.01am Chiara was born, at 1.01am the ambulance pulled up at the front and walked into the bathroom at 1.02am with them just missing the birth.
I ended up waiting for the placenta to birth before we left to the hospital and once we arrived to the hospital we were checked over where i had a very small tear however was a 2nd degree due to going to the muscle!
For the chaos of the unplanned home birth that we always joked would be a possibility due to moving slightly further out of town and away from the hospital and being a 3rd baby, i never actually thought it would happen in reality but it was such an experience and something we will never ever forget!
What do you wish you knew before birth?
That what I was experiencing with the back pain was actual labour. It was totally different to my previous births.
If you could, would you do anything differently?
I would of tried to make it to the hospital or actually woken my husband up to tell him I was experiencing the back pains. Rather than leaving it to late and to the point where the thought of moving out of the shower was not an option.
What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?
Remained calm and took on the role of delivering like it was something he did all the time.
What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?
If you suspect you are in labour, trust your gut. I 'thought' it may have been labour but then second guessed myself and when the midwife was also like oh its probably nothing yet i just was like oh ok! When i probably should of gotten myself in gear and headed into hospital.
A unplanned home birth is also not as scary as it may seem! With the right support it can be such a calm experience.