The Birth of Eadie

Brisbane Mum - Amy, Shares her Home Birth Story of her third daughter, Eadie.

Hi Beautiful and welcome to this months Blog Birth Story! Today we hear from Amy about her recent empowering homebirth! Amy had her third daughter this August.

I have captured Amy and her beautiful family a few times now, it was an absolute honour to be asked to be apart of her birth team. Amy had a fast labour that threw her a little off guard but she was able to have the birth of her dreams In the comfort of her own home. Here is her bespoke birth story.....

The birth story of Eadie (HBAC)

"A little (actually ALOT sorry) of our birthing background before I begin. Our eldest was breech with low amniotic fluid and was born via caesarean. The hospital had booked me for a caesarean at 39+4 gestation but my waters ruptured spontaneously at 37+5. We went in to hospital as advised because of baby being breech but wasn’t having consistent contractions. I decided I would prefer to see what happened instead of opting for immediate caesarean so we stayed overnight and tried induction with syntocinon in the morning. After 4 hours had progressed to 5cm, they came and checked after another 2 hours and we were only at 6cm so they deemed it ‘failure to progress’ and wheeled me down to theatre. I was so happy to have my baby in my arms but deep down felt defeated and like I had somehow ‘failed’. This experience lit a fire and desire in me to take back my decision making and birthing power. For my second I decided I did not want to be in the hospital system again and went with the private midwifery model of care, I love the continuity of care during the pregnancy, seeing the same midwife throughout eased any anxieties. My waters again ruptured at 37+5 and our midwife came out to our home and assessed me and I was 6cm so off to the hospital we went. I felt disrupted and panicky after moving to the hospital setting and ultimately baby had heart rate decels, during transition my waters became discoloured as baby had passed meconium and I delivered her with assistance of episiotomy. Recovery was smooth and was ecstatic to have achieved my vbac. Fast forward to baby number 3. I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly and was immediately determined to try for a more peaceful birth at home this time (especially with uncertainty around COVID) and set out to assemble my birth support team as soon as I could.

After contacting a few home birth midwives I was put in touch with my beautiful midwife Rangimarie and booked with Rianna after being a long time lurker and fan of her beautiful birth photography. Pregnancy went well and starting losing little bits of my mucous plug from 35-36 weeks and felt like was on the home stretch as was expecting her to arrive around the same gestation as her sisters. Well she made us wait a whole extra week haha. From 37+4 weeks I kept having consistent contractions that would start in the late afternoon and fizzle out by 9-10pm bedtime which was something I hadn’t experienced at all with previous pregnancies. At 38+4 I had pains on and off all day but put it down to a big day of cleaning and grocery shopping with a toddler. By 6pm I began to realise they had been happening all day and thought maybe I should have a rest and they will fizzle like every other day. They were coming about every 10 minutes at this stage, after awhile I got up and cleaned the kitchen and got ready for bed and went to lay down about 9pm but immediately got back up as I felt too uncomfortable, lit my clary sage candle and put my diffuser on then sat and rolled around on my gym ball while timing contractions, they were between 5-6 mins apart. After 30-40 minutes I woke up my husband to get the tens machine and pondered texting my midwife and photographer but also wasn’t quite convinced this was the real deal so sent them both vague text messages saying “maybe tonight” instead lol. After using the tens for awhile I started to feel sick, this should’ve been a huge indicator for me as both previous labour’s started with my body having the same ‘clean out’! After said clean out I felt yuck so had a shower while my husband filled the birth pool which took awhile with low water pressure due to me using the shower. I hopped in the birth pool about midnight and we decided to call the midwife to start making her way but in my mind I was questioning whether it was too early, thinking she’d be sitting around for hours. She arrived around 1am and started unpacking and our second midwife Ruth arrived shortly after. My husband asked if we should be calling Rianna too and the midwife said definitely! I remember thinking “Wow, maybe I’m closer than I realise” but I wasn’t in a great deal of pain so was thinking it would be awhile, contractions were around 2.5 mins apart. Not long after this I hit transition, contractions were intensifying and I felt as if I couldn’t keep going, thinking I still had hours to go and feeling like I couldn’t. I felt some fear and started getting more vocal and was looking for reassurance. My husband rubbed my back and midwives soothed me reminding me to breathe and telling me I was doing great. I started feeling the foetal ejection reflex around 2am and contractions started slowing down a bit and I felt a bit frustrated my waters weren’t breaking because I felt like that would give baby the final little push in her descent. I also felt like I needed to pee but couldn’t, eventually I set my mind to releasing my bladder and my waters followed shortly after. I reached down and could feel her squishy little head crowning and that was the final push I needed mentally, I decided to join in the party and a few surges later she was out just before 3am. I lifted her from the water to me and our eyes met, my husband later recounted this to me in awe. How different it was to our previous babies births will never be lost on either of us. I brought her to my chest and we stared at each other for what felt like the longest time before I realised the midwife was gently coaching me to blow on her face as she hadn’t taken a breath yet. I did so and she took her breath but was so calm. It didn’t feel real!

Our midwife gave me a placenta release tincture but after a little while the pool was looking rather red and I decided I’d like to move to the bed to deliver the placenta and also asked for the oxytocin shot to help it along as I was acutely aware of blood loss and didn’t want to risk having to be transferred to hospital. After the placenta was delivered they placed it beside us as we began to feed and we invited some very excited big sisters who had just woken in to meet their new baby. Our midwife asked the girls if they would like to help cut the cord to which my eldest replied “No, it stinks” and backed away haha. Our middle daughter was however more than happy to oblige and we chose a cord tie together and she helped my husband cut the cord. I had a quick shower and got dressed before we weighed and measured her. She was a whole pound and over 2 inches longer than her sisters at 7lb 4oz and 55cm! The girls then had their first holds while our midwives cleaned up, packed down the birth pool and popped a load of washing on. It was a surreal feeling that I was at home with all my babies. Honestly probably the most bad ass feeling of my entire life lol! Still feel totally indebted to my birth team who never doubted me despite my own trauma induced fears and did not discount my ability even with my less than ideal birth history. They gave me an invaluable gift and helped me learn to trust myself and my body again. They taught me that I already have everything I need to be a great mother inside of me and all I needed was time and patience and I’ll be forever grateful for that. The main thing I took away from my birthing journey is that there is no ‘failure’. No right or wrong way. Vaginal, caesarean, hospital or home.. Be where you feel most comfortable, follow your instinct. A little research and knowledge helps empower us and a good support team goes a long way." - Amy

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful, empowering story Amy! You are amazinggggg! If you loved this birth story, please give this beautiful family some love in the comments below! If you would love to see more of Eadie's birth photos, there is also a viewing gallery below. If you are interested in sharing your birth story to help educate and empower other women in our community, please send yours here: rianna@birthspoke.com.au - You CAN remain anonymous if you wish.

-Hi, My name is Rianna! I am a Gold Coast mum of four, birth and motherhood photographer, student doula and birth nerd! I love connecting with, educating, empowering and capturing women, mothers and mothers to be. There is nothing more magical than someones bespoke birth journey. If you would like to know more about me or are interested in working together you can find me on INSTAGRAM , FACEBOOK, MY WEBSITE , or Via Email: Rianna@birthspoke.com.au-