PREGNANCY YOGA AND A BEAUTIFUL HOME BIRTH…

Wednesday 8th January 2025

I woke up with a terrible cold and absolutely no energy. I'd cancelled my plans for the day and spent most of it drifting between the sofa, odd jobs around the house and walking the dog.

For reasons I still can't explain, I became determined to finish sealing the kitchen floor and then went to do a huge supermarket shop. Looking back, my shopping choices should probably have been a clue that something was happening. I came home with an alarming quantity of snacks, grapes and about 40 Jaffa Cakes.

Later that afternoon I found myself watching a home birth video online and crying through the entire thing.

That evening I felt increasingly different. Not just unwell with a cold, but deeply tired, emotional and ready to slow down. I was making dinner when I suddenly found myself draped over a gym ball in the middle of the kitchen, rocking back and forth while the dog repeatedly came over to check whether I was OK. She was so concerned that I eventually had to cover my head with a blanket to stop her nudging me.

Despite feeling a bit off, I still went to pregnancy yoga.

During a forward fold, I felt the biggest kick I'd felt all pregnancy. Then I felt a warm gush.

As I walked downstairs to the toilet, it became clear that my waters had broken.

I texted my partner to come and collect me and quietly slipped out. The yoga teacher was wonderfully calm when I told her what had happened and even suggested I stay for the relaxation session if I wanted. Her calmness helped me feel calm too.

When I got home, I still imagined I might have dinner and a bath before labour really got going.

Instead, labour gently showed me otherwise.

I began to feel strong sensations in my back, along with some nausea, and found myself naturally moving between different positions. We called the home birth midwife, who reassured us and stayed in touch as things developed.

The birth pool was being set up downstairs while I focused on one surge at a time. The TENS machine helped enormously, and I spent much of early labour on my hands and knees, following what my body seemed to want.

When I eventually made it downstairs, the room was exactly as we'd imagined: fairy lights, music playing softly and the pool waiting for me.

The water brought immediate relief.

At some point the midwife examined me. She knew I didn't want to know how dilated I was, but afterwards I learned I was already 7cm. Not long later she called for a second midwife, which was my first real clue that I would be meeting my baby sooner rather than later.

The rest becomes softer around the edges in my memory.

I remember my dog wandering in to check on me.

I remember my partner whispering encouragement into my ear.

I remember demanding that he remove his fluffy jumper because, at that particular moment, it seemed incredibly important.

Most of all, I remember how instinctive everything felt. I had spent so much time reading and preparing, but when the time came, my body simply took over.

At one point the midwife suggested I reach down and feel my baby's head. I could feel all the hair and couldn't quite believe there was actually a baby there.

The birth itself felt calm and unhurried.

There was a pause after the head emerged, and I loved that nobody rushed anything. Then, with one final surge, my baby slipped gently into the water.

A moment later I was leaning back in the pool holding my baby on my chest.

We hadn't even checked whether we had a boy or a girl.

We were too busy staring at this tiny person we'd just met.

Eventually we looked and discovered we had a son.

We moved to the sofa for skin-to-skin, cuddles and his first feed. About an hour later the placenta was born, and afterwards the midwives checked me over and repaired a couple of tears while my partner held our newborn son.

One of my strongest memories afterwards is asking the midwife to find my date balls in the fridge. Unfortunately, she first had to navigate the mountain of food I'd bought earlier that day during what turned out to be my final supermarket trip before labour.

The midwives left in the early hours of the morning, and we found ourselves sitting quietly with our son, trying to take in everything that had happened.

Looking back, the birth was intense, emotional and deeply positive.

What stays with me most is how safe I felt.

I got to labour in my own home, surrounded by people I trusted, with my dog wandering in and out, our favourite music playing and the freedom to move, rest and follow my instincts.

It was everything I had hoped for.

Hannah, Bath