AMY’S FREEBIRTH STORY

I met Amy while travelling around in our caravan for two months in Tasmania in 2022. Fast forward another year, and she and her family moved across the country to Western Australia, only a couple of hours from me in the south west. We reconnected and I was thrilled to hear that she was planning a freebirth with her third baby on the farm they had just purchased. Amy has kindly shared her birth story with us below.

My whole pregnancy I had a freebirth on my mind. I knew I could do it having had two wonderful home births before. 

I hired a midwife at around 23 weeks and immediately felt like I regretted it. I was being weighed and told I was putting on weight too fast despite each pregnancy putting on the same amount. Each time I visited I left feeling like I was doing something wrong. I have big babies so I was pushed into feeling fearful about that. My previous babies were 9lb 10 and 10lb 5 with 38 cm heads and long bodies. Despite their size I was able to birth at home with no tearing or stitches needed. 

I spent my time reading and educating myself about the risks and benefits of unassisted birth and over the months I knew I would be able to do it. This is the story of my third home birth and first freebirth. 

27/09, midnight - light surges every 30 mins. Around 4:00am I started losing my mucus plug. When I woke in the morning everything stopped. I had one or two contractions mid morning. A bit of water came out but otherwise nothing else to report. 

I lost more mucus plug during the day and kept having infrequent contractions, with one strong one at 1:30pm. I had a feeling things would kick off soon so I had a nap and some lunch. Surges started kicking off at random times and I felt like looking after my two older children was making things slow and irregular. 

Around dinner time I felt myself needing to get some space from the chaos of our regular life so I put my headphones in and went for a small walk around the back garden in the evening light. My mother in law sat with the kids for a while until bed time came around which I was so glad for. She sat and rubbed my back while my husband did the bedtime routine. 

I was getting surges pretty much back to back for a while, one being really intense, followed by a few less intense ones then big breaks. At this point I wasn’t convinced I was in active labour although looking back I definitely was! 

I lay on my side propped up by pillows and used the combs for pain relief while my mum in law rubbed my back. It was manageable at this point while the surges came and went infrequently. 

When my husband came out from the kids room we decided to fill the pool. I felt like I needed another tool to aid in the pain at this point. Around 8:30pm I got in the pool and the relief was instant. My surges stopped for a while and I really did think my whole labour had stalled for a bit. Deep down I knew there was no going back but I had some intrusive thoughts about how long the labour was going to be and my fear around that. 

I was able to talk to my husband between surges as they were a few minutes apart and varying in intensity. I would have a huge surge followed by a few less intense ones. My coping strategy was low moaning and adding more warm water into the pool. I was aware of the sounds changing meaning things were progressing along but my mind still had doubts about how far along I was. 

I decided to pray and ask for a quick delivery while also making a deal with myself to focus all my energy on breathing down with every surge. I didn’t have any definitive feelings to push but I felt my uterus muscles change direction and it felt really good to breathe down. 

The time started to blur but at one stage I decided to put my hand down and see if I could feel anything. I was disappointed to only feel the amniotic sac instead of a head but I just had faith that it would end at some point and he would come out. 

The surges felt more and more “pushy” but I kept breathing down instead of pushing. My body didn’t want to push. I delivered a 4.68 kg baby previously and it took a lot of pushing so I was hesitant to do that again despite having no tearing delivering my second baby. 

I was changing positions a lot and feeling baby moving around down there which reassured me he was ok. I knew he was getting ready to come out and I was grateful he knew what to do to help me deliver him. 

I rolled over onto my back in the pool and felt a huge surge. I couldn’t help but push at that point and my waters broke. The next surge followed very soon after and his head was almost out. I pushed hard and it felt good to feel his head right there. 

10:45pm - the next surge happened within seconds and his head and body slipped out into my husbands arms. I couldn’t believe that had happened so quickly and with my surges so infrequent so shortly before hand. I shouted I DID IT about 20 times while holding the loveliest baby in my arms. 

My placenta came out easily within around 10 minutes and I had taken the blissful herbs no bleed tincture in preparation which worked well. My 5 year old cut the cord and we all relaxed for a while. We couldn’t believe he was here and everything went so smoothly and so fast. Just 5 hours and my baby was in my arms! 

I had no grazing or tearing afterwards. William was born 9lb 6oz at 57.5cm long, with a 37 cm head. 

This was the best birth I have had so far and all three have been amazing.