I sat in the rocking chair, and turned on the labour and birth track of my special relaxation and affirmation CD that was lent to me by Aileen Devonshire as part of the Holistic Birth course we had been going to for the last few weeks…

I had always liked the idea of a homebirth. Most people’s default option seems to be a hospital birth, and yet, I have never met anyone who has regretted their decision to have a home birth. As the weeks progressed, the idea of a home birth became…

3 weeks into a level four country wide lockdown when I felt the first stirrings. I was snuggled up on the couch with my children watching a movie, very subtle, barely noticeable. That evening after we put the older children to bed, we set up the pool…

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, could prepare me for what motherhood has been thus far. Everything has taught me something new about myself, and I have had to dig to the depths of my inner warrior more times than I can count…

Home birth has it’s own set of details to sort out. With my first two births I never dreamed of having a massive support crew, or that I would be comfortable having anyone else there at all. But because it was at my house, it didn’t seem so weird…

Nobody else entered that bathroom. It was private and safe and everything I had hoped that we could achieve within a hospital setting. Soon the contractions began to climb on top of each other and I was completely overwhelmed by the strength…

Our birth left me feeling so empowered and strong. I was proud of what my body and mind were capable of. Home birth was the best decision we made as we were in control of our environment and all decisions were made by us the whole way…

My midwife and I continued on, I truly admire her patience and just generally putting up with me, I was loud. I thought in my head I would be this calm beautiful labouring woman but in reality I was a roaring taniwha. It was exhausting…

I had not thought about the birth being anywhere in particular, I did not know anyone who had had a home birth, but when I started going to antenatal classes my views on everything changed. They were run by the North Shore Hospital…

After previous traumatic caesareans with my first two children, I knew I needed this time to be different. I needed to take some control back in a situation I felt was choiceless. I began explaining my previous experiences to the staff…

When I look back on the video now, the pushing seemed to be the easiest part, as I was more in control of my body. I didn’t have as much of the burning pain I’d had with Reid and I could feel my baby’s head emerging slowly but surely…

I felt very strongly that medical interventions were not necessary unless things were going wrong (mother or baby distress), and actually felt that interventions would interfere with the natural birth process that my body was quite capable of on its own…