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…

I will start by saying everything I expected about his birth did not happen! I was expecting a shorter labour than what I had with Thomas, but it was double that. I was expecting things would kick off during the night. I thought he would come earlier…

My body basically did all the pushing for me and I could feel my baby moving down. The breaks were longer between contractions and I was so grateful for this! I was totally present and felt in control but also surrendered to my body,…

Birth was not smething we talked about in our home growing up, in fact I remember feeling scared about giving birth before I was even a teenager. I had seen it movies; a woman in hospital screaming, sweating, begging for drugs, bright lights…

She had me standing up holding on to Kahu’s cot and moving my hips in slow figure 8 motion which really helped, and she taught me how to breathe through them properly. It was so good having someone to coach you through the contractions…

Pete my husband, was unsure about my desire for a home birth. He was concerned about the safety of his family. The more information and statistics we researched the more convinced we were that home was the right place for a fit, healthy, informed…

It’s Monday and I have got an appointment with my osteopath up the road to help encourage baby (aka “Owl,” as we called our bump) to drop into my pelvis. I have been having more frequent and stronger “practice contractions”, but Owl is still…