My Christmas Homebirth in Plymouth

We were lucky enough to give birth to our second baby boy in our Plymouth home at Christmas time.

My calm Christmas birth at our home in Plymouth

Boxing Day

On the morning of Boxing Day, I noticed that my mucus plug was showing. We had family staying so we continued as normal with our celebrations and a trip to the beach in the sunshine. I knew that labour wasn't likely to kick in really quickly so I continued to build my oxytocin and endorphin levels. Standing on the beach at Mount Batten, I was very aware that I was in latent labour but my surges were very mild and far between that I was able to carry on with my day and enjoy our boxing day walk.

Boxing Day Eve

My surges didn't feel strong enough or regular enough to be convinced that our baby boy was going to be born that evening and we had a decision to make about whether my parents should take Hector our 3 year old back to Exeter with them that evening or not. I remember this being quite a hard decision as I didn't want Hector to go any sooner than he needed to so we decided to keep him at home for the night and my parents headed back to their home in Exeter ‘On Call’ for any changes.

We went to bed that night and I remember holding my husband Matt’s hand through surges thinking that it was going to be a restless night but the next thing I knew, it was morning!

27th December (Due Date)

My surges kicked off again that morning so we decided it was time to call my Mum to come and pick up Hector and Buzz the dog. It was about 11am when they went.

We went off for a walk to Devil’s Point so I could see the sea and the waves. I remember having to pause to focus on each surge as we strolled down the Royal William Yard steps and up again!

We headed back home and Matt made me cosy with a roaring fire, the Christmas tree shimmering and candles burning. He made up some tasty Christmas snacks and we settled in front of ‘Love Actually’ - me bouncing and rocking on the birth ball.

I didn’t get to settle for long at all and the surges whipped up their intensity and I utilised the Tens machine and calm breathing through them. Matt set about pumping up and filling the birthing pool.

Mid Afternoon

We called the Derriford Maternity triage line and I was handed the phone to talk to the midwife whilst I breathed through some surges. They agreed that it was time for a midwife to join us and said they would call us back but after 10 minutes or so we had heard nothing and eventually we called again and were informed that a midwife was on her way.

We caught her just in time -right at the end of her shift!

When the midwife arrived we had a comical few moments where she slipped over TWICE on the pavements outside our house as she went back and forth to the car and Matt went racing out to help her. We were a little concerned that she had hurt herself but she amazingly carried on. She didn’t even get chance to examine me in the end; I was transitioning really quickly and was ready to get in the pool and have my baby!

I felt the relief of the warm water and eventually got to inhale on some gas and air. I like to tell everyone that I birthed our son whilst the credits of ‘Love Actually’ were rolling up but, when you are giving birth time just doesn't make sense. All I remember was being so focused and in my calm bubble that I didn't even realise that the midwife was asking me to pick my baby up from the bottom of the pool! I reached down and brought my baby son up to my chest and said 'hello' to him and kept him warm with the water whilst time simply stopped as we had delicious 'golden' time in the pool together.

I can't even tell you whether I birthed the placenta naturally or with the help of the midwife, or if Matt cut the cord, but once we were ready to get out of the pool I do remember being very concerned suddenly about our new sofas - the midwife wanted me to lie down so that she could stitch a tear! We had all the sheets and towels ready in a box but for some reason it took us a minute to find them and navigate the logistics of getting me soaking wet from pool to sofa - which we actually found quite funny. I believe there was a dressing gown involved and Matt got to give his son some skin to skin whilst I got sorted.

Finally on the sofa (fully protected with waterproof sheets!) I enjoyed more skin to skin time with my son on my chest whilst the midwife checked me over and Matt went into auto-pilot tidying away the birth pool. The fire was bellowing heat out and were so cosy. Our little boy instinctively found my nipples to feed. I then watched Matt dress and proudly cuddle his son whilst I was being stitched up. I was able to soak in the environment, the amazing experience we had just been through and also take some photos.

Once the midwife was happy to leave us, we were ordering pizza and retreating to our bed for a celebratory glass of bubbly, some excited phone calls to our families and a dreamy night in bed with our newborn.