R-Evolution
It is TIME to Co-create a SHIFT in Human Consciousness! Empower change for all!
It is TIME to R-Evolutionise Birth Practices in order to WELCOME new beings with LOVE, JOY & ECSTASY IMPROVE the quality of birth and you IMPROVE the quality of LIFE What is your Birth Story?Submit your birth story to be published on this website
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The Ancients knew how to Birth |
My Birth Stories
My three home births have occurred in three different countries with three different Midwives. The different experiences really showed me that the continuity of care model has absolute value as my easiest and most enjoyable birth occurred when I had the same midwife for the entire prenatal, birth and postnatal experience. I was fully prepared mentally and physically and I had complete trust and confidence in her and myself to create a wonderful birth experience, this was definitely missing for my third baby and therefore not surprising that it was my most challenging and least enjoyable birth.
BREECH Home Birth - London, UK 2001
My first child was born breech (bottom first) at home in London against NHS recommendations. I was supported by two wonderful midwives who knew that natural breech birth was indeed a reality. It was a beautiful birth with no complications, drugs, stitches and minimal pain. I experienced true power surging through my body and an ecstatic response to the sheer beauty and joy of it!
Way back in the year 2000, I began a journey when I read a book called “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” by Christiane Northrup. It completely changed the way I looked at both pregnancy and birth. This change of philosophy was helped along by the fact that I had just graduated with a Diploma of Holistic Therapy ISET, which is type of hypnotherapy combined with transpersonal counselling. By the time that I had finished the book, I was convinced that the only way to try and birth a baby was at home, completely naturally, no drugs and no intervention. I gave my husband all the reading materials and he agreed that a home birth seemed the best option. A few months later we found out we were pregnant and as we were living in the UK at the time, having a home birth was easy as it was actively encouraged and even available through the National Health Service for pregnancies without complications so we signed up with our community midwives. At 32 weeks, a complication arose, my baby was breech. This threw my whole world into a spin and I madly started researching Breech births. For four weeks we tried every natural method under the sun to get her to turn but to no avail, she was determined to present me with my first challenge. We now had a big decision to make, if we stayed with the National Health Service, we would have to deliver in hospital with the most likely outcome, a caesarean section as that is what the NHS recommend for all Breech babies. My research had told me that if certain factors were in place then it was perfectly safe to deliver a Breech baby vaginally and at home. For me the choice was easy even though the pressure brought to bear was staggering, so we found ourselves engaging Independent midwives at week 36 for the princely sum of 2500 GBP (approx 6000 AUD), ouch, luckily we were able to come up with the money. Our midwives were fantastic and made up for lost time by visiting me twice a week leading up to the birth. They were very experienced with breech deliveries and my daughter was born at home, fighting fit and with no complications for mother or child. My dream was reality, I had birthed my baby the way I wanted to with no intervention, drugs, stitches or doctors. I felt so empowered by the experience which was only saddened by the fact that so many other women miss out on that amazing experience because of the fear mentality, the lack of choices and misinformation they have about childbirth. I was determined to use my skills to help other women deal with their fears and achieve a natural childbirth if that was their choice.
Way back in the year 2000, I began a journey when I read a book called “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” by Christiane Northrup. It completely changed the way I looked at both pregnancy and birth. This change of philosophy was helped along by the fact that I had just graduated with a Diploma of Holistic Therapy ISET, which is type of hypnotherapy combined with transpersonal counselling. By the time that I had finished the book, I was convinced that the only way to try and birth a baby was at home, completely naturally, no drugs and no intervention. I gave my husband all the reading materials and he agreed that a home birth seemed the best option. A few months later we found out we were pregnant and as we were living in the UK at the time, having a home birth was easy as it was actively encouraged and even available through the National Health Service for pregnancies without complications so we signed up with our community midwives. At 32 weeks, a complication arose, my baby was breech. This threw my whole world into a spin and I madly started researching Breech births. For four weeks we tried every natural method under the sun to get her to turn but to no avail, she was determined to present me with my first challenge. We now had a big decision to make, if we stayed with the National Health Service, we would have to deliver in hospital with the most likely outcome, a caesarean section as that is what the NHS recommend for all Breech babies. My research had told me that if certain factors were in place then it was perfectly safe to deliver a Breech baby vaginally and at home. For me the choice was easy even though the pressure brought to bear was staggering, so we found ourselves engaging Independent midwives at week 36 for the princely sum of 2500 GBP (approx 6000 AUD), ouch, luckily we were able to come up with the money. Our midwives were fantastic and made up for lost time by visiting me twice a week leading up to the birth. They were very experienced with breech deliveries and my daughter was born at home, fighting fit and with no complications for mother or child. My dream was reality, I had birthed my baby the way I wanted to with no intervention, drugs, stitches or doctors. I felt so empowered by the experience which was only saddened by the fact that so many other women miss out on that amazing experience because of the fear mentality, the lack of choices and misinformation they have about childbirth. I was determined to use my skills to help other women deal with their fears and achieve a natural childbirth if that was their choice.
Home Waterbirth - Melbourne, Australia, 2004
My second child was born underwater at home in Melbourne. It was the simplist of births with relatively mild contractions and only a 15 minute second stage. My midwife supported from the side and I birthed him myself gently and easily.
At around the time that we became pregnant with our second child, we had decided to move back to Australia. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find an active homebirth midwife as it was at the same time that midwives had been refused indemnity insurance and I knew how medicalised the Australian system was. Fortunately we found a wonderful midwife through enquiries on the internet and on our arrival in Melbourne we engaged her services for $2500, a bargain compared to the UK. She was absolutely lovely from the start, involving our daughter in the whole process and over the term of the pregnancy she developed a really wonderful relationship with the whole family. Our son surprised us by coming a week early and we were well prepared. He arrived with barely any fuss after only two pushes, under the water, delivered by myself just 40 minutes after Annie’s arrival. My Australian midwife was wonderful, supporting me from the edge of the pool as I birthed him myself. He lay in my arms, completely at peace, not breathing, and wonderfully calm. In his own time, he gently came into his body and started to breathe. Later, my husband cut the cord and my two year-old daughter entered the water to welcome her baby brother. It was an amazingly joyful experience. Once again I had managed to birth my baby at home surrounded by friends and family with no intervention.
At around the time that we became pregnant with our second child, we had decided to move back to Australia. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find an active homebirth midwife as it was at the same time that midwives had been refused indemnity insurance and I knew how medicalised the Australian system was. Fortunately we found a wonderful midwife through enquiries on the internet and on our arrival in Melbourne we engaged her services for $2500, a bargain compared to the UK. She was absolutely lovely from the start, involving our daughter in the whole process and over the term of the pregnancy she developed a really wonderful relationship with the whole family. Our son surprised us by coming a week early and we were well prepared. He arrived with barely any fuss after only two pushes, under the water, delivered by myself just 40 minutes after Annie’s arrival. My Australian midwife was wonderful, supporting me from the edge of the pool as I birthed him myself. He lay in my arms, completely at peace, not breathing, and wonderfully calm. In his own time, he gently came into his body and started to breathe. Later, my husband cut the cord and my two year-old daughter entered the water to welcome her baby brother. It was an amazingly joyful experience. Once again I had managed to birth my baby at home surrounded by friends and family with no intervention.
Homebirth in Rural France, 2006
Home birth in France is not common and when I birthed my third child at what was then our summer home (now permanent home), there were only 30 independent midwives for the whole of France. The system is more medicalised here and I did not establish a great bond of trust with my midwife, regardless of that my second son was born with no drugs or stitches and minimal pain. He now sleeps in the bedroom where he was born.
My third pregnancy was not entirely planned and by this time we were dividing our time between our home in Melbourne and our home in France. My husband was concerned on hearing the news as not only wasn’t he very keen on having a third child, he was upset that we wouldn’t be able to go to France as planned. When I looked at it, I realised that the baby had timed things perfectly and as long as I could find an independent midwife to do a home birth, we could still go at exactly the time planned. France is even more medicalised than Australia with routine shavings and episiotomies still taking place and they love scans and drugs so I definitely wanted to stay out of the system for that one. We found a midwife after a bit of searching and the only drawback was that she lived an hour and a half away from us as there are only 30 midwives for the whole of France. Decision made, we left it until we arrived in France to contact her again and arrange a meeting. We met her when I was 32 weeks pregnant and as per usual for Independent midwives, she was very lovely and caring, her fee surprise surprise was 2500 euros (approx 5000 AUD), which I thought was a an amazing coincidence but also a bit steep considering there was only going to be one prenatal check up and one post natal check up and an easy birth of course. We managed to negotiate the fee down slightly and I was still upset by not only the cost but the lack of prenatal contact, so a less than ideal lead up to the birth. Based on our last experience, I thought the birth would be easy and quick and I wasn’t really overly prepared for it in mind, body or spirit. After several hours of labour, it seemed that I was stuck at 7cms dilation and not progressing, in fact contractions were getting further and further apart. I know now that this was caused by my lack of trust in both my midwife and my support team. Our midwife decided to break my waters, my first piece of intervention ever so I was a bit upset that it was required, my second son was born about 40 minutes later with the cord wrapped tightly around his neck and his hand up next to his ear so all in all he proved to be my most painful and challenging birth. His face was very blue but he pinked up quite quickly especially after a little oxygen and some massage. My other children were present and although a little concerned at one stage, they wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was still lovely to have him in our own house, surrounded by the people I care about most. He now sleeps in the bedroom where he was born!
My third pregnancy was not entirely planned and by this time we were dividing our time between our home in Melbourne and our home in France. My husband was concerned on hearing the news as not only wasn’t he very keen on having a third child, he was upset that we wouldn’t be able to go to France as planned. When I looked at it, I realised that the baby had timed things perfectly and as long as I could find an independent midwife to do a home birth, we could still go at exactly the time planned. France is even more medicalised than Australia with routine shavings and episiotomies still taking place and they love scans and drugs so I definitely wanted to stay out of the system for that one. We found a midwife after a bit of searching and the only drawback was that she lived an hour and a half away from us as there are only 30 midwives for the whole of France. Decision made, we left it until we arrived in France to contact her again and arrange a meeting. We met her when I was 32 weeks pregnant and as per usual for Independent midwives, she was very lovely and caring, her fee surprise surprise was 2500 euros (approx 5000 AUD), which I thought was a an amazing coincidence but also a bit steep considering there was only going to be one prenatal check up and one post natal check up and an easy birth of course. We managed to negotiate the fee down slightly and I was still upset by not only the cost but the lack of prenatal contact, so a less than ideal lead up to the birth. Based on our last experience, I thought the birth would be easy and quick and I wasn’t really overly prepared for it in mind, body or spirit. After several hours of labour, it seemed that I was stuck at 7cms dilation and not progressing, in fact contractions were getting further and further apart. I know now that this was caused by my lack of trust in both my midwife and my support team. Our midwife decided to break my waters, my first piece of intervention ever so I was a bit upset that it was required, my second son was born about 40 minutes later with the cord wrapped tightly around his neck and his hand up next to his ear so all in all he proved to be my most painful and challenging birth. His face was very blue but he pinked up quite quickly especially after a little oxygen and some massage. My other children were present and although a little concerned at one stage, they wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was still lovely to have him in our own house, surrounded by the people I care about most. He now sleeps in the bedroom where he was born!
