The peaceful unassisted birth of Annabelle... Part 1: background

From the moment my head cleared after the euphoria of Charlotte's birth, I had known that I wanted a home birth for my next baby. I had planned where I wanted the pool to go, and had my heart set on S and C being there to witness their younger sibling's birth. When we got a surprise second line on a home pregnancy test, I was a little nervous but excited to start my journey all over again.

From the beginning, I knew I needed to do things slightly differently to last time. I hoped for the same back up gynae, and I know she is only comfortable going to 40 weeks, so I had to fudge my last period date. I also didn't want so many ante-natal visits with a gynae - there are very valid concerns about the safety of ultrasound scans, and I didn't want to expose my child to questionable practices that have somehow become standard in South Africa. So my first gynae visit was at 20 weeks after seeing my midwife at 16 weeks. (I did pop into our local pharmacy for blood pressure and urine tests at around 13 weeks).

I also discovered a couple of UC (unassisted childbirth) facebook groups and the more I read, the more they resonated with me. UC moms take full responsibility for their births and so tend to be very educated on both pregnancy and birth (including emergency situations and reasons where a transfer to hospital may be necessary).

There was a fascinating research study done a few months back, and preliminary conclusions show that UC can be significantly safer than hospital birth, and with a major decrease in the number of csections required - my gut feeling on this is that it is because each woman has taken on the responsibility to keep herself and her baby safe, and is more in tune with her body and baby than she would likely be if she was trusting a doctor to keep her safe. I feel like there is a lesson to be learned here, even for those who prefer prenatal care and hospital births.

My 2 dream birth scenarios were very different - one had S and C with Noel just outside the pool watching as their younger sib was born, and the second was an unassisted birth. The only issue with that was that I thought I may need my doula to get through each contraction again, and if she was there I needed to have a midwife present. Plus I have the most amazing midwife, and genuinely wanted her there for who she is, not just for her knowledge and experience. As it happened, we didn't have too much choice in the matter!