It all started at around 2am on May 26 when I felt my first contraction. They continued on and off throughout the day, slowly gaining in frequency until around 5pm when they really started to amp up. That’s when I decided to blow up the birth pool so it would be ready to be filled when the time came.

Once my husband came home, we had dinner and I kept feeling more and more contractions, so I called my doula Laura around 8:30pm to get her take on the situation. She lives far so I wanted to give her as much of a heads up as possible.

After a quick chat, she said she’d pack up her stuff and start making her way over soon. At this point I decide to take a shower to help me cope with the contractions a bit more. Eric was getting concerned at this point since some of my contractions were following the 5-1-1 pattern, so he called the midwife. While we were on the right track, it was too early for her to come over so she said to keep waiting it out and call back when things were more intense.

Once Laura arrived, she and Eric got to work filling up the birth pool (if you’re interested in a water birth, be prepared - this part takes forever!) I kept trying to breathe through my contractions, focusing on staying loose. Eventually the pool was filled so I laboured there for probably an hour before Eric called Deanna again (the midwife). She arrived at around 1am, checked baby’s heart rate out while I was in the pool, and then asked if I wanted a cervical check. I agreed, and got my one and only cervical check for the entire pregnancy! I was 8cm dilated, almost completely effaced, and my water hadn’t broken yet. At that point I decided to go labour on the toilet for a bit, and that’s probably where things got really intense. After around 30 minutes there, my team encouraged me to go back to the pool. That’s when transition hit, and I was honestly so grateful for it. Sure the contractions were crazy intense and I was feeling the ring of fire, but the contractions had slowed down just enough for me to catch my breath before our last big push to the finish line.

Josephine was born at 2:36am in our home, at 40+6 weeks, weighing in 7lb 6oz and measuring 53cm long. The second midwife got there about a minute after Josephine was born, and the whole team was gone by 5am (after many checks for me and baby to make sure we were both alright).

My home birth was such an amazing experience, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It was the most intense thing I’ve ever done, and I’m so grateful that everything went smoothly. I’m hoping that sharing my experience will empower other first time moms to take the plunge and have a home birth if they are called to it - it’s so nice to be in your space and feel at home.