The birth of Emma and Justin's first baby, Antoine born at home. Both parents have written their experience of Antoine's arrival into the world.

Antoine's Birth Story - By Justin

Emma woke me quite early on Sunday morning - about 5.30 am - to say that she thought it was starting. She felt slight contractions, lasting 10 or 15 seconds, every few minutes. We got up quite early, and took a few photos of the bump (as it could be our last chance).

Does my bump look big in this?

At about 10am we called Jane, one of our midwives, to let her know that we thought things were starting. We then went out into town to do a bit of shopping in the Sunday market (another call to Jane at 11am). When we got back to the house, the contractions were getting stronger and Emma decided to try the TENS machine. After a bit of re-positioning electrodes, we were wired up and ready to receive Chris and Tor - friends who were coming round for a coffee.
Once Chris and Tor had left, we thought a change of scene might help, and there were a few things we wanted to get before the birth, including figs to help speed up labour. We got two steps outside the front door when Emma said "No, we're going back". The contractions were getting much stronger, and Emma called Jane again.
We'd bought a space hopper to use as a birth ball (thought it might be useful in the years to come as a child's toy), and in conjunction with the TENS machine it worked very well. Emma would sit on it, rocking from side to side and moving her hips in small circles, while pressing the booster button on the TENS machine during the contractions.

Space hoppers - we had the blue one

At 2pm we asked Jane to come, as the contractions were getting progressively stronger. Emma tried lying down to get some rest, but this made the pain unbearable so she went back to the space hopper. By the time Jane arrived at 3pm, Emma was suffering from backache and took a homeopathic pill to help this. As the contractions continued to get stronger, Jane suggested a bath (we also had a birthpool, which was planned for later).
Transfer to the bath required putting the space hopper in the bathroom, so that Emma wouldn't be caught in a contraction without it. After a few contractions, Emma took the plunge and abandoned the space hopper and TENS machine for our odd-shaped bath (rather short and deep).
Following the transfer to bath, things started moving fast, and Jane called for Laura (our second midwife). I started to fill the birthpool (it takes about an hour to fill), but shortly afterwards it became clear that we would not have time to use it before the birth. At 5.30, Emma left the pool and moved to a corner of the bedroom that Jane had prepared. This was at the end of the first stage, and Emma had about 5 minutes rest before the second stage started (much appreciated I am told!)
The second stage was spent on all fours, concentrating on breathing out and not pushing - Jane was very good at keeping Emma's concentration on this. One of Emma's main concerns was that the pool would overflow - we could hear in the background the noise of it slowly filling. This thought was obviously bothering her, as she mentioned it several times, between breathing out exercises!
Things continued to move fast, with the head coming out at 6.10pm just as Laura arrived! With one more contraction, a baby boy was born at 6.14pm on Sunday 15th September 2002. He was very slippery, had quite a lot of hair on his cone-shaped head, and no name yet. (The following day we decided to call him Antoine).

Antoine, brand new

Immediately after the birth, Emma gave the first feed (the cord was still attached at this point, so we could not move very far). We were concerned to not cut the cord until it had finished pulsating, to let all the blood that was needed flow to the baby, and so we eventually cut the cord 45mins after the birth. About 15 minutes later, Emma gave birth to the placenta, using Jane's birthing stool.
Emma was relieved to have finished, and it was now time to clean up, weigh (he was 7lb 8oz), and use the birthpool which was full enough by now! Altogether it was a wonderful experience, with excellent support from Jane and Laura, and we would definitely plan something similar next time.

Family in the pool

Antoine's birth - By Emma

Antoine's birth started in the morning of Sunday 15 September 2002. I wake up a bit agitated at 5.30 am and a trip to the loo was enough to indicate something was happening (I don't normally wake up with wet pyjama bottoms). I told my partner Justin that it looked like my mucous plug had gone. As I felt no pain, or perhaps only just a slight period-like pain in my right lower belly, we decided to stay in our bed and get some sleep, which Justin did nicely. One hour later, I thought I had started feeling some real contractions, albeit still very mild, and tried timing them. But this was a waste of time because I could not yet feel any building and easing up of my contractions.

By 7.30 am, Justin and I were on our feet, had breakfast and headed to town in order for me to stay active and also because, well, going to the market is what we usually do on a Sunday morning and this was going to be a usual Sunday! So off we went and on our way to the market, I called Jane for the first time to let her know that labour (or was it pre-labour?) had started. When we went back home at around 11.00 am, walking seemed to have worked its magic and my contractions had grown stronger. At that stage, I thought some pain relief might help and Justin helped me put our rented TENS machine on my lower back. We were expecting friends for coffee and labour was no excuse to cancel as they were down from Manchester. They came by 11.30 am and, bless them, did not walk away in terror when I said I was in labour. I was now sitting on my birth ball (actually a false birth ball but a real space hopper, see the picture in Justin's birth story) with my TENS machine on and was having a perfectly civilised conversation.

By 1:00pm, our friends had left and with them gone, and having nothing but the pain to think about, it became more difficult to ignore the fact that I was in labour. I thought that perhaps a walk would do me good and we got ourselves ready to go out again, but a few strides down the road were enough to make me realise that this time, I wasn't up for a stroll. Back in our house, we called Jane and she sensed from my voice that things were progressing. She asked me again if I wanted her around and I said I still wished to wait a little longer. Justin and I went to our room; he sat down at the computer and I on my birth ball with my TENS machine still on. By 1:30pm, the contractions became more defined and they assumed the rhythm they were going to keep throughout the rest of labour: one long contraction, pause, three short and milder contractions, long pause. It was now time to ask Jane round (it would take her another hour to drive to our place). While waiting for her, I tried several positions to see which one made me most comfortable. It soon became clear that only one position would do for me and it was not the much acclaimed kneeling position with elbows on the bed, nor standing: I was most comfortable sitting on the birth ball, knees apart, rolling my hips, making humming noises.

Around 2:30pm, Jane was with us (yes, it was a relief to see her friendly face). She checked my blood pressure and the baby's heart rate; they were both normal and she went down to make tea. Some time around 3:30-4:00pm, I started feeling it difficult to cope with only the TENS machine (now on full power) tingling my back. I asked Jane if she could do me an internal to see where I was but she talked me into being patient and postponing the internal until I really needed one, for instance just before going into the birth pool (ha ha!). At my request, she explained again what would be the likely course of events regarding pain control. When the birth ball was not enough, Jane suggested I tried a warm bath (but wouldn't they stop my contractions if I was in early first stage?), then gas and air and at the last resort, the birth pool. So Justin ran me a bath with a few drops of lavender oil and after walking the two yards to the bathroom with my birth ball in tow (I was going nowhere without my birth ball that afternoon!), I slipped into the warm water: mmh, that was nice. And sure enough with the relaxation induced by the bath, the intensity of my contractions ramped up.

This is when the timing of the whole thing becomes blurred (although it is all in my birth notes, written by Jane and Laura). I remember having some very strong contractions while in the bath but with no pain in-between when I was able to have a normal chit-chat with Jane. I also remember needing to hold people's hands through a few of these contractions. During what was to be my last contractions, I wondered as the pain was getting intense how I would manage if this was only the beginning of the first stage (with still gas and air plus the birth pool to come, I couldn't be very far, could I?). However, Jane told me that from the sounds I was making and the way I was behaving, I was probably fully dilated by then and she was going to get things ready (I thought she meant downstairs with the gas and air or the birth pool, which Justin had started filling). Shortly after she came back to me, I felt this overwhelming urge to… go to the loo!!! This is when Jane said that she had prepared things for me to give birth on land and that we would let the next contraction pass and all go to the bedroom (I was so happy when she said that as it meant as I had gone through the bit I feared most, i.e. the end of the first stage. I was now ready for anything!). In no time, I was out of the bath, rubbed dry, on all fours on the bedroom floor, head down in pillows, bottom in the air. I knew about this position and that it is meant to slow labour down.

Then there was a while (one minute, two) of complete peace as if labour had stopped and I could feel no pain whatsoever. Jane told me to enjoy the break and described what I was likely to experience next. She said to relax through the next contractions and to pant when the head showed (she would tell me when) so as to breath the baby out instead of pushing it. So the first contraction of the second stage arrives. It is painless but so powerful I scream through it so loudly I think the whole street now knows a baby is being born in our house! After building up, the contraction subsides again. A break. And the next one comes; I scream again. And the next one. Now the baby's head is in sight (Justin said it was all purple and creased like a prune) and Jane tells me to pant so I pant, pant, pant. The head comes back in but with the next contraction, I can feel myself stretching again and tingling. I hear Laura's voice, she's arrived just in time for the birth. I have time to turn around and say hello to her. But soon another contraction and the head is born. Another one (now I can push with it) and the shoulders are born (ouch! I got a graze from the birth of the shoulders) and then in a gush, baby, waters, meconium are on our bedroom's floor (and Jane's hands!). Jane has taken the baby and rubs it so that its skin appears under the vernix. She passes it on to me and I marvel at it: it's all pink, screaming and perfect and it's…a boy! The next minute I enjoy him with Justin.

Slippery Antoine

Admiring Antoine

Antoine was born at 6:14pm. I put him to the breast straight away although it took me some time to make him latch on (somehow the cord was too short and I found it difficult to bring him close enough). I had read that having the baby to the breast straight after birth helped the birth of the placenta (we also wanted a natural 3rd stage; we did not want the cord to be cut before it has stopped pulsating). For some reason, I had imagined that the placenta would almost drop as soon as the baby latched but to my distress, there was no sign of contraction even when Antoine had started feeding. Neither Jane nor Laura seemed worried by this so Justin and I decided to take it easy and phoned our families to tell them a new member had just been born. My placenta was eventually born an hour after the baby in one single contraction. Jane and I inspected it carefully and I appreciated being able to touch it what had nurtured our baby for nine months.
Antoine's birth went like a dream and still now, feels like it was one. We couldn't have hoped for a better start for our young family.
To end the story, here is a photo of Antoine at the time of writing (1 February 2003), aged 4 months and a half.

Antoine looking pensive