Birth Story. Homebirth VBAC

My name is Caitriona Ellis. I am a Mum to a beautiful 3 ½ year old boy and gorgeous 1 ½ year old little girl. Becoming a parent for me has been a wonderful experience. However I wouldn’t be truthful unless I admitted that that wondrous time has been dotted with times where I thought I was losing my mind – well I probably actually did on a couple of instances. Sure it’s all part of the amazing rollercoaster that is parenthood – but who would have it any other way?!

My road to parenthood has been a colourful and at times a challenging one and it is part of this rollercoaster that I would like to share with you today. My intention is that it may help those who read it in different ways, depending on where you are at right now. I hope you enjoy it…..

…our homebirth ended with an emergency c-section as our midwife drove off from our home mid-labour as she wanted us to transfer to hospital because I was not progressing at sufficient pace and my waters were broken.

2008 – My body took on a mind of its own as I hurtled through my first pregnancy. Thankfully my pregnancy was a straightforward one and for the most part I enjoyed it. From the start I was TERRIFIED about the whole birth event but I was blessed to stumble upon the wonderful Tracy Donegan and her Gentle Birth in my first trimester and overnight my fears were calmed after attending her 2 day ante-natal course. Almost straight away I knew that I wanted a home birth and so went about booking a midwife. Unbeknownst to us at that time, we had left it way late and could only find one midwife available – no coincidence about that, as we later found out. Very long story short – our homebirth ended with an emergency c-section as our midwife drove off from our home mid-labour as she wanted us to transfer to hospital because I was not progressing at sufficient pace and my waters were broken. So there we were, my husband and I, first-timers, not having a clue. As we later discovered, a ‘real’ independent midwife would have let us labour at home where the risk of infection to our baby was far lower at home than a germ ridden hospital and let me progress as my own pace without any pressure.

Homebirth via @pinterest

Thankfully all through the debacle of the midwife ‘attending’ us and pushing us really hard to transfer to hospital, we had kept a strong line of communication open with our wonderful doula, Tracy. So having been abandoned at home we were left with no choice but to bundle ourselves into the car and off we drove to hospital where we were joined by our doula. I knew that as soon as I entered the hospital system I was going to have a fight on my hands to protect our birth plan. And so, it ensued a tortuous day of tutting, arguing and eye-rolling. Our day ended in an emergency section despite our very best efforts. The reason given to us for the section was that our baby’s heart rate had taken a serious dip and was a source of great concern for them.

Interestingly some months after the birth, we requested our file and discovered that after we had been told this and a section had been decided upon it was recorded in our file that the baby’s heart beat had recovered. My husband and I were never informed of this and as you can imagine this caused us a lot of stress, anxiety and upset. Later an expert who reviewed our file advised us that this was most likely a fear tactic used by the hospital to ensure we agreed to the section. In fact the most probable cause of the heart rate dip was the fact that I had just received an epidural and a dip in heart rate is quite a common side effect. Howandever, my baby boy was born a healthy weight and a happy bunny. My life as a parent began and I revelled in it…..most days

So queue about a year later and I was attending a course on NLP (neuro linguistic programming). NLP simply explained is reprogramming the brain by language, hypnosis and other methods. The course was being given by Owen Fitzpatrick (Not Enough Hours) and Brian Colbert (trainer and regular guest on TV and radio talk shows). Brian asked for a volunteer to demonstrate one of the NLP processes. I almost broke my neck volunteering myself. Up I popped on the stage and I had to imagine a situation where I wanted to release the emotion I had regarding a particular event. The only thing I could think of was my home birth disaster. I knew that this was something I needed to get ‘sorted’ so as to allow me to have another baby and enjoy the pregnancy and birth without the sense of dread and fear I currently had. So within five minutes and without me even disclosing any details to him about the situation he performed a process on me which resulted in me being unable to piece accurately together the entire events in sequence of that event. The result was that the heavy fearful emotion I felt when I thought or discussed it before was gone, evaporated into thin air. I could hardly believe it.

Images of a homebirth via @pinterest

Fast forward another few months and baby number 2 is on the way. Having already agreed with my husband we would like to have a home birth we booked our midwife as soon as we got confirmation from the doctors. We met her and it was like meeting my second mother. She was the most wonderful, caring person. However we had some rather significant information to understand and digest before she would take us on. Why? Well because I was now attempting a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section) at home, I was not covered by the HSE insurance for home births. We weighed up the pros and cons and made a well informed decision to opt for our home birth.

It’s probably important to mention that I did have one appointment with my hospital to check-in so that they would have all my details in the event of a transfer. This is pretty standard practice with home births and a prudent thing to do. However, given I was now attempting a VBAC, queue deer-in-headlights look from Junior Doctor as he scuttled out of the room to fetch his boss who subjected us plus a very bored 1 ½ year old to a gruelling ‘interview’ where we were scolded, talked down to and attempted to put the fear of God in AGAIN. Thankfully this time round we were well ready, primed and armed with our research to quote etc. We stood our ground, listened to the dictat and nodded and when she realised she could say no more, we were released.

…given I was now attempting a VBAC, queue deer-in-headlights look from Junior Doctor as he scuttled out of the room to fetch his boss who subjected us plus a very bored 1 ½ year old to a gruelling ‘interview’ where we were scolded, talked down to and attempted to put the fear of God in AGAIN.

In October 2010, my little monkey decided to show up 3 ½ weeks early.  Funnily enough it took the same path as my first birth – waters broke about 30 hours before baby arrived. I hate surprises and for me this worked a treat as this way I had time to get the last bits ready and most importantly my head ready for labour. This to me is Mother Nature’s way of preparing me in a way that works best for my psyche. It was so comforting to be in my own home as I laboured – in and out of the bath and pottering around my home. When my contractions started, my labour was quite quick and easy.  I had the most wonderful home birth surrounded by my husband, my son and my amazing midwife. It is an experience I will always treasure.

Sadly, shortly after this the Irish government passed a piece of legislation which now makes having a VBAC at home illegal. As far as I understand it, it is now illegal for a midwife to attend a VBAC at home. So will we have another baby and dare I say it at home? Time will tell….but as I always say, where there is a will there is a way

Here’s what I feel are the key pieces from my experience which may be of help to other Mums;

• Always trust your own insinct
• Stand up strongly for what you believe in and want
• Medical staff do not always know best
• Be well read on all the ins and outs of pregnancy and birth – Tracys pre-natal class is an easy way to do this
• VBAC is possible – yes there are risks, but your body will know first before any doctor/nurse if there is something amiss
• Always listen to you heart and body – it knows best
• Have confidence in your ability to birth – to know what’s what with your body and baby
• Mother Nature is amazing and there is a reason females were chosen to give birth – - women are amazing individuals with wonderful strength and courage!

@ Caitriona Ellis

Caitriona Ellis

Caitriona Ellis is the founder of Undercover Escape, where she helps corporate Mums escape their 9-5 and be a full-time Mum from home whilst also pursuing their own career ambitions in a family-friendly way.

Caitriona founded Undercover Escape whilst on maternity leave based on her own predicament of wanting to be a stay-at-home-mom and wanting a family-friendly career.