Adele’s Birth Story
Giuliana 3310g39+4weeks
Natural/ Waterbirth / Homebirth
Born Into My Hands:
The day before Giuliana was born was my 37th birthday. I remember feeling this overwhelming need to get out of the house and move as much as I could at nearly 40weeks pregnant. Things like walking in nature, taking in fresh air and just being present with my 2 boys- almost as though my body knew instinctively something was brewing.
I had secretly wondered if we might end up sharing a birthday, but apparently our little bubs had other plans. She wanted a birthday all of her own.
On the morning of the 15th of June, at around 3:30am my waters broke during a deep sleep.
I quickly grabbed my phone and called triage to get my midwifery team from MAMA House-Kensington to me asap as with my second birth I barely made it to the hospital, he arrived only 1 hour after my waters braking so you could imagine the anticipation.
My midwives arrived at around 4am and as soon as they walked through my doors, I remember feeling completely at ease just knowing all was well, I felt safe, supported and able to simply let go and allow my body to do what it knew how to.
This was my third baby, my second Hypnobirth, and this time we had chosen to birth at home – my previous births were in a private hospital.
Throughout my pregnancy, I had listened to Hypnobirthing Australia tracks almost every night while drifting to sleep. The affirmations and guided meditations had become so familiar to me, they became my subconscious, and when labour began, they went straight into my ears and stayed there.
For about an hour, I bounced and moved on my exercise ball with the TENS machine on, breathing through each surge and allowing my body to lead.
Then it was time to get into the warm birth pool. The moment I entered the water, I felt myself soften.
I stopped thinking about what came next and completely surrendered to what my body was doing.
My baby had been posterior, but as I moved deeper into labour, I could feel that something was changing.
Then came a moment I don’t think I will ever forget.
I was on all fours in the water leaning over the birth pool when my midwife placed the underwater doppler on my belly to listen to baby’s heartbeat.
At that exact moment, I felt baby lift and rotate inside me into an anterior position. It was such a powerful, unmistakable sensation. She turned from posterior into the position she needed to be in – right there, as she was being born.
And from that point, everything felt instinctive.
I was completely present, but at the same time it felt as though I was witnessing something much bigger than myself…Not anyone or I was controlling what was happening – It didn’t need to be.
My body knew. My baby knew. And together, we found our way.
At 6:32am, still on all fours in the birth pool, I birthed our baby into the water.
I reached down and slowly lifted my baby into my own hands.
That moment. There really aren’t words for it.
After two beautiful boys, we had chosen not to find out the gender of this baby. And in those first moments, it just didn’t even matter.
I just held this tiny new person against me, just swaying in the water, taking this outer body experience all in.
A few minutes passed before my husband finally asked,
What is it?
I looked down…
A girl,
It’s Giuliana.
The most beautiful surprise.
Not long afterwards, her big brothers came into the room and met their baby sister for the first time.
Around half an hour after Giuliana was born, my placenta released naturally, without any intervention.
And just like that, she was here.
No rushing.
No bright hospital lights hindering oxytocin.
No leaving our home.
Just our family, our wonderful midwives, the water and the voice of Hypnobirthing Australia’s Melissa in my ears that had carried me through pregnancy and labour, and this incredible little girl in my arms.
I had spent so much of my pregnancy preparing for birth, listening to those affirmations by Melissa night after night and reminding myself to release fear and trust in my own body.
And when the moment came, that was exactly what birth asked of me.
To trust.
To surrender.
To allow.
I find myself reflecting on Giuliana’s birth often. It was one of the most powerful and transformative experiences of my life – not because it was without intensity, but because I felt completely safe, supported and heard.
Birth has shown me a strength within myself that is difficult to put into words. There is something powerfully extraordinary about what a woman’s body is capable of when she feels safe enough to trust it.
I feel incredibly grateful to my MAMA midwives for the calm, care and reassurance they brought into our home and to Hypnobirthing Australia for giving me the tools to quiet my mind, work with my body and meet each surge rather than fear it.
I hope that through sharing my birth story, other woman might approach birth a little differently – not as something she needs to fear, but as something she can prepare for, feel supported through and step into with trust in herself and her body.
And there is also something incredibly special to me about the fact that Giuliana was born in my home treatment room where I perform remedial pregnancy and post-partum treatments to expecting Mumma’s. A space I created to hold and nurture women.
But on that morning, the space held me
