This birth was such a healing experience for me.

Wiley Sol 3385g
Around 39 weeks
Home water birth

At 7:46 in the morning on the 13/02/21 Wiley Sol was born into the water at our Airbnb. When I was pregnant with Wiley, there were no private midwifery options where I lived, and knowing I would be risked out of the local birth centre, we chose to travel with our two daughters and two dogs 10 hours from home to have a destination home birth.

At 38 weeks, my family travelled down to our Airbnb, and began to prepare for baby’s arrival. The birth pool was delivered, my midwife visited, and the birth space was set up. We were ready. Having never gone into spontaneous labour, I was expecting to be waiting longer than my guess date, but at around 39 weeks, Wiley decided he was ready to be earth side.

I woke up just after midnight to use the toilet, and realised my waters had released. I went back to bed and tried to sleep for as long as I could. It wasn’t long though before it was too uncomfortable to lay down, I went into my birth space and bounced on my ball while listening to “Affirmations for Beautiful Birthing”. I flicked off a text to my photographer, letting her know things had started. I contacted my mum, who was coming to help with my daughters during the birth. I woke my husband, and let him know labour had begun.

Things had started to get more intense, so I moved to the shower. While I was in the shower, I noticed my contractions began to weaken, and become less frequent. I had some moments of panic. My photographer and my mother had arrived but it felt like everything had stopped. I had a moment of crisis with my husband, telling him I was worried it was a false alarm, that I had summoned my support for nothing.

Feeling frustrated, I tried bouncing on the ball and using some clary sage oil, but to not avail. Feeling defeated, irritated and tired, we decided to have a sleep. My photographer in her car, my mother on the couch, my husband in the spare bedroom and me, snuggled up with my daughters in our bed.

I woke an hour later (around 4am) to frequent and intense contractions. I went and bounced on the birth ball for around half an hour before waking my husband. Their intensity shocked me. I remember briefly wondering how much more powerful they would get, and whether I could continue to breathe through them. This thought quickly disappeared as I focused inward, and switched off my thinking brain. I listened to “Surge of the Sea” over and over, breathing deeply and calmly through the waves. Ben held a heatpack to my stomach with each contraction, supporting me physically and emotionally. Around 5.30, Ben called our midwife, Allison. Allison had only just arrived when I decided to get in the pool. I could hear the change in the noises I was making, my vocals growing deeper with each wave. I knew he was close.

I was not in the pool long before I started to involuntary bear down. The urge was overwhelming, and all I could do was try to breathe through as he began to crown. I could feel my body stretch and open for his head to emerge. As I reached down and touched his head, I felt him moving inside of me, in between worlds. On the next wave, his body slipped out into the water.

The cord was around his neck (something that is a regular occurrence and nothing to be alarmed about- in fact all three of my baby’s were born with the cord around their neck), so I gently lifted it over his head, before bringing him up to my chest. With a little rub he began to cry. He was covered in a thick layer of vernix, with golden red hair and a very serious face.

A few minutes later as I was stepping out of the birth pool, my placenta slipped to the floor with a flop. My midwife, Allison, placed the placenta in the bowl we had set aside for it, and I laid down on the bed, enjoying the golden hours with my baby. My daughters met their baby brother, and watched on as the placenta was checked. After some time, Wiley was weighed, measured and checked over, all just at the end of bed. I loved being within arms reach of my baby the whole time. My husband cut the cord and tied the cord tie. While Ben had first cuddles, I had a shower and got into some comfortable clothes. Within a few hours, we were alone with our baby, eating lasagne on the couch.

This birth was such a healing experience for me. I’m immensely proud of the work I did over the last 9 years to learn and unlearn, to stand up for myself and to trust my body and my intuition. I had to face my deepest fears created by previous experiences, and learn to truly trust myself.