In this time of doom and gloom, I wanted to share my birth story as my baby is coming up to a week old!!

Wednesday 11th March 2020

My homebirth story began at 35 weeks. I was fortunate to meet Emily at my local GP practice as she was covering for the community midwife. One of the questions Emily asked me was “Where are you planning on giving birth?” At first I was a bit taken aback by this question and so my automatic response was “The Royal Surrey of course”.

Emily followed by telling us all about the Homebirth Team and the benefits of a homebirth. Both myself and my husband left our appointment with mixed emotions about the prospect as this was our first child. After a long conversation we decided to go ahead but made the decision not to tell any of our families or friends of our last-minute plan to have a home birth.

As we only had five weeks to go before our due date, Emily arranged it so that my remaining appointments would be with a different member of the homebirth team so I could get to know them all before the ‘big day’. It was an added benefit having all my appointments at home and to meet the lovely ladies in the team. Despite this being my first, I was very much excited at the prospect of giving birth at home but if it meant going to hospital then so be it.

The big day came, 3 days overdue and as this was my first, I had no idea what to expect. I have absolutely loved sharing my birth story and it will definitely be one that both my husband and I will never forget.

As my contractions started to develop, I called the team and the first midwife on call was Lucy. Half an hour later she arrived and it was clear that I was in well established labour. Kirsty joined shortly after and before we knew it I was in the pool and only hours away from delivering a beautiful baby boy.

Lucy and Kirsty were the most amazing and supportive midwives and I couldn’t have asked for a better first experience of child birth. They were so calm and reassuring and made us feel at ease which most definitely had a huge part to play in the smooth delivery of our little boy. All I can hope is that we will be able to have another home birth for our next!

The ladies on the team are absolute legends. I cannot thank every single one for the part they played in the lead up and delivery of our baby. I cannot stop talking about the birth and how wonderful the two ladies were who helped us with our first few hours of parenthood. It still seems very surreal that we had our baby at home, well away from any hospital and the best part….not a single soul knew!! The look on our families faces when we FaceTimed a few hours after giving birth from our very own sofa…priceless!

Sophie, Dan and Baby Louis x