The fact that I was able to stick to my guns to get to 44 weeks and still have a home birth despite a 60 hour marathon labour with vomiting & shakes is something I will remind myself of for years to come when I am doubting my abilities.

After a very medicated pregnancy, having a free birth on the MLU has been very healing. 

As an HBAC mum, all I was thinking in that moment was “I did it”. It took a few seconds for my focus to shift onto the baby, because I was just so full of joy and disbelief that I had finally vaginally birthed a baby in my own home. It might seem like a more minor detail for others but to me it was everything. Eventually I was ready to meet my baby, and there she was. As though she’d always been there, always been mine. I was so full of gratitude that she’d come out of me! So proud of her that she knew how to do it! I loved her so much.

I had envisioned the birth many times in my head. I had manifested the way it would look and feel, sound and smell, detail by detail. And it all came true.