We bring you a Singapore mum’s unexpected home birth story…
It was 4:30am in the morning, about 3 weeks before my due date. I was going through my 125th (or so I thought) Braxton Hicks contractions since conception. Suddenly, I felt like I am going to have diarrhea…
I went to the toilet bowl, sat there for what seemed like an eternity but nothing happened.
All of a sudden, there was a sharp pain, and the Braxton Hick contractions didn’t feel the same anymore! They had quickened in pace, and was only 5 minutes apart! I quickly called my doula, and she listened to the way I talked, and how I could only grunt during the contractions, and she shouted into the phone: “GET OFF THE TOILET BOWL NOW! YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!”
My home birth story: Delivery time
My doula took command and started telling me how to prepare for an emergency home delivery:
“Get the towels to keep baby clean, get into your preferred birthing position (kneeling for me), get your mother-in-law to help catch the baby (because my husband was still working in Hong Kong then), and wait for me to come over,” she instructed.On her part, she told me that she would call the ambulance.
So I roused my elder son who was sleeping on my bed, and asked him to get my inlaws who were sleeping in the next door room. I asked my mother-in-law to help catch the baby and prepare all the towels. My father-in-law, still in a state of sleepy shock, asked me: Do you need me to boil water? But as you can imagine, I had no time for small talk.
I immediately knelt down by my bed as I was determined not to ruin my mattress. My mother-in-law laid thick layers of towels under me. The doula kept talking to me on my hand phone, telling me to breathe and push, as she brushed her teeth, changed, and waved frantically for a taxi.
Within 30 minutes of heavy breathing and pushing, baby Benedict was out! It all happened so fast that it felt simply exhilarating when he came! After one GIGANTIC push, he slipped out of me as if he was the biggest poop I ever had!
He was fully alert when we caught him, and he didn’t even cry. Instead, he opened his eyes and looked around, trying to figure out what happened. When he finally did cry, I quickly put him to my breast, and he settled into contented suckling.
Soon, my doula arrived, and she witnessed the birth of my placenta too. She quickly wrapped up my placenta in a plastic bag so that the doctor could check for any missing pieces when we reach the hospital. And a good hour later, the ambulance arrived too, and the paramedics wheeled me into the ambulance, with baby cradled in one arm, and placenta in a plastic bag.
The next morning, my ob-gyn visited me and I said, “You missed delivering my second boy again! I want a discount!” And he quipped, “With a delivery this smooth, I will never be able to catch it, even if you managed to reach the hospital!” What a laugh!
When I arrived at the hospital, all the nurses were so amazed at my home delivery that they couldn’t stop talking about it amongst themselves. I felt totally in bliss, having gone through such a smooth delivery.
Indeed, the baby deserves his name Benedict, as he is really blessed with a smooth home delivery. The nurses cleaned him up while the doctor stitched me up (which, in my opinion, was more painful than the delivery). When baby Benedict was returned to me again, he settled into another blissful nursing session.