It was an unexpected and unplanned home birth for the Limachers on Sunday, 26 June 2016. Mummy Franziska and daddy Stephan H. Limacher-Gisler already have 2 kids and were excited to welcome their new addition to the cute little troop. But what they didn’t foresee was that baby Iliana Erin would be born at home! In a completely unaided process, the elated parents share with us how magical their experience was.
theAsianparent sat with the Limachers last Saturday with rosy-cheeked baby Iliana in tow (now 9 weeks old). Proud daddy relates his experience on how everything went down that night.
We can all relate to how difficult it is to deliver without pain relief. But having your baby without a midwife or doctor around? Now that can be a scary moment, to say the least. More amazingly, Franziska didn’t have any pain relief or a midwife or doctor with her.
Daddy tells us that even with their first 2 kids, both babies arrived within 25 minutes upon reaching the hospital. So a quick delivery was definitely at the front of their minds. But little did they know that it meant having no time to get into a cab and drive down a mere 10 minutes to the hospital (Parkway East) nearby.
“We actually chose a hospital that was so close by, thinking that the baby will probably come quick, like her brother and sister- but even that distance was not possible to make in the mere minutes we had in hand.”
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Franziska had been experiencing contractions for a few days, and just brushed it off as “not labour kind of contractions”. This happened for both her pregnancies. Around 4am, she felt stronger contractions which were spread closer in time, which she had never experienced before. Franziska then woke Stephan up. Her contractions at that point were every 3 minutes, lasting for 30 seconds.
Stephan jumped into the shower, thinking she still had time for proper labour to begin. Thinking it was a false alarm, Franziska too decided to take a shower. They had already packed their hospital bags in advance (which was a good thing, seeing the turn of events that night).
He called for a cab, and when he entered their master bedroom, Franziska was now on the bed, in much pain. He woke their helper up, informing her that the birth will be happening that day. The bags were out at the doorway, waiting for the arrival of the taxi, and Stephan went in to get Fraziska out. But she was waiting for the contraction to stop before she could head out of the door (or anywhere for that matter). As she walked about 5 meters from the master bedroom to the living room, Franziska stopped, saying that she could feel the baby coming, like a drop in her pelvis.
“When you walk and you feel a baby’s head between your legs, you know your baby is almost here.”
The type of contractions changed immediately- from the painful contractions to the pushing kind of contractions. Never having taken any pain relief, Franziska did this medication-free as well. And hats off to her!
She walked into the living room, and plonked herself on the couch, not being able to move any further… not even to the door. The cab arrived, and Stephan got his helper to pay him some money and asked him to leave. There was no way the baby was going to wait till they got to the hospital!
Their helper was looking after both her older kids, but her daughter witnessed the whole birth which was something both parents were very happy about. Having explained to her how babies were made, and where they came from, this was a practical lesson for their little 3-year-old-girl! “I am glad we told her the truth because imagine if she was told something else and having seen this, it would have scared her off”, said Franziska.
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She kneeled on the couch, all ready to have the birth there and then. Stephan candidly tells me that he told his wife, “You’re joking right? We cannot have the baby at home.”
A bagful of emotions, daddy explained that he felt a rush in his head, “like an internal explosion due to stress” - sort of like heated tension consuming him. He blasted the air conditioning to full speed just to cool him down thoroughly. Afterall, the birth of his child was in his hands, literally. He knew he had to deliver his baby at home. And that he had to remain strong.
He then cut her undies, and could see the baby’s crown of her head. He rushed to call the ambulance and was told they would be there in 10 minutes. Daddy knew that 10 minutes is going to be too long. The ambulance called back and put a paramedic on the line to help as much as they could.
When the baby’s head popped up, thoughts were flooding daddy’s mind. How was he going to manoeuvre his baby out safely? Sharing that his cousin’s baby, when born, had a lack of air in his airway which led to a disability thereafter, these scary thoughts took over his conscience and Stephan was feeling so stressed and nervous about taking on this procedure all by himself.
“The head is out, what shall I do?” Stephan asks the paramedic who was guiding him through the delivery over the phone. They were told to wait for the next contraction where Franziska pushed, and the whole baby’s body just slipped out into Stephan’s hands! Just in one push!
The baby started crying and daddy started to exclaim super excitedly, “I’ve got my baby in my hands!”
Mummy shares that she has a good instinct about her body and she was just doing what her body told her to do. The whole ordeal from her getting to the couch and having the baby in daddy’s hands was about 2 contractions, 5 minutes in total, that’s it!
At that moment, the ambulance arrived. The paramedics clamped the umbilical cord, and Stephan cut the cord and handed their new baby to mummy.
That moment was extremely special to the Limachers. It was a moment of peace all of a sudden. Daddy felt happy and relieved that everything went well. And this story is definitely imprinted in their minds forever.
Parents tell me that the whole birth took place on their couch. “Yes, so we are plus one baby, minus one couch!”
Their story is not only heart-warming but also one of confidence and strength- not many of us would be able to have a baby at home, without professional supervision or medical help.
Beautiful Iliana Erin was born on 26 June at 5:30am, weighing a whopping 4.36kg and length of 55cm. Both mummy and baby (and daddy) have been doing amazingly well!
We wish the happy and brave family all the best in the future. Surely there are more special and exciting times coming their way!