Unassisted homebirth of Aurelia Izabell

[Jazuli]

My story started on Wednesday 28th May, I had had a few starts at labour in the previous week, a few days before i had a sore back and painful tightenings at 4am and they had gone away by 6am. On the Wednesday morning i had the same thing and it went away. So there wasnt much going on all day, i had a sore back, but had been having that for a few weeks.
The braxton hicks had been coming fairly constant for awhile now, and towards the end of the day some were getting a bit painful. I had a bath at about 6:30pm and decided to feel my cervix (hehe very naughty of me) it felt about 2cm dilated. I thought yay, something might actually be happening. So i wasnt in any pain at this stage, at around 8:30pm i decided that maybe we should call my mum to get my other girls picked up just in case something happened that night. So my husband left at around 9pm to do a half way trip to my mums who lives about 60km away.
When he got back at around 10pm i decided that we needed to start getting things ready. The contractions were getting slightly more painful and closer together so i was starting to actually have a little panic that we wouldnt get the pool up and full in time. So we got everything out and put the tarp down and blew up the pool and filled it. We had that done by about 11pm. DH put the movie Transformers on to keep himself ocupied while we waited. I was moving my hips through the contractions now and leaning against the wall. At around 11:45pm i decided to get in the pool, it was so nice, it took the edge of the contractions. So we basically waited then, watching the movie and chatting, the contractions were starting to get a bit intense by now and i was glad that it was going to be over soon. At round 12:30am i could feel that the contractions were ending in a bit of a pushy feeling. After a few of these it turned into a full blown push and my waters popped. At 12:44am on the 29th May after three pushes Aurelia Izabell was born. I picked her straight up after telling DH that he could pick her up, oops. She had a small cry and breathed straight away. She was sounding a bit gurgly but was still breathing all right.
I stayed in the pool for a few minutes and then decided to get out and sit on the mattress we had set up and birth the placenta. When i stood up the blood seemed to be pouring down my legs, i had never stood up after any of my births so we wernt sure if this much blood was normal. DH decided we should call the ambulance just to be safe. When they arrived they said that the blood loss was a normal amount, and we decided to go to hospital anyway. So the placenta was birthed at the hospital without synto. I didnt need any stitches, i just had a small graze.
The afterpains were kicking in by now and i was in a lot of pain, definately more painful then the whole birth. I was given panadeine forte for the pain and lived on that for the first 24 hours, and then panadol for the next 4 days. I enjoyed the hospital stay, the staff were lovely, and I came home on Saturday.

She was my biggest baby, weighed 8lb 7oz, 48cm with a 37cm head.

Straight after the birth (http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x284/jazuli80/DSCF0266.jpg)
One day old (http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x284/jazuli80/Aurelia2.jpg)

[mumma bear]

Well done!
Great story.

[punkbaby]

Your a champ thankyou for sharing, shes adorable :) Congrats

[Ashleigh<3]

What an awesome birth story. :)

Sounds like did a wonderful job!
Congrats on the birth of your beautiful DD and of course, congrats on your unassisted home birth.:yelclap:

[V8]

Loved the pics, thanks for sharing your amazing story Julie. Congrats!

[Eleroo]

Congratulations :yelclap: she's just gorgeous :yes:

thankyou for shareing your story

[our little treasures]

Well done and congrats!!:baby: Bubby is beautiful

[GiftofLife]

Congrats on your beautiful new baby girl!! :yelclap:

I have a question though and it will make me sound totally ignorant, so you will have to excuse me :laughing: But did you have a midwife at home with you? And if not, is that legal? I only ask, as I knew a lady who didn't go to antenatal appointments and had her bubby at home and DOCS were notified as they said it was neglectful??

LOL, I just reread that and it sounds like I'm saying your neglectful :laughing: I'm really not. I just don't know much about HB and I am truly interested :D

[toni796]

Congratulations. The birht sounded wonderful and your little one is beautiful. Congratulations.

[Sammilee]

Wow, what a birth story! Thanks for sharing with us, and congrats on the birth of your gorgeous lil' girl, she is definitely a cutie.

[neostudded]

GiftofLife to my knowledge, there is no law against birthing unassisted. :)
Due to the social conditioning and lack of knowledge present in Australia regarding birth, I think there is alot of misimformation around.Making it illegal to birth without the presence of a trained professional would be a horrible intrusion on basic human rights, I would think.We have a home birth section on bubhub, and a sub section for free birthers, you should read some of the threads, they are very informative and I have learned alot from them myself.
Also, I didnt think your post sounded judgemental at all :hugs:
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story lillipilli, you did a wonderful job :thumbsup:.

[GiftofLife]

GiftofLife to my knowledge, there is no law against birthing unassisted. :)
Due to the social conditioning and lack of knowledge present in Australia regarding birth, I think there is alot of misimformation around.Making it illegal to birth without the presence of a trained professional would be a horrible intrusion on basic human rights, I would think.We have a home birth section on bubhub, and a sub section for free birthers, you should read some of the threads, they are very informative and I have learned alot from them myself.
Also, I didnt think your post sounded judgemental at all :hugs:
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story lillipilli, you did a wonderful job :thumbsup:.

Thanks so much for answering. I felt like a complete twit for asking :laughing: After four kids of my own, you would think that I'd know these things, lol.

[Mamalicious]

Lol NEO you said it all for me hehe :D


Well done what a great birth story! Your DD is gorgeous!

[GeorgiaAnne]

Congratulations on your birth - your daughter is beautiful :flowerz:

[Lollie86]

What a beautiful story. Congratulations on your unassisted hb. Sounds like you did a awesome job! :yelclap:

Aurelia is absolutely beautiful! :bee:

Her name is actually on our list of names for the next bub. Good choice! Hehe :thumbsup:

[reAllytee]

Beautiful story for a beautiful buba !

Thank you for sharing such a great story :)

[DoulaRobyn]

What a gorgeous story - thanks for sharing. It is a bit scary when you stand up after birth - been there and done that, what a mess!

She looks bigger than an 8 pounder, you did a fantastic job :) - she is simply beautiful with cherub angel lips *cluck cluck cluck*

[MyThreeCubs]

Ok. Generally I am convinced that my children are the cutest babies ever to walk the earth but your little one is so gorgeous I had tears in my eyes. What an incredibly cute baby!!!!! :)

Not a home birther myself but you did a great job. Glad you enjoyed the hospital stay, was probably some time out for you and bub before rejoining the family.

Absolutely LOVE the name!!!!:thumbsup:

[lexies mum]

i just saw your birth on 60 minutes, u r such a brave women, congratulations. I read your birth story earlier today and when you said her name on tv i realised it was you. Once again congratulations, i have so much respect for women that have homebirths

[lukaelmo]

Hey I just saw you on tv too!

You were so great, I can't believe it... so calm and collected, and your lovely husband...

And your baby is the cutest little chubba, what a gorgeous little girl. Well done, you must be so proud of yourself.

[MilkOnTap]

I didn't realise you were going on 60 mins! I recognised the name straight away!!! CONGRATULATIONS :)

[missie_mack]

I too just seen your freebirth on 60mins :)
It seemed so peaceful and swift. The TV show presented it as extremely dignified and you must be proud of what you have done for yourself, your daughter, waterbirthing and the freebirthing cause

Welcome to the world Aurelia :babydust2:

[biscotti]

:thumbsup: :bee: :babydust2: :baby:

You did a great job :goodvibes:

[*Chels*]

OMG,Wow I just watched you on 60 minutes!So glad I tuned in,because I am planning a waterbirth so my 2yo DS and I watched your birth together!So beautiful,I was crying!!
Well done!:yelclap: I loved how calm and peaceful it was:goodvibes:
Congrats!

[cheezelkat]

gosh that was lovely

I cried when I saw you hold your beautiful baby

Congrats!

[Cupcake]

WOW Lillipilli that was a beautiful birth :) MY DH sat there & said "She is a champion" :D I am so glad to see this here because I thought bubba was a biggy & they did not mention the weight....she is small compared to my heffa :)
Thanks for sharing :flowerz: She is adorable BTW:babydust2:

[DoubleAce]

I just saw you on 60 minutes too!!! Well done! you were so amazingly calm and your little girl is just grogeous!!!
You presented yourself so well on 60 minutes too!

[gizmoduckus]

Congratulations on the freebirth of your daughter. It was an amazing thing to watch. I can't believe how peaceful it was.

[Star81]

Congratulations. It was great to read your story and see it on TV. You did an amazing job.

[~Emmylou~]

So wonderful to see birth as it is meant to be!

Congratulations, you did a fantastic job and welcome beautiful baby girl :flowerz:

[shed]

Geez girl, could you have made it look any easier? :laughing:

Well done, you did a great job. I notice they called it a homebirth rather than a freebirth, not sure what the intention was there, but you did good, you did real good. Proves how safe it really is.

[borntobemummy]

Wow! I knew it was you! What a beautiful birth you had, thanks to that footage on 60 minutes, DH is even more convinced that is the way we should go:smiliedance: I was bawling my eyes out the whole time:yelclap:

[Duchessa]

What a gorgeous simple story. How birth was meant to be. Thank you for sharing your story with so many.

[grass is always greener]

OMG we seen your waterbirth at my mums and it opened up such a great discussion about different types of birthing techniques. Thankyou so much for sharing your amazing story.

DF sat there and watched it more than anyone else. I, however, yelled at the tv when i heard that you went into labour and had bubs 2 hours later, i was so annoyed (:p;)) as i had a huge labour (48hrs).

Congrats again and thankyou.

ps i love the name, we heard it last night on a movie and i have been saying all day that i really love the name!!!

[reAllytee]

Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!!!!

When I heard the name tonite I knew instantly it was you & couldnt have been more excited !!!!

I congratulated you earlier but wanted to congratulate you again on not only your beautiful birth again but also showing others that its not all about medicalisation !

Well done & i cried watching what a wonderful job you did !

[Missus S]

Congratulations :yelclap:

Your baby is just beautiful :cloud9: Even my 2 year old DD loved her.

And your DH was a classic..........."Another bloody girl!" :laughing:

[Jazuli]

Thanks for the comments everyone, i am quite pleased with how it it turned out. Im so glad that i can put birth in a positive light.

[onemummmy]

I saw u on 60mins and cried lol. Congrats on ur birth and bubby girl :) I dont know that I could have done it with tv cameras there!

[Emi]

wow well done!!!

congrats!!!

i also saw you on tv!!! i was telling my dp how much id lik to have a water birth for our next bubba!!! (hope fully not for a copuple of years tho!!!) lol

well done again!!! you were both so calm and together!!! it was amazing to see!!!

[shed]

And your DH was a classic..........."Another bloody girl!" :laughing:

I loved this comment, I just loved it. It made it seem all so calm and relaxed and casual, not the huge dramarama kerfuffle and panic that birth is made out to be.

I bet Aurelia will give her dad a clip around the earhole when she sees it though, lol

[Fizzgig75]

aaawww she's gorgeous :bee:

and you're awesome! :thumbsup: (so is your DH!!)

[Fizzgig75]

Oh, just noticed the post about this being on 60min. Is there a link to it somewhere, like on youtube perhaps, as I missed it?

Cheers.

[lil'pixie&me]

congratulations!! you did a great job-you did make it look so easy!! i loved when you said that giving birth is what your good at!!:D:yes:, i read your story the other day then when i heard the name Aurelia on 60 min....:detective: i knew it had to be you!!!
Your newest baby GIRL(go girls!!) is gorgeous!

[neostudded]

I just watched the 60 minutes epi then :yelclap:

You did such a good job, you make birth look so easy.:D

:goodvibes::hugs: Congratulations :hugs::goodvibes:

[mum2four]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Great birth story and also saw on 60 min. Made me cry and also think about my own birth plan as I now can't have a homebirth.
Was also wondering if your first preference (since finding out you couldn't have a water birth at the hospital) was a freebirth, or would you have chosen a midwife assisted homebirth had that been available for you. 60 minutes didn't quite make that clear, just that you simply wanted to have a water birth.
I feel they could have made a point of letting the public know just how hard it is for some to have a homebirth in Australia unless they decide to go unassisted (I was going to do that myself when I found I couldn't get a midwife in my area but other factors have prevented me from taking that option)

Again, well done, your very brave allowing the camera's in too :p
She truly is gorgeous!

[Mum2Bella]

Congrats on your beautiful new baby girl!! :yelclap:

I have a question though and it will make me sound totally ignorant, so you will have to excuse me :laughing: But did you have a midwife at home with you? And if not, is that legal? I only ask, as I knew a lady who didn't go to antenatal appointments and had her bubby at home and DOCS were notified as they said it was neglectful??

LOL, I just reread that and it sounds like I'm saying your neglectful :laughing: I'm really not. I just don't know much about HB and I am truly interested :D
OMG thats terrible,iv had 3 unassisted homenirths n would be horrified if someone rang DOCS because they thought i was being neglectful

[Mum2Bella]

Oh, just noticed the post about this being on 60min. Is there a link to it somewhere, like on youtube perhaps, as I missed it?

Cheers.

go on to the 60minutes web site its on there.

its amazing feeling to have a homebirth

[DoulaRobyn]

Oh I just watched your birth online - simply amazing, you make it look so easy (which it is if you trust yourself and your body). She is just gorgeous, congrats and good on you!

Thankyou for sharing your awesome experience with the world, it really touched my heart.

[Jazuli]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Great birth story and also saw on 60 min. Made me cry and also think about my own birth plan as I now can't have a homebirth.
Was also wondering if your first preference (since finding out you couldn't have a water birth at the hospital) was a freebirth, or would you have chosen a midwife assisted homebirth had that been available for you. 60 minutes didn't quite make that clear, just that you simply wanted to have a water birth.
I feel they could have made a point of letting the public know just how hard it is for some to have a homebirth in Australia unless they decide to go unassisted (I was going to do that myself when I found I couldn't get a midwife in my area but other factors have prevented me from taking that option)

Again, well done, your very brave allowing the camera's in too :p
She truly is gorgeous!

When I first thought about a homebirth I imagined it as just my husband and I, I did look into getting an independent midwife and decided it was too expensive for something i felt confident about doing by ourselves.