A home birth story
Today is my youngest son’s 6th birthday. The boys love hearing their birth stories, setting the scene and all the details and funny little anecdotes behind their arrival earth-side.
And amongst the excitement of a day full of celebrations, pressies and cake, a child’s birthday is a beautiful reminder of what is really a miraculous and awe-inspiring moment full of the wonders of the human body and our place in the natural world.
I was fortunate to have 4 healthy and low risk pregnancies and was encouraged to birth at home by my midwives. I have never felt pregnancy and birth to be a medical condition and as long as the babies and I were both well and happy preferred to stay home rather than take up a hospital bed.
My first 2 babies were NHS births in London supported by lovely home birth midwives and my youngest 2 babies were born here in our home in Berkshire and I was supported by the same wonderful private midwife for both. These births were so special for many reasons not least that I felt my births were my own and no one else’s. I decided and was supported to not have any internal monitoring at any stage, the touch I felt during my labours were that of my husband and other children who were in the kitchen eating their breakfast and giving me a cuddle every now and again. I went into my own little birthing bubble, bobbing around in my birthing pool and literally going with the flow.
My last baby’s was the quickest, in fact he was almost free-birthed, with my midwife arriving just a few minutes before he was born.
It was quick and beautiful and unexpected in that he was born in his caul so in effect had a second birth once I’d ruptured the bag of membranes. Then he opened his eyes and looked at me as if to say, ‘ah hi, I know you’ and it was love all over again.
With my previous 3 births I’d had a few days feeling bluesy and exhausted after birth. I’d discussed with my midwife the benefits of placenta encapsulation or consuming after birth and researched and read these amazing stories of women who had eaten their placenta after birth feeling energised and vibrantly healthy afterwards. Animals eat their placentas and our ancestral sisters did too. The official term is placentophagia and is a little controversial today in that there have been very little scientific studies to prove its benefit. Hmmm once more why ignore ancient wisdom and mother’s instinct over ‘modern science’ , ie mostly men who decide they are the authority over women’s bodies…..?
Ok so back to my placenta. You can probably guess what I did …. yes I ate it. Well I blended tiny chunks of it in a morning smoothie. My midwife prepared it later on in the day and cut it up into cubes and we stored it in the freezer. Blended with plenty of berries you couldn’t taste it at all.
And I felt AMAZING. My milk came in the following day, I had no blues at all. I was actually buoyant. So different to my previous immediate postpartum days and weeks.
The placenta is an absolute powerhouse of healing for the mother. It is rich in its own unique hormones that has nurtured mother and baby throughout pregnancy, haemoglobin, antibodies, vitamin B6, E and Iron. For me it was a beautiful experience that enhanced my bond with my baby and I healed quickly and smoothly from birth. With the rest of the placenta we made a tincture which I gave to J when he was teething and today if he is distressed about something. I have a bottle for myself that I am keeping for when I go though menopause. It is the most perfect balancing remedy for me because it has come from me!
Of course every woman must do her own research and make up her own mind.
Happy birthday little J x
