During my first pregnancy, there was no doubt that I was going to give birth anywhere other than the hospital, to me that was the safest place, I didn’t even consider having Jack at home.

But this time, my thoughts are the complete opposite and I think having this baby at home is the way to go.

There’s a few reasons why I’m steering towards a home birth. Firstly, I ended up having a water birth with Jack, totally unplanned, in fact I was dead set against the idea of it, but it was absolutely incredible, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. My closest hospital only has 2 birth pool rooms, I was lucky that the ward was insanely quiet when I had Jack (I was the only woman in labour at one point!) but this time I’m seeing pregnant people everywhere, seems like there’s a bit of a baby boom so there’s just no guarantee that I’ll be able to have one of those pool rooms. If I’m at home I can guarantee that I can have a water birth, in fact I’ve already arranged one!

Secondly, hypnobirthing. I’ve been using the digital pack from the Positive Birth Company, and have been learning about how important the environment is when you’re giving birth and the impact it has on how your labour unfolds. It also discusses the 2012 Birth Place Study – 64,000 low risk women were analysed; and out of all of the birthing settings (midwife led unit, delivery suite etc), for second time mums, it revealed that the best place to give birth, statistically, was at home.

Last but not least, the reason I’ve spent most of my pregnancy at home, you may not have heard of it…the global pandemic! As it stands with our hospital, I wouldn’t be allowed to have Shane with me until I’m 4cm dilated, then once I’ve had the baby he’s only allowed to stay with me for a couple of hours, and if I have to stay in overnight he’s only allowed to visit for one hour a day. The thought of being left on my own really does worry me, Jack was born at 9.25am and I had to stay in overnight, I didn’t get discharged until about 1pm the next day, I don’t know how I would have coped without Shane being there.

Speaking of Shane, he’s been surprisingly on board with the idea, I thought he would absolutely freak out at the prospect of it all happening at home, but instead he’s already talking about what we need to do to prepare and ways that he can help create a positive and relaxing environment. Although I don’t think he quite realises how much running around he’s going to have to do to get the pool ready when the time comes!

Obviously, I’m very aware that things often change, this baby has been lying transverse for what feels like forever, and if I get to 36 weeks and the baby is still in that position then I think that’ll be my plan totally out of the window, but all being well a homebirth is my plan and I’m sticking to it!