well this was baby number 3 who i delivered at home with my husband, mum, aunt, midwife and cousins, yes it was a family affair that day lol.

now i thought i would write my advice for a homebirth here so if you have a weak stomach you didnt

have to read my story before finding out the advice.

1. don't allow people to bring others into your home if they weren't invited in the first place because this can make your labour and birth quite uncomfortable.

2.let everyone know before labour starts that you don't want the number one rule broken by any means and let them know before hand what it is you want them there for so they know what to do when the time comes.

3. have everything all organized like blankets for the baby, towels, plastic, a bowl for the placenta, flannels, ice cubes stocked up, an outfit for bub with socks, booties, mittens and a hat included as they do tend to lose heat quite fast, if it is in winter i suggest putting the heater on early enough so the room warms up for when baby is born.

4. be yourself dont be affraid to walk around the house naked if you have to this is your labour and delivery so do what makes you comfortable people wont mind as most of us have been there ourselves.

5. make sure when picking someone for the support person/s that you choose properly and dont choose to early as you may change your mind make sure you are 100% sure you really want them there to see this through to the end too.

6.make sure you check with your dr or midwife to see if you are eligable to have a homebirth as some complications in pregnancy can cause you not to be eligable for one and the dr's will reccomend that you have your baby in hospital, so please don't try to tempt fate.

it all started the night of april the 13th 2006, when i had decided to burn what i call clary sage, it is a herb that helps to dilate and ripen the cervix for delivery but as i had used this with my first two daughters it tends to make me have very short labours also which isnt always a good thing lol. it had been burning in the oil burner for about an hour when i got up to blow the candle out and BANG i felt the baby jump into my pelvis ready for take off. i sat back in my seat and said to my husband that we will be a family of 5 by tomorrow morning, as he didnt believe me my body planned to prove him wrong yet again !

all through the night i was up and down feeling like i needed to be sick, possibly out of both ends lol, i ended up sleeping in my daughters bed so hubby could sleep and after a full night of little to no sleep i thought to myself maybe im just sick and this isnt labour as i didnt have any pains or lose any fluid, but that wasn't the case at all by 6:15am i woke to find myself leaking which i thought i wet the bed but when i stood up it just didnt stop so i knew this was it!

i got out of bed and called for my husband who was asleep at the other end of the house and snoring quite loud lol so the calling got even louder and when i got half way down the hallway the leaking became more apparent and so did the name calling lol i screamed for him to get up as i knew it wouldn't be long before she was here as with my second daughter being born in just 55mins i had the need for concern and my midwife lived an hour away so i was scared at this stage.

hubby finally got up and stopped dead in his tracks to find me trying to hold everything up and asking for him to get my mum lol, so he ran outside to the backroom we had and got my mum up and when they came in they asked if this was really happening, well i guess we don't really want to know what i said but they soon agreed this was it lol.

i asked mum to call the midwife and get her to come down here now and when she answered she didnt believe i was in active labour as i didn't have any pains, but i asked her to get here now as it was happening i just knew it was, well she said to call back when the pains became regular and 10 mins later she got another call with me crying in the phone asking her to get here as the pains started strauight after we got off the phone and they are coming hard and fast, she said she was on her way.

mum rang my aunt who was supposed to be one of my support people as she had 4 natural births herself and seen 14 deliveries from family and friends so i knew she would be great support for me especially this being my first homebirth and all, well she soon came and she sat with me the whole time while i cried and asked for pain relief lol and said i wasn't sure if i could do this anymore, but she helped me through some bad contractions while everyone ran around getting everything ready for the baby, i tried to eat and it made me feel sick the pain was getting quite bad and all i could do was sit on the dining room floor until my aunt and hubby helped me get up and mum put the plastic and the old sheets down for me to deliver on the bed, as i got up on the bed my midwife came in the door and believe me it was like someone had just taken all the stress away for a moment until the next contraction came argh.

at this stage i had been in labour for an hour and a half hoping that someone would hit me on the head and make all the pain go away lol.

my midwife checked me and said i was almost there only 3 more centremetres to go, i screamed at her "it's not dilated enough yet, well she should be here already" so mum ran to get me a cool flannel as she could see i was starting to get hot and she helped me take off my top as the sweat at this stage was just pouring off me and my aunt sat behind me rubbing my back so hard as i had back labour the whole time due to rhyleagh being born posteria, it's where her back is inline with mine and instead of her being born with the back of her head coming out she is born with her face up which is quite painful to say the least.

as another 45 mins had past my midwife checked me and and instead of me allowing it to happen i tried to wrestle with her instead lol but i was almost fully dilated i just had a little lip but with some pushing i was dilated to 10 centremeters so with all my might i pushed so hard to get her out as i couldnt stand the pain any longer and the midwife screamed at me to stop but i couldnt she was coming and one minute i here i see hair and then 2 seconds later " omg she is here" i had delivered her in one push but due to the way she had been born it felt like i had ripped everything to it's full extend and asked the midwife if i did but she said it was due to rhyleagh being born posteria and that it will sting alot more than usual because she had to squeeze out due to her turning at the last minute.

so roughly ten minutes later i delivered the placenta in tact and bubby was getting cleaned up and weighed and she came in at 6lb 9oz, and just then my second midwife came through the door,now i don't know how homebirths work in other countries or states but here if you have one you need two midwives incase of an emergency, well my primary midwife made it on time but my back up midwife came in after all the screaming and pushing was over lol.

well i got up out of bed and had a shower as i was still in a great deal of pain and then i began to bleed quite bad and the midwife suggested to give me a needle  to stop the bleeding but i had gone natural all that time i wasnt having it so half an hour later it subsided, i sat down with my newborn and began to breast feed and reflect on what i had just done and how i had just amazed myself yet again with what my body can endure, it is a true miracle.

i hope my birth story inspires some of you to take on the challenge of a home birth.