Positive home waterbirth story, 4.94kg / 10 lb 14.3 oz baby
“I’m still processing the absolute WILDNESS of this birth, but our beautiful boy Landon is finally here and we are completely, utterly smitten. 🥹”
Welcome to the world, Landon. 🤍
Going into this birth, we knew he was measuring very big, around the 97th percentile, so this wasn’t a decision I went into blindly.
I had lots of conversations throughout pregnancy about the potential risks associated with birthing a suspected large baby. Hospital induction at 39 weeks was recommended because of his estimated size, which I ultimately chose to decline after weighing up my options, educating myself on the risks and benefits, and having lots of discussions with my private midwife, as well as listening to The Great Birth Rebellion podcast and other resources I found available.
I felt comfortable waiting for spontaneous labour, which eventually began at 40+6, but I also knew that choosing a homebirth with a suspected big baby required intentional preparation and an experienced birth team that I trusted completely.
“Preparing for a calm birth doesn’t mean expecting everything to unfold perfectly. It’s about having the tools, knowledge and confidence to carry with you, even when birth becomes unpredictable.”
And thank goodness I had exactly that. 🤍
One of the best things Zac and I did to prepare together was ourCalmbirth course with Cherie.
Even though this was my third pregnancy and birth, I got just as much out of the course as Zac did. It gave us this shared understanding of birth and made preparing for our homebirth feel like something we were doing together, rather than me being the one who knew what was happening and Zac simply being there to support me.
It gave Zac so much confidence in how to actually support me and be actively involved. In the weeks leading up to labour, we were already using things we had learnt together, pressure points, breathing techniques and the rebozo. When labour finally began, those tools felt so familiar to both of us.
Labour started spontaneously with very mild contractions around 10pm. They were initially about 10 minutes apart and I thought, surely this is finally it!!!! After a few days of being crampy with no pattern.
Except I then proceeded to have the longest, most frustrating early labour ALL night and well into the following morning and afternoon. 😂
My contractions would get closer and stronger, then space back out again. The intensity was rising, just not consistently with the timing. At times they were around 3–4 minutes apart, then suddenly back to 8–9.
There was absolutely no beautiful textbook progression happening, and I started to wonder whether something wasn’t quite right because this was my third baby and my first two labours had been relatively quick and progressed well from start to finish.
Throughout all of those hours, Zac was right there with me. We used the rebozo, hip squeezes, pressure points and calm breathing together. He didn’t leave my side.
And I think this is where our Calmbirth preparation really became invaluable. Zac wasn’t standing beside me feeling helpless or afraid of what was happening to me. He understood what my body was doing, he had practical tools he could use to help me, and he trusted that my body was capable. I felt completely supported, and he felt confident and involved.
Midwife Marine suggested some different positions…
Continued part 1:
By around 3pm, I agreed to a cervical check with my midwife because we wanted to understand what was happening, why the contractions had been inconsistent for so long and where Landon was sitting in my pelvis.
Originally in my birth plan I didn’t want any cervical checks, however at that point I felt it was an important piece of information we needed.
To my surprise, I was already 7cm dilated and my cervix was soft and stretchy, but his head was still sitting quite high, which likely explained why active labour hadn’t properly kicked into gear.
Marine suggested some different positions to encourage him further down into my pelvis and, sure enough, he descended QUICKLY after that!!
We had already been using the rebozo throughout early labour to encourage him into a better position in case he was posterior. Then I sat on the toilet for about three contractions and I could physically feel him descending with each one.
Suddenly contractions went to two minutes apart.
I moved to the floor near the bed into a squat position and could feel that he was moving down incredibly quickly. I remember thinking my waters were probably going to break soon.
My waters broke at around 4:15pm, and shortly afterwards I got into the birth pool.
“And Zac was absolutely incredible. The most supportive birth partner I could have asked for and exactly what I needed beside me through something so intense.”
Continued part 2:
Now… throughout pregnancy I had envisioned this beautiful, calm waterbirth. 😂
I was going to breathe my baby down, stay completely in control and peacefully bring him into the world.
That is not quite what happened. 😂😂
OH. MY. GOODNESS.
It was INTENSE.
Landon came down quickly once he finally descended, but actually getting him OUT was another story.
Crowning was incredibly slow and honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I felt like his head was there forever, and every time I thought surely this was the worst of it, his giant head just kept coming. 🤣🤣
His head was finally born, but then his body wasn’t following.
At that point I needed coached pushing to help get the rest of him out, and my midwife had to reach in and assist with rotating him.
By this point I was absolutely exhausted and wrecked. I felt like I didn’t have it in me to push without a contraction, but I knew I had to get him out.
It wasn’t a shoulder dystocia, more like a whole-body dystocia because of his overall size. 🥲 It genuinely felt like the biggest and longest body EVER.
The girls were so tiny and quite literally shot out of me after their heads were born.
This guy???? Absolutely not. 🤣
So there was no serene breathing-my-baby-out happening anymore. 😂 I was ROARING that enormous child into the world.
I do remember the last thing I screamed before he was born, in a very primal voice, was:
“GET THIS BABY OUT OF MEEEE 😡🥵”
But I think something important I took away from Calmbirth was that a calm birth doesn’t necessarily mean aquiet birth.
The tools helped me through so much of my labour, but when things changed, I was able to change with them. I could roar, accept guidance, push when I needed to and let my midwives assist me without feeling like my birth had somehow “failed” to be the calm experience I had prepared for.
Continued part 3:
When he was finally born just shy of 5pm, he came out floppy and stunned.
It wasn’t the calm entrance I had imagined for him, and there were a few very intense minutes while my midwives worked with him calmly while he was on my chest. By around three minutes he was giving us beautiful big cries. 🥹🤍
And this is the part of my birth that has made me even more grateful for all of the conversations and preparation we’d done beforehand.
I trusted my body, but I also trusted the women caring for me.
Marine and Jamie were absolute magic.
Even when the birth became more complicated than we’d hoped, they remained so calm and focused that I never felt afraid. I knew Landon was having difficulty being born when his head was coming out. I knew they needed to help him. But I felt completely held and safe in their hands.
I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever find words big enough for the gratitude I have for those two women. My literal angels on earth who helped me bring my boy into the world. 🤍
And Zac was absolutely incredible.
The most supportive birth partner I could have asked for and exactly what I needed beside me through something so intense.
He was there from the very first mild contractions until Landon was in my arms. He knew how to physically support me, how to breathe with me, when to use pressure or hip squeezes, how to use the rebozo and, just as importantly, how to simply stay beside me and trust me.
I’ve never felt so loved and so in love with him as I did during the hardest thing I’ve ever physically done. 🥹
Calmbirth gave us so much more than techniques to use during contractions. It gave Zac confidence in birth and confidence in me. And it made this birth feel like something we truly did together as a team.
Continued part 4:
Then came the weigh-in…
4.94kg.
58cm long.
37cm head circumference.
😭😂🥹
Suddenly the slow crowning made a LOT more sense.
I cannot believe I grew him.
And I genuinely cannot believe I BIRTHED him. 😂
And my vagina had no stitches!!! CRAZY.
My first two babies were much smaller and I had second-degree tearing and sutures with both. My recovery this time has been completely different — no swelling downstairs, no pain while peeing, no pain while sitting and no stitches. I basically felt completely normal down there almost immediately afterwards, which is INCREDIBLE compared with the pain I experienced for up to two weeks after having the girls.
This birth certainly wasn’t proof that size never matters. If anything, our experience reinforced for me why I wanted to understand the additional risks beforehand and why having experienced midwives, preparation and a plan for complications mattered so much.
It also wasn’t the perfectly calm, controlled birth I had pictured.
There was roaring. There was coached pushing. There was hands-on assistance when it became necessary. There were interventions I didn’t prefer going into it, and there was a baby who needed help after he arrived.
But we did what we needed to do, informed and supported.
And I think that is actually one of the biggest things I’ve taken away from the experience.
Preparing for a calm birth didn’t mean expecting everything to unfold perfectly. It gave both of us tools, knowledge and confidence that we could carry with us even when birth became unpredictable.
I have come out of it feeling so incredibly proud of my body and completely in awe of what it was capable of. I’m also so incredibly grateful for my care providers. 🥹
I know that for me personally, if the setting and support had been different, I could have experienced those intense moments very differently and potentially felt completely out of control. Instead, I felt informed, respected, supported and safe.
I made the decisions that felt right for me after weighing up my individual circumstances, and I felt supported and respected throughout the entire process.
And I genuinely couldn’t recommend doing a Calmbirth course with Cherie enough.
Obviously it would be incredible preparation for first-time parents, but as someone going into my third birth, I still got so much from it. It brought Zac and me closer, gave us practical tools we genuinely used before and throughout labour, and helped turn him into such an active, confident birth partner rather than someone simply watching birth happen.
I’m so grateful that was part of our preparation for bringing Landon into the world. 🤍
And now I get to lie here staring at the most enormous, chunky, delicious newborn. 😭🥹
His cheeks! His hair!!! His rolls! His little face!
We are completely obsessed with him.
Welcome to the world, Landon. 🤍
You certainly made an entrance.
Mummy and Daddy love you so, so, so much already. We have prayed for you and over you endlessly and will continue to do so. ❤️
Thank you for choosing us to be your parents.
Sara
