Here was my chance to catch my little girl…

By Mathilde Faucher

I am finally taking the time to write you to tell you about our birth experience and how Calmbirth helped us!

I gave birth to a beautiful little girl named, Rose Adele, on the 6th of May at 2:42am, at home, in a birth pool. It was the most beautiful experience of my life but also the most challenging!

I have been visualising the birth a long time before it happened. I had this perfect vision of catching my own baby in water. I also thought my labour will be about 8hrs but it turned out it was more like 26hrs! (14hrs of active labour).

The contractions got really strong and I didn’t imagine it will be that painful. But the breathing techniques you taught us were incredibly helpful! Robbie was completely present. He lit a fire, candles, played nice music and cooked a nice lamb stew for us all!. My mum arrived from France just several hours before Rose was born, when my contractions started to get strong. It was magical that she could be here during such a special time. Very good timing!

We were very peaceful during the latent phase of labour. We went for a walk in our farm, meditated in the sun, went back inside and put some positive affirmations on the walls, put clean sheets on the bed, tidied up the house, and blew up the birth pool. The fitness ball was amazing during this phase! Our midwife came just when real contractions started and when the sun was going down.

The atmosphere was really serene. Robbie helped me through every contraction. I don’t know what I would have done without him. Calmbirth was such a blessing for that! It taught him so many things and made him be so supportive! 

After long hours in the pool and some walking and “dancing”, I felt I needed to push. The water was where I felt the most comfortable, leaning forward on my hands and knees. I started pushing (this was a lot longer than I thought but I used my last bits of energy as I knew I was getting closer to meet my baby). Finally, I found a purpose to all those endless contractions! Robbie couldn’t believe that there could be so many! He was exhausted too but he kept being present the whole time.

When the baby started crowning, it was so painful but I remembered to push very slowly. I didn’t tear but felt like I did! The rest of her body came out so quickly! And here was my chance to catch my little girl. The best moment of my life… She was perfect!

A healthy 3.2kg, 48cm little Rose.

Thank you Karen for giving us such precious tools to have the birth of our dreams, a natural homebirth. We hope to cross paths again with you in the future.