BIRTH STORY: Meet baby River

"I just wanted to send a note to say a heartfelt thank you for everything we learnt in the active birth workshop and the important role it played in bringing our babe earth side.

We welcomed our son River in a beautiful water birth, born at 42 weeks, 4.2kg on 1 July.

After trying everything to bring on labour we reached our booked induction date at 42 weeks (this was the last day our private midwife would have been lead carer before it switched to the obstetric team at the hospital).  During the wait, the baby was moving positions (posterior to anterior right) almost daily.  I used the active birth positions to encourage the baby to turn. When I checked into hospital for the induction, the baby was on the left anterior side and I was 5 cm dilated (without any surges).  My midwife broke my waters then encouraged me to walk stairs in the hope that this would start labour.  I walked/ran stairs for 3 hours straight, so determined to bring on the surges.  And it did!  The induction was canceled and I laboured naturally and undisturbed. I used standing, squatting, moving positions to keep strong surges coming. Matt was so supportive in breathing next to me the whole time and using acupressure points.  I used the water pool and kneeling positions to birth the baby.  I had no tearing and we were able to leave hospital 3 hours after birth. 

It was a beautiful and healing experience (after the difficult birth we had with our first born).

Thank you again for all the knowledge imparted, it is a rare gift."

Naomi and her partner attended the Active Birth Workshop for couples with Suzanne Swan.