Ann’s “empowering and incredibly peaceful” water birth

The story of second-time mama and doula, Ann Morris’, “empowering and incredibly peaceful” water birth at home to her son, Maverick Judah.

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How would you describe your birth?

My autonomous home birth was empowering and incredibly peaceful.

How did you prepare for a positive birth?

·       Regular chiropractic care

·       Eating nourishing whole foods and consuming the appropriate supplements when needed

·       Preparing my mind mentally and spiritually by doing a hypnobirthing faith-filled childbirth course

·       Creating a birth plan.

Tools/ support used during labour

Partner support, a birthing ball, listening to Christian hypnobirthing tracks and worship music, intuitive movement and vocalisation, and soaking in the birthing tub in hot water.

Ann’s birth story

Before birth

After her 39-week midwife appointment, where Ann was told she was measuring well and the baby sounded great, but her baby wasn’t yet engaged in her pelvis, her midwife and chiropractor gave her some exercises to do to encourage her baby to move into the right position.  After doing these, Ann says: “I slept badly that night and when I went to the bathroom the next morning, I realised I was beginning to lose my uterine seal. I also felt quite crampy and different overall. I felt as though Maverick had shifted more into my pelvis.”

Ann told her husband, DeeMo, to start preparing their house for birth. DeeMo was also keen to go out for dinner one last time as a family of three before the baby came, so they went out for dinner.

Early labour

At dinner, Ann says “I was starting to have to breathe through the tightenings at this point and knew that early labour had definitely begun. As a doula, I always tell my clients that distraction is key during early labour, so that’s what I did.”

At 7:10pm, Ann started timing her “tightenings”, because they were becoming stronger and more consistent. She asked DeeMo to run through their birth checklist to ensure they had done everything. Ann then put on hypnobirthing tracks and says she “went back and forth between bouncing on my birth ball and leaning over onto our dresser to cope with the waves”.

Active labour

Ann says active labour began around 9:30pm. “I know this because there was an obvious shift in the length, frequency, and intensity of the waves I was experiencing around then,” she says. “I was starting to need DeeMo to be by my side through every wave at this point and I could no longer just breathe through them.” Ann also says she used vocalisation and rhythmic movement to get through each contraction.

At 9:40pm, Ann’s contractions were lasting between 1-2 minutes long and were coming every 2-3 minutes. “I was beginning to use all of my coping strategies, because things were getting so intense,” she says.

DeeMo called their birth team (midwife and photographer) at 9:55pm to say it was “go-time”. Ann says: “I continued to moan and move through the waves with DeeMo while standing and leaning. I was likely nearing the transition stage at this point, because I recall saying aloud, ‘I need to be in water - whether it's the shower or the tub - I need it to cope at this point’.”

When the birth pool was full, Ann slowly got in, with DeeMo’s help. “Upon entering the warm birth pool, I immediately felt my whole body relax. I remember exclaiming aloud, “Oh my gosh, this feels so much better!” At 11:23pm, within only 5 minutes of entering the tub, I felt my bag of waters break! It was the craziest feeling - like popping a champagne bottle open.”

Ann initially got on all fours when she got into the birth pool, but once a ‘wave’ came, she realised it wasn’t the most comfortable position. The midwife recommended DeeMo get into the pool with her so he could support her from behind. Ann says: “DeeMo quickly put on some board shorts and hopped into the tub with me. I immediately positioned myself with my back against him - I felt so much more steady and supported.”

Pushing

Ann says almost immediately after her membranes released, her body began to bear her baby down. She says: “At the peak of each wave, I gently began to push as I listened to my body and the guidance of my midwife. The pushing stage was so intense for me, and I was so determined to take things slow this time in order to minimise perineal tearing.”

Ann says: “at 12:25am, 45 minutes after I began bearing down, Maverick’s head was born. Then at 12:27am, the rest of his body was born into the hands of my student midwife. If you have ever had a baby, you can understand the amount of relief I immediately felt after expelling his body from mine!”

Ann says her midwife “slowly lifted Maverick up out of the water to give him to me, and in doing so, I immediately saw his man parts and exclaimed, “oh my gosh - it’s another boy!” I truly was so shocked that it was a boy, as this second pregnancy was very different from my first, so I truly thought he must be a girl.

“I immediately began weeping in thankfulness and relief that our baby was finally here - our boy was finally here!”

Ann is a birth and postpartum doula in in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. You can find out more about her on her website: https://www.annmorris-doula.com/