ello ladies just thought i should do what i always say i should do.....tell the world about how wonderful homebirth can be!! i work as a midwife and have worked in private and public and the sad and traumatic births that i have seen....my goodness dont get me started as i may just cry!

On the brightside i had my beautiful daughter in the comfort of our own home last year in april, wow what an experience! it was wonderful, my hubby is probably the biggest homebirth advocate now he has experienced it (i already was a huge advocate!) the difference in our experience was huge, despite a decent length of labour, my bub and i were both so healthy before, during and afterwards and breastfeeding came naturally. i feel so bonded to my bub and have found that during my pregnancy, labour and postnatally with the assistance of my midwife i have learnt to listen to my instincts (finally!)

The continuity of care provided by my midwife made such a huge difference and she is still available for questions should i have any. I found the close friendship that bloomed between my midwife and i was magic and she truely only needed to give me that "i believe in you" look when i was in labour and immedietly i felt so much stronger! Even when i had been pushing for 2 hours neither my bub or i were stressed and my midwives continued to support me and encourage me, no time limits that has to be one of the most fab things of all! Both my hubby and i know that we would not have had the birthing experience that we had should we have chosen to bith in hospital. My contractions were fab until about 6-8cm when my labour started to have large rest periods and my progress slowed down due to my bub being asynclitic and compound (head to the side and arm by her head) should i have been in hospital i would have been encouraged to have a synto drip, which very well may have stressed both mum and bub as it often does after a long early labour then i may have caved and wanted analgesia (prob not though im pretty stubborn!) and very possibly ended up with an instrumental birth as there was slow progress when i was pushing (once again due to asynclitic bub).

my husband and i are forever gratefull for all the support we received from our midwife, she was out on her feet but still 'with' us which is all we truely needed.

Our experience has also given me a goal for the future as continuity of care and homebirth is what i would love to provide for all women.Thank god for homebirth midwives i say!!

as some would say i was not brave for having my baby at home, they are brave for having theirs in hospital without fully understanding the differences!