25/05/2026
Jihan's home birth story
I landed in NZ in Feb 2023. Got pregnant a month later.
My due date was around Christmas, I tried to reach out to a few midwives who said they were on a break during that time. Being a nurse, I knew what birthing was, and the last thing I wanted was to be in a hospital setting for such a natural event.
In my culture where I come from, birth and death are better to be at home surrounded by loved ones, not with monitors and noise, just peace and love.
I reached out to Kim Mcmanus, who said she was only taking women who wanted home birth during Christmas period. It was exactly what I needed, a midwife that's already aligned with my needs even before we met.
I went to the clinic. She was an absolute delight to deal with, she was always around to monitor my baby's growth and our well-being.
The waiting game was exhausting, I couldn't wait to meet my little man. At 40w6, on the 28th of December 2023, at 6AM, my waters broke. My midwife already told me that she was sick and unfortunately might miss the birth and to just contact the backup midwives that I had met before. I sent a text to Kate, just to let her know that my waters broke, but everything was fine. I had no contractions at the time and being a first time mum I expected things to take a long long time. I went to bed to get some rest, but just a little time later my contractions started, out of nowhere to picking up without a break.
I woke my husband up to set the pool for me. I was still helping him just to keep my mind and body busy. We set up a bed, then I got into the pool, using my birthing comb I was breathing through my contractions and trying to find a comfortable position, I could feel my baby spinning and trying to fit through my pelvic bones. I had to change positions so many times, the urge to push was starting to build up. I called the midwife and asked her to come over.
While monitoring the baby, his heartbeat was a bit high. I had the water quite warm, once we cooled it down I didn't like it and ended up labouring in the dilation station. My body was pushing him down.
I got a bit tired and tried to go to my bed and lie down but the position didn't work, it didn't give him enough space to descend. I felt uncomfortable instantly and asked my husband to help me sit up. I stayed on the edge of the bed, with him and the midwife putting wet hot towels on my back and on my perineum, which felt so good.
Then I wanted to go back to the dilation station, probably because I felt the urge the pass my bowels, but no it was just because we were nearing the end. I felt his head pushing against my perineum and him almost out, we went back running to the bed, where I just went on all fours and pushed out a healthy beautiful little 4220g pink worm. The instant was just magic, lying down in bed and holding him for the first time after a long 40w6 wait.
This time around, I am expecting twins, and want a homebirth again if all starts to align. Because nothing beats being in that little bubble.
