I knew the home birth of baby George would be beautiful, what I didn’t anticipate was how completely lovely Jenni would look in the midst of labour. When I arrived, just two hours before the birth, the midwives were already there, sitting comfortably on the couch sipping tea. Jenni and Bender were busy keeping little Addy entertained. It was four in the morning and she was awake with all the movement in the house, and with a sense of excitement she had no intentions of going back to bed. Something was going to happen, and she was not about to miss it!!
Jenni moved around the room with ease, her floral robe flowing around her looking like a birthing goddess. She was looking SO relaxed in fact that I honestly wondered if we had all arrived prematurely. But no, this experienced mum knew her body and knew her baby would be greeting us before long. So after an hour of wondering around, she gently stepped into the birth pool and within an hour baby George was being lifted up to his Mum’s chest, all covered in vernix and perfect, with big brother Will helping out down ‘the business end’.
Jenni and Bender had made the decision to leave George’s cord intact, and allow it to dry and fall away by itself in the days that followed his birth. The placenta was thoroughly checked over by the midwives and George had all his first checks, weighs and measurements before the birth team, including myself, walked outside into the beautiful early morning sun and left this family to soak in their new baby.
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