“To the mama reading this story of mine I would like to say embrace the feelings you encounter the excitement, the fear, the joy”

It was around 9:15 in the morning when I thought I just needed to pop to the wharepaku. After I finished, I noticed a little mucus show with a small bit of blood. At first, I didn’t think much of it—I figured I’d just text the midwife and be good, especially since we still had about three weeks to go. She replied, telling me to keep an eye on it and let her know how things went.

I walked out of the bathroom and headed to my bedroom to get dressed for the day. Suddenly, I felt a little trickle of what felt like water running down the side of my leg. I’d experienced this with my first birth, so I instantly knew—my waters had broken! I messaged my midwife again, and she told me to come in for a cervical check.

From that moment, everything went into overdrive. After the check, I went from 2cm to 8cm dilated in about an hour! The contractions were intense and painful, but I kept reminding myself: I was about to meet my miracle. I breathed deeply through each wave, some lasting anywhere from two to five minutes. When I felt the urge to push, I told my midwife, and she was right there within minutes.

Lying on my bed, surrounded by my partner, my mum, and his mum, I pushed just twice. They all exclaimed, “We can see his head! He’s got hair!” Despite the exhaustion, I stayed focused—head down, pushing with everything I had. And then, in an overwhelming moment of pure joy and relief, he was here. I had done it—I delivered my beautiful baby boy at home, in my own space, unmedicated.

Next came the placenta, which slipped out with just a small cough. My partner cut the umbilical cord as our baby lay skin-to-skin on my chest. My first born son had woken from a sleep and comes into the bedroom in shock to see his little brother was earthside the birth was powerful, raw, and absolutely magical—the most incredible start to our new life together.

To the mama reading this story of mine I would like to say embrace the feelings you encounter the excitement , the fear , the joy and once you have baby in your arms skin to skin on your chest you will forget about everything and want to stay in that space forever.