“I felt different instantly, I knew I had conceived straight away. One of my telltale signs in early pregnancy is that I start burping and I started within three days of falling pregnant. Before I’d even fallen pregnant I started looking at my care options on the Mornington Peninsula and in Melbourne and after realising that there wasn’t the continuity of care option in the public system like I had in Sydney with my first, I started to look into homebirth.”

Brigette sadly lost her pregnancy and because it happened in the middle of a lockdown, she had to attend a slew of appointments alone which made a difficult experience even harder. She admits she was blindsided by how long the process took; she continued to have ultrasounds and blood tests for weeks to ensure the pregnancy had passed. It was an incredibly hard process that coincided with Flynn’s second birthday and the loss of her horse; a week of intense contradictions.

“I wanted to have a break, I didn’t feel the desire to fall pregnant straight away. After the miscarriage I fell physically unwell and I definately wasn’t in the mood for making love. I wasn’t sure what symptoms I was supposed to have so I just got on with it but I noticed that I was exhausted and then I started burping again but there was just no way I could be pregnant! I just got consistently sicker and felt something wasn’t right so I did a pregnancy test and it came back positive straight away. It was so bizarre and the first thing that went through my head was that I had been pregnant with twins. The doctor sent me straight off to a dating scan and sure enough there was a little beating heart in there. The only thing that might have happened is that we conceived Willa before I had passed my other baby. I felt like I hadn’t had a chance to grieve and then I was pregnant again.”

Brigitte was 8 weeks when she discovered she was pregnant so she quickly rang around to find a homebirth midwife. Through word of mouth and referrals she found a midwife who she connected with and she got to know her through lengthy and relaxed home visits which were quite a novelty in the peak of lockdown.

“I did The Birth Class and I am so grateful for it because it ended up being an absolute game changer for me particularly with the optimal maternal positioning. It was such an important element in my birth. I listened to each episode 2-3 times and it was so great to listen in my own time and reabsorb the information that was shared. I just found it really helpful.”

40 weeks came and went and Brigitte was really challenged by being in that emotionally-charged overdue space. She tried everything to naturally induce labour, read a book about the importance of not rushing or forcing labour and finally surrendered to the fact that her baby would come when she was ready.

“I went for a chiro session and my chiropractor refused to book me in for a follow up session. That was 41+1 and I felt like things were changing. We put Flynn to bed and I went to have a shower and the moment I sat on the couch I felt some minor cramping and thought it might be early labour. Jesse started timing them and they were coming every 2-3 minutes so I texted my midwife and she told me she was getting in the car as she lived 40 minutes away.

“My midwives arrived about 11pm and I had the tens machine on and was moving around the house. I love the tens machine so much and didn’t want to let it go but I took it off to get in the pool and I felt immediate relief but I also felt that it slowed things down a bit. I also had an unusual pain that wasn’t contraction pain so I got in the shower and all of a sudden I was in excruciating pain and I felt that something wasn’t right. I pulled out the optimal maternal positioning and I could feel things moving; it felt like something was stuck and I had to beg my midwives to do an internal. Willa was twisted with her chin up and it was pounding into my pelvis – I was right, she was in a really strange position and that was the pain.

“It was 3am and I was vomiting. My midwives marched me off to the living room and manually rotated my pelvis and then something just clicked and I got up and felt instantly that she had dropped. I tried to get back to the pool but I didn’t quite get there. I looked up and the sun was rising and I knew Flynn would be up any minute. At 6:45am I heard Flynn over the monitor so Jesse ran to get him and he came back and Willa started crowning and I guided her out and pulled her up onto my chest. It was everything I’d always wanted. My placenta was birthed almost straight away and then I went to bed and all four of us cuddled together.

The Birth Class

The Australian Birth Stories’ online childbirth education program will empower and help you confidently prepare for birth. Over 10 value-packed audio lessons — and from the comfort of your own home — The Birth Class walks you through everything you need to know to feel positive, calm, capable and READY throughout your birth experience.

In The Birth Class, you’ll be guided through every aspect of birth, covering topics such as:

Physiological childbirth

• The stages of labour, including the third stage of labour and what to expect AFTER you give birth.
• How to harness the body’s natural hormones throughout the birth process.
• Optimal maternal positioning and how to prepare your body in pregnancy for your best possible birth.
• How to use breathwork and sound as a pain management tool.
• Steps to take to avoid a ‘cascade of interventions.
• Active birth positions — and why they are essential.
• All you need to know about Caesarean sections, including ways to prepare for a VBAC
• How to set yourself up for breastfeeding success..

Loved by thousands of women I know you’re going to love The Birth Class. Learn more over at THE BIRTH CLASS