A Positive Home Birth Story in Bristol: “It was the birth of my dreams”

Rachel and Rosa’s Birth Story

Birth stories are so important.

Humans learn through story. They help us imagine what it might be like for us, to know what’s possible, to visualise an experience, to work out what’s right for us… and so much more.

All birth stories are valid and all births are different. But I feel like we are living in a world that’s slowly (fast?) forgetting women were built for this and perhaps we need to hear natural and positive birth stories more than ever right now.

Stories that remind you that birth can be a powerful, instinctive and deeply rewarding experience, and that women deserve to be supported in the choices they make and truly informed so that they can decide what’s right for them. (This means having information about all the options – not just the medicalised ones – as well as understanding comfort, pleasure and the things that can support a positive experience alongside the risks.)

As a doula in Bristol, I get to witness just how powerfully birth can unfold when women feel safe, supported and able to trust themselves.

There are experiences of birth that you might not even realise are possible until you hear someone else’s story.

Today, I’m sharing Rachel and Rosa’s beautiful home birth story. Rachel welcomed her baby girl at home in Bristol, supported by her partner and NHS midwives. She had spent much of her pregnancy attending my pregnancy yoga classes, where she practised breathing, movement and relaxation techniques to help her prepare for birth.

I hope her story offers some encouragement if you’re preparing to meet your own baby.

Rachel’s positive home birth in Bristol

“I wake up in the night to feelings of contractions but I’m able to fall back to sleep easily and I start looking at the time when they wake me up. Then at 5am I start losing my mucus plug. I tell my husband, get a hot water bottle and go back to bed.

We get up when my daughter wakes and she goes off to nursery. I have a midwife appointment, everything is good and she reckons that contractions will ramp up after my daughter has gone to bed. My waters break at 10.30am as we get ready to go out for a walk and coffee. We go for a coffee and pin down names. We carry on as normal, call my mum to tell her to come up and my husband puts his out of office on. At 1.45pm we call the midwife to say that contractions are now every 10 minutes but not lasting very long.

My daughter comes home from nursery but I can’t sit and play so pace up and down the garden. She goes to bed and (as predicted) they ramp up. They are every five minutes and I have to focus more during them.

We call the midwife at 7.50pm and she says she’ll come out. They arrive at 8.25pm, check us both over (no VE though), and read my birth plan. Max is setting up the pool and I’m focusing on my golden thread breath whilst leaning over the sofa. We put on my tens machine but it’s too late and didn’t feel very nice.

I then enter the transition phase and tell Max that I need to get into the pool or the baby will be born on dry land. The pool isn’t filled enough but the midwives sense the need and tell me to get in.

At 9.55, I’m in the pool and squeezing my daughter’s spiky plastic ball. After what must have been a couple of contractions (10.05), her head was out and I reached down to feel it. It was great to know that the end was in sight! Two minutes later, she was born!!! She was helped through my legs and I brought her slowly out of the water – a sight I’ll never forget! 😍

We confirm her sex but it takes longer because her cord is tied around her ankle – something the midwives hadn’t seen before. I get skin to skin and she feeds in the pool.

My placenta took a bit longer to come than they’d have liked (plus my mum told the MWs that she had a retained placenta), so I get out and gravity helps it along. Max cuts the cord and Rosa is weighed. I did have 2nd degree tear but choose not to have any stitches.

Long story short: it was the birth of my dreams. It was so good I’d do it again! Either that or I want to become a midwife or doula because every woman should feel this empowered and strong after their birth, however they choose to do it. I also wonder if my recovery was smoother and quicker in some part because of my birth.

One of the midwives actually filmed Rosa’s birth! I’d seen on someone else’s birth plan that they asked the midwives to take photos, so I included it on mine. I’m so grateful that she recorded it!

It’s also worth saying that the MWs really respected my wish to be left to it. They seemed to spend most of their time chatting to my mum in the kitchen! And they were very discreet when came in to monitor the baby.

Thank you for your pregnancy yoga classes and your support. It definitely played a part because I trusted my body and moved in ways that felt instinctive and the golden breath kept me calm and focused.

See you at post natal yoga! x”

Preparing for birth in Bristol: Rachel’s experience of pregnancy yoga

Rachel attended my Pregnancy Yoga classes in Brislington through most of her pregnancy. Each week, she protected this dedicated time and space to move, breathe and relax so that she could connect with her body and her baby. In pregnancy yoga, she had a regular opportunity to practise that Golden Thread breath that she found so powerful in her birth experience.

Rachel went on to have the home birth she had hoped for, supported by her partner and NHS midwives.

I’m so grateful to Rachel for sharing her experience with me and allowing others to learn from her story. It means a lot to have played a small part in her journey to meeting Rosa.

How doula support can help you prepare for birth

Stories like Rachel’s are one of the reasons I love the work I do as a doula in Bristol: seeing your confidence grow and watching you develop trust in your body and your baby are just so rewarding!

Whether you’re rolling out your pregnancy yoga mat, preparing for birth with your partner or welcoming me onto your birth team as your doula, my aim is always the same: to help you trust your body, feel confident in your choices and head into birth feeling calm, supported and connected — with your baby, yourself and your birth team.

I work with families across Bristol and Bath, including Brislington and surrounding areas, offering a warm, no-nonsense approach to birth preparation.

  Doula support in Bristol – If you know you want a gold-standard birth team, with wraparound support through pregnancy, birth and the early days of parenting, Doula Support is for you.

  Pregnancy yoga in Bristol – a welcoming space to move, breathe, relax and connect with your body and your baby while preparing for birth.

  One-to-one hypnobirthing in Bristol – If you’re in total disbelief that pushing another human out of your own body is even possible, Hypnobirthing could be just what you need!  Create your birth toolkit with bespoke 121 sessions.

You can stack the odds in your favour of having the birth of your dreams too!

Kim ❤️