Accidental Homebirth Story - Born Before Arrival

Accidental Homebirth Story - Born Before Arrival

June, 2025

Written by Mum who wishes to remain anonymous.

After a traumatic hospital birth on my first, going into my second pregnancy I knew I needed to better prepare myself. I decided to invest in a doula with the hopes they could help advocate for me to achieve less intervention this time round. However Sarah turned out to be so much more than I could have possibly imagined. The education and recourses provided throughout my pregnancy helped transform my mindset around birth. It allowed me to feel empowered and overtime fear was replaced with excitement. Sarah was with me every step of my pregnancy keeping me grounded as I navigated anything that came up. Her support made me feel reassured and safe.

I had planned a natural water birth at the family birthing centre and when I was just 36 weeks I began feeling irregular contractions. These contractions would come and go never progressing into anything more. So at 37+2 when I started feeling contractions I chose to ignore them. It was around 2pm, they were irregular and not too uncomfortable so I carried on as normal. By 3:30pm they still hadn’t subsided so I decided to hop in the bath to try and shake them. After my bath they were still continuing so I got into bed and lay down with the tens machine. At this point I didn’t think I was in labour, after all I was only just term and these contractions felt no different to the ones I was having all week.

6pm rolled around, I got up to have dinner and tidy the house. At 6:30pm I started having to stop what I was doing during a contraction but carried on as normal in between each one. I said to my partner ‘I don’t think I’m in labour but these are getting a bit stronger maybe we should start timing them’. Ten minutes later during a contraction I felt a trickle of liquid and thought - no way did my waters just break! My partner grabbed my phone and said ‘that’s it I’m calling Sarah’. Still in total denial I told him we could call her and see what she thought. While on the phone to Sarah I noted my contractions were coming in 2mins apart and lasting around a minute. She encouraged me to put my little one to bed and call her back in an hour to see how I was going.

At 7:50pm my partner went to do bedtime routine and I hoped in the shower. Once I took the tens machine off to get in the shower I could really feel the intensity of the contractions. I remember stepping into the shower and thinking this is going to ease my contractions, I’ll just go to bed after this. But while in the shower the opposite happened - my contractions ramped up to a whole new level.

At 8pm while in the shower I finally accepted the fact - I’m in labour. Suddenly I felt really tired and started to panic. I don’t want to go to the birthing centre tonight, I thought, I have to stop this I just want to go to bed - not tonight please. Then I paused and wondered, am I transitioning?

I decided I would wait for my partner to finish putting our little one to bed and then get him to call the babysitter & Sarah in order to start making our way to the birthing suite. I had no idea how much time passed so I checked and it was 8:40pm, I got out the shower and found my partner had fallen asleep putting our little one to bed. I woke him and said ‘I’m in labour quick get up!’ He was shocked as I had been so adamant before it wasn’t true labour but as he watched me through my next contraction it became real very quick.

At 8:53pm we sent a text asking Sarah to make her way round. I was feeling a lot of pressure all of a sudden and ran to the bathroom where my waters broke like a movie scene at 9pm. It was then I realised we would not be making it to the birthing centre.

In between contractions I quickly hoped in the shower on all fours while my partner did acupressure on my lower back. My partner began to panic but I remained very calm and had no fear (thanks to all the inner work I had done during my pregnancy). At 9:15pm I pushed my baby out. My partner shouting ‘catch him!’ as I delivered my own baby.

My baby came out and cried straight away which was really reassuring, I sat on the bathroom floor doing skin on skin and Sarah walked through the door just 3 minutes later. Our eldest woke as Sarah arrived which was perfect as we got to bond as a family right away. As I was sitting on the bathroom floor my placenta fell out no pushing required.

We phoned the ambulance but we’re in no rush to make it to hospital. I had a shower and was feeling on top of the world. We hung around at home for 40mins before being transferred to the local hospital. At the hospital both baby & I were checked. I had no tearing and although he was teeny tiny (2.55kg) he was healthy. We discharged ourselves after just 2 hours and were home tucked up in bed as a family of four by 1am.

A Note from Sarah, Mother Mother Doula

Supporting this beautiful family through their fast and unexpected homebirth was a deeply powerful and memorable experience, and a first for me! This experience reinforced two important things: how well our bodies, babies, and physiological birth generally function in optimal environments, and that even with careful planning and preparation, birth can still take us by surprise.

I discuss the possibility of both a fast birth and a born-before-arrival scenario with all my clients during our birth mapping/planning session. With this family, we referred to it as the “Oh Shit Plan.” Having this preparation in place meant that when the unexpected did occur, there was no overwhelming panic or fear. This Mum understood that this was physiological birth unfolding and she was able to trust the process, remain calm, and birth her baby confidently, all while ensuring medical assistance was on the way.

Following this birth, I created a simple visual guide (perfect to print and keep on the fridge) to support families in preparing for the rare possibility that their baby may arrive before they reach the hospital, birth centre, or before their midwife arrives when planning a homebirth. While this guide is not a substitute for clinical care or personalised planning, knowledge and preparation can make all the difference in how families feel when the unexpected happens.

This resource has been adapted from What to Do When the Baby is Born Before You Get to Hospital by Professor Hannah Dahlen, Western Sydney University.