"After having my first two children in hospital I really wanted a home birth with my third pregnancy, mainly because I knew Leon was my last baby and I didn’t want his birth to be a medical one" says Adele Peat, mum to Amelia, 4, Theo 2, and Leon 8 months.

"Both my previous births been assisted ventouse deliveries and I’d been induced with my eldest so I just wanted something much calmer at home.

Down's risk

Then at 18 weeks I had the triple test and found out I was a high risk for Down’s syndrome, and from then on my pregnancy went from bad to worse. Firstly I was told the baby was in a breech position and that worried me because Amelia, my daughter got her shoulder stuck during delivery and her collarbone broke. I had an extra scan to check and thankfully it turned out that he just had a boney bottom, which made midwife think it was his head!

Then just before my due date when I was all prepared at home with even a birthing pool, the baby popped his head up from a head down position. At my next appointment the doctor said this made it too risky to have a home birth, especially as I was now overdue and she booked me in to be induced. I wasn’t at all keen about this but after about a week when I was watching a programme about special needs children, I realized that with the baby’s risk of Downs, and being overdue it was best and safest to go in.

The waiting game

My induction started with a sweep but the midwife said the baby’s head was still too high so we ended up having to wait for things to change. The worst part for me was not knowing what would happen next, as the doctor also said that a pessary would not work due to the baby’s head being so high up. I tried to prepare myself for a long process, which was a good thing, as we had to wait for a delivery room for eight hours.

Once I was in the room I was so fed up I asked a doctor to come in and break my waters. Two hours later mild contractions started and at 8.30 pm the midwife put me on the hormone drip to speed things up. After that I started to feel more relaxed and by midnight I was 3 cm dilated. I knew from my first pregnancy that being induced by drip would make things quicker and more painful but the pain felt bearable. A doctor kept insisting I needed pain relief but I knew I could do it with just gas and air as I had done twice before and I think my determination kept me going.

Natural delivery

At 2.30 am after two and half hours of established labour I felt the urge to push. The midwife said I was only 6cm, however I knew from previous pregnancies that I’d dilate quickly and it took me only 30 minutes to get to 10 cm. Just eight minutes later after a bit of pushing Leon was born weighing 8lb 13 oz, perfectly healthy and without the help of a ventouse! Even though I didn’t get the home birth I had been planning since before I was even pregnant, I’m still happy that I managed to push Leon out on my own and that in the end everything was completely fine. I went in thinking the induction would be more intense than a natural delivery, but it was also faster. In all reality having had both, I don’t think an induction is worse than a natural labour and in the end you have a beautiful baby and so all the pain is forgotten anyway.”