Positive Homebirth After Caesarean (HBAC) on the Fylde Coast
Eleanor, the founder of Birth With Choice, lives in Lytham and supports families across the Fylde Coast and in Preston. She provides antenatal hypnobirthing courses and postnatal trauma support.
Georgia’s positive VBAC (vaginal birth after a caesarean) at home
After a traumatic emergency c-section with her first baby, Georgia knew she wanted her second birth to be different - calm, informed, and completely hers. With unshakable preparation, a rock-solid support system, and deep trust in her body, she achieved a powerful and healing home birth after caesarean (HBAC). This is the story of Billie’s birth - a VBAC that unfolded with strength, softness, and informed decision-making every step of the way.
Learning to advocate for myself as a high-risk mum
When I first found out I was pregnant with our second baby, I didn't give a home birth or even a vaginal birth much thought. I genuinely believed opting for an elective c-section would be the better route and I had just accepted that I would never get to experience the true magic of birthing my babies vaginally, until I started seeing positive VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) stories and diving into the research and education behind physiological childbirth.
I became utterly obsessed with childbirth education. Although in my first pregnancy I was pretty obsessed with hypnobirthing I didn't do an awful lot of research on the education, which I don't think too many first time mums do.
As I was adamant this birth would unfold completely different, it became my ultimate mission to understand everything. I backed myself with all the evidence, all the statistics, understood my rights and I learned how to advocate for myself. This helped me massively to remove any fears I had and become extremely confident in all of my decisions. Being a c-section mama I was immediately classed as high risk and also because of the previous preeclampsia I was expecting pushbacks from midwives and consultants. l knew I had to build my confidence and eliminate my fears and I did exactly that, by becoming so unbelievably knowledgeable about childbirth and in particular physiological birth.
It then became so apparent to me that birthing at home would be the safest place for me to have my baby, especially if I wanted VBAC & a physiological birth.
I became fascinated with watching and listening to positive home birth and freebirth stories. I read the book The Art Of Giving Birth by @theultimatebirthpartner so that I could deeply understand physiological birth and prep my partner so that he could be the best birthing partner, which he absolutely was.
Do you have to give birth at hospital if you’re high risk?
You don’t have to give birth in a hospital just because you're classed as high risk.
Advocacy is everything - and hospital birth isn’t always the safest or most supportive option for every person. My hypnobirthing courses equip you with the tools, context, and confidence to make the decision that’s right for you. Not just what the system suggests.
Feeling empowered for birth with the support of a doula
We invested into an incredible doula in pregnancy, Leanne Stitt a doula in Cumbria, (also a HBAC mama) to help build our confidence, educate us and ultimately support us and I genuinely wouldn't have achieved this without Leanne. She made me feel invincible and she believed in my ability to succeed in birthing at home, more than I did myself at times. Read about the benefits of hiring a doula here.
The last few weeks of my pregnancy I really protected my energy. I declined my final growth scan after seeing baby was continually growing beautifully at 36 weeks, I declined extra bloods that I felt were unnecessary because I wanted to protect my peace and not make any extra trips to the hospital/reasons for them to find something to intervene. I politely disregarded any conversations with people who I could tell didn't agree with my decision to birth at home.
Without doing all of the childbirth education and deeply understanding everything I learned, l likely would have fell for the cohesive conversations, bought into the scaremongering chats and agreed to everything that was suggested to me. But fortunately, I had built up my confidence and I trusted more than ever in my body and baby! I knew I could do this.
Early labour: protecting my energy and trusting the process
Which leads me on to the birth story of our second daughter Billie who was a surprise gender and wow it was a surprise. Myself, my partner and 99% of our friends and family were adamant I was carrying a baby boy, so when she was placed onto my chest we were in utter disbelief that another girlie was joining the gang.
The best surprise of my entire life to date, being able to give Blakely a sister is a dream come true.
From around 34 weeks I was having a lot of braxton hicks and on my NHS due date (10th May) I was having regular and quite intense braxton hicks, I wondered if baby was going to come on her due date, these intense sensations continued throughout the week. Each night I went to sleep and I thought to myself, could this be the night but nothing progressed and every time I went to bed everything stopped.
On Wednesday 14th May I woke up really deflated, I dropped Blakely off at nursery for the morning and went to meet my friend for breakfast and had a big cry in the car. Meeting her for some yummy food was exactly what I needed, I still had time to kill before I picked up Blakely so I went for a pedicure for some self-care hoping to get the oxytocin flowing.
That evening, I was having back-to-back braxton hicks so I called my friend who we had arranged for blakely to stay with whilst we had the baby, to come and pick up Blakely in-case tonight was the night. But again, I went to bed and everything stopped. Thursday 15th May I woke up and decided to make the most of my toddler free day, it was a gorgeous sunny day so I put on a dress, my earpods and went for a walk along the beach to go for an iced matcha and some breakfast. I knew my baby would come when they were ready, the following morning Friday 16th May, I woke up around 6am with dull achy period pain style cramps in my lower tummy and I just knew today would be the day that we would meet our baby. Tom had also decided to take the day off work to start fitting our new kitchen. We enjoyed a lovely morning together and by around 11am my cramps had progressed into contractions. What is the difference between contractions and braxton hicks?
Thinking about having a homebirth?
Deciding where to have your baby is a HUGE decision.
Many mums, especially first-time-mums, don’t realise that they can choose where to give birth. Whether you choose to give birth at home like Georgia, in a birth centre like Demi, on a consultant led unit, or have a caesarean birth in a theatre, you take your hypnobirthing toolkit with you.
Georgia had to advocate for her home birth
At 12pm I decided to ring triage to put myself on their radar for the community midwives, they told me that from 4.30pm there would only be 1 midwife on call (you need 2 for a home birth) and asked if I would consider coming into the hospital to birth. I told them absolutely not, I am birthing at home, so please sort out another midwife and ring me back. I was not going to allow their short staffing issues to sabotage my birth. I took a shower and washed my hair whilst I waited for the midwife to ring me back.
My contractions were becoming more and more intense and when she called back I had to pause for a moment to breathe through my next contraction, she told me she had organised another midwife and that they were now both on their way to the house. Once the first midwife arrived, she took my blood pressure and listened in to baby. My second midwife arrived and read my birth plan. The atmosphere was so calm and chilled, I couldn't believe I was in labour.
Established labour to birth: calm, powerful and unmedicated
I was walking around my house just feeling so content. Tom made us all a cup of tea which I was enjoying either side of my contractions, as they started to ramp up I put the TENS machine on, which I really enjoyed and highly recommend. Tom was still fitting the kitchen at this point which was hilarious!
As I didn't plan to have any vaginal examinations, my midwife was checking my progress from the temperature of my legs (fascinating) and I couldn't believe how quickly I was progressing; I was in established labour by 3pm. Around 4pm Tom started filling the pool and around 5pm I got into the birth pool, I did however find that this slowed my contractions down so I decided to get out of the pool and as soon as I did my contractions ramped back up, they were almost back to back for a good while.
My waters were still in tact at this point and I could feel an immense amount of pressure, so after labouring on land for a while more I got back into the birth pool for some relief. I felt as though I needed to start pushing (although now I realise I didn't need to push, because your body involuntary does this & this was a completely different sensation). After some more time in the pool & a lot of pressure still down below, I accepted a vaginal examination (VE). This was because the midwife didn't want me to push if my cervix hadn't fully dilated as this would have damaged my cervix. During the VE I did also accept for my waters to be broken, however, on reflection I did wish that they had gone naturally, this was at 9pm and I was 8cm dilated, up until this point I had used only my breath, TENS machine and the birth comb to manage my contractions.
Around 10pm I asked for the gas and air as my contractions were now extremely intense. I was still labouring in the pool but around 11pm I got out of the pool and my midwife did one last VE at 11pm and I was fully dilated. This is when I entered the transition phase. I was on my hands and knees lent over the arm chair and I felt like I couldn't go on and I was ready to give up, but I knew these feelings were so common for a woman in transition; I knew I would be meeting my baby really soon. I needed to get myself together so l put my earpods in, played my hypnobirthing tracks, I had the TENS machine on and I was using gas and air to manage the contractions.
Underneath my knees I was propped up by the backs of the sofa cushions, covered with a tarpaulin, blankets and lots of towels, I kept thinking of KICO in my mind (knees in calves out) but it wasn't very comfortable because of my big bump so I turned around with my back against the arm chair and this was the position I birthed Billie in.
As my contractions were building I was using all of my might to birth, with the encouragement of Tom and my midwives Billies head, with her hand next to her head, was born at 23:52 and after a couple more contractions she was born 2 minutes later at 23:54. She was immediately placed onto me, I couldn't stop crying, screaming with joy and in all honestly disbelief that I had just birthed my baby on the floor of our snug.
Welcoming our surprise baby girl at home
The midwife said "Tom you need to do us the honours" as we opened her legs to discover Billie was in fact a little girl, after both Tom and I being adamant I had just birthed a baby boy. Tom literally said 3 times over "is it a little girl?!" We were both in so much shock!!!
From established labour to Billie being born was 9 hours!
She latched on beautifully for her first feed and I continued using the gas and air while I waited for the placenta to be delivered. Tom didn't cut the cord until it had fully stopped pulsating and gone white. After some time of waiting for the placenta, I decided to let gravity help and went and sat on the toilet and within seconds the placenta flopped out of me and into the toilet!
I did have a second degree internal tear but I was able to remain at home and not have to transfer into the hospital which was a blessing and I had my baby on my chest the entire time!
I had a lovely long hot shower, got into my dressing gown and got on the sofa with my baby girl. Tom made me a cup of tea and some toast before the 3 of us climbed into bed around 4am.
Throughout my entire labour and birth, Tom was incredible, through moments where I thought I couldn't continue, he told me that I could do it and how incredible I was doing. He kept telling me how proud he was and couldn't quite believe I was labouring for all this time with no pain relief.
From someone who at first was very sceptical and uncertain of the idea of me having a home birth he is now fully converted into home birthing!
Thinking about having a birth with hypnobirthing tools but not sure what hypnobirthing is?
I get it, the name sounds a tad off putting and you’re already thinking your birth partner would need convincing.
Say no more. Below is my FREE Masterclass that explains everything you need to know. It also gives you a good excuse to pop your feet up and grab a biscuit!
What my home birth healed in me
It's my proudest moment, for achieving my HBAC. It's not the done thing to birth at home after having an emergency c-section but it is absolutely possible and I am proof of that.
To end this I want to remind you that you only get to birth your baby ONCE. So do it in the way you truly deserve and desire. Plan for it. Prepare for it. It's completely worth it and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
This birth has truly healed me.
How to have a positive birth experience - when the odds are against you
Georgia’s birth wasn’t just a VBAC or a HBAC - it was a reclamation. A full-circle moment of healing, power, and pure love, grounded in deep preparation and self-belief. Birthing Billie at home gave Georgia back her voice, her agency, and the experience she deserved. If you’re planning a birth after caesarean or dreaming of a home birth, let this story be your reminder: it is possible. And it can be everything you hoped for and more.
How can I support you to have a positive birth experience?
Georgia’s birth experience wasn’t luck. It was a reflection of her preparation. Calm in her mind, confidence in her choices and trust in her body.
Like the sound of Hypnobirthing but not sure if it’s for you. Drop me a message and let’s chat. Informed choices start HERE.
