A Healing Birth: Welcoming Hugh Jamison Vincent
After a long, emotional journey to meet our firstborn, Owen, I carried a quiet hope in my heart, that if I was ever lucky enough to give birth again, it could be different. More instinctive. More empowering. More mine. This is the story of how our second son, Hugh, entered the world, a birth that not only brought us our beautiful baby boy, but also gave me the healing, strength, and closure I never knew I needed.
When I gave birth to Owen, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. It pushed me to my absolute limits, physically, mentally, emotionally. I came out the other side transformed, not just as a new mother, but as a person. His birth was long and intense, full of unexpected turns, ending in an emergency caesarean. And while it didn’t go the way I had envisioned, it gave me a deep respect for the process and the baby I had so desperately longed for and waited many years to meet. It also left me with a longing, an unshakable desire to experience birth differently next time.
Considering how long it had taken to conceive Owen, we decided to start IVF as soon as we could. I always knew I wanted a VBAC, so I also wanted to give my body enough time to heal before trying again. We did an embryo transfer when Owen was 16 months old and to our joy and surprise, it worked, one little embryo from the very same batch as Owen was all it took for us to conceive this time, an absolute miracle.
Pregnancy was beautiful. I know I’m lucky in that way, I feel good, and despite chasing a very energetic toddler around this time, I enjoyed every moment. Maybe just with a little more exhaustion thrown in for good measure. My due date came and went but I trusted that my body would know when the time was right. I was so ready for this experience, for this chance to birth on my terms.
The night before I went into labour (40 weeks and 6 days), I decided to pull out all the stops. I ran a warm bath filled with clary sage oil, sipped a double-strength raspberry leaf tea, and set up my clary sage diffuser by my bedside. The scent was so strong that Nick joked he might go into labour too. That night, I dreamt I was in labour and had a home birth. It felt so vivid, so real. And when I woke up at 4:30am to quite decent contractions, I couldn’t help but wonder, was this actually it?
Still unsure, I lay on my left side with a pillow between my legs and tried to rest a little longer. But the contractions didn’t stop. I got up, had some Hydralyte and breakfast, and when Nick and Owen woke at about 6am, Nick decided to drop Owen off at his grandparents’ house so I could labour in peace. By the time Nick returned, things had intensified. My contractions were coming strong, one minute long, every two minutes.
And yet, when Nick asked if we should call the midwives, I said, “I’ve only just gone into labour, don’t wake them for this.”
Thankfully, Nick ignored me. He called the birth suite just to check in and err on the side of caution, and they told us to come straight in. Looking back, I’m fairly certain I would have accidentally had a home birth if he hadn’t been so onto it.
When we arrived just after 7am, I was met by Al, one of my midwives, and Jodean a short time later. They supported me beautifully, alongside Nick, who never left my side. I instinctively found comfort in standing and using warm water in the shower to ride through each contraction. But after a while, the heat became too much, so I decided to try the gas to help my body soften rather than tense up through the contractions. I moved to the bedside, using it to support myself as I laboured standing, naturally squatting into each contraction, with Nick supporting me from behind.
And then, I felt it, the involuntary urge to push.
A wave of fear washed over me. The last time I felt this sensation, things had started to unravel with Owens birth.
Having Jodean and Al as my midwives through both of my pregnancies and births was one of the greatest blessings of this journey. They had been there for me through Owen’s pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, had witnessed me at my most vulnerable, and had guided me through every high and low. And now, they were here again, by my side, reminding me that this was different, that I could trust my body, that I was safe.
“It’s okay, you can trust your body,” they reassured me. “You’re going to meet your baby soon.”
Still, I couldn’t quite grasp how close I was. “Do you think it will be today?” I asked.
(It would be about 20 minutes later, but in my mind, I was preparing for another 15 hours of labour.)
Then, a huge gush, my waters broke, and relief flooded through me.
My legs were starting to tire, so we moved to the bed, and I lay on my side. A few pushes later, I looked into the mirror and saw my baby’s head. And then, in the most surreal and magical moment of my life, I reached down and guided my baby out with my own hands, bringing them straight to my chest.
We were all basking in this perfect moment. The room was so full of joy and celebration that I don’t think we even checked to see if we had a boy or girl for 10 minutes, we were just so happy to have another healthy, beautiful baby and the bonus of a birth that was nothing short of magic.
I finally checked. “Another boy!” I exclaimed. We were so instantly in love.
Hugh Jamison Vincent ❤️
He stayed with me, skin to skin for over an hour. Safe, perfect, ours.
A few tiny stitches, some newborn checks, and just like that, I had gone from realising I was in labour at about 5:30am to holding my baby at 9:20am. By lunchtime, we were home.
After the intensity of my first birth, this one felt like a gift. It was fast, powerful, instinctive, everything I had hoped for. And above all, it was healing. It gave me closure I never thought possible, a birth I never dared to dream of.
Jodean and Al will always be such a special part of our story. They guided us through two incredibly different births, each transformative in its own way. And while my first birth shaped me in ways I can’t even begin to describe, this one mended me in ways I never thought possible. It was proof that birth is beautiful, empowering, magic.
