I Felt Shooting Pains at the Store – Then Gave Birth in My Kitchen

Gripping onto my kitchen sink with both hands to cope with my increasingly frequent contractions, I realized my baby was about to make a sudden, unexpected arrival; and I felt surprisingly calm.

A short time later – just two and a half hours after the first twinges of labour – I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Cataleya on my kitchen floor; without pain relief or medical assistance. This certainly wasn’t the plan; but it was an indescribably joyful moment.

My partner William and I live in Bradford, with our one-year-old daughter, Blair, and my two children from a previous relationship. Getting pregnant for the fourth time at age 36 was a shock. I was still breastfeeding Blair, who was five months old. I had only decided to take a pregnancy test because, on a recent family trip to a theme park, despite usually being good with rides, when I got off the pirate ship my partner said I looked green.

But nonetheless, we were thrilled; and my pregnancy was fairly easy. I had a birth plan firmly in place. My first delivery had been natural, but my next two children were both induced at 38 weeks because I’d had gestational diabetes, which made their births both quicker and more painful.

This time around, there was no reason to think my labour would be especially fast, and I hoped to give birth naturally in a pool at a birth centre. On 15th April, when Cataleya was due in five days, I had my swimsuit packed in my birthing bag. But the next day, walking around the supermarket, I felt a couple of mild twinges – little shooting pains that momentarily stopped me in my tracks.

By the time I went to collect my daughter Bonnie from school, the shooting pains were lasting a little bit longer, so I asked a school mum friend to bring her out to the car. Once home, I made Bonnie a snack and texted William, who was working an hour and a half away, telling him to keep an eye on his phone just in case I went into labour and needed him to come home.

I didn’t think of going to hospital at this point – the midwives tell you your pains have to be every five minutes, consistently for two hours, which wasn’t the case. I asked my mum to come over too just in case. My pain was steadily increasing, and before long I was leaning over the kitchen sink in agony. Mum rubbed my back as she fed Blair beans and sausages in her high chair with the other.

I didn’t even think about pain relief because it all happened so fast. My contractions had gone from sporadic to back-to-back and incredibly painful so quickly, all I could think was: ‘I’m not setting off for the hospital now because I’ll give birth in the car on the way there’.

When the contractions finally stopped altogether, I knew it was nearly time to push – I knew if they stopped the baby must be in the right place. My house was so quiet and peaceful and I remember thinking I would need to breathe Cataleya’s head out because I wanted to avoid tears if she arrived too quickly.

I began to push. Ten minutes later, at 5.20pm, Cataleya was born and Mum caught her. We didn’t cut the cord because we didn’t have any sterilised equipment so instead, Mum wrapped the baby in a towel and I stayed on all fours close by for another half an hour, until I birthed the placenta.

I couldn’t move to turn round and look at the baby while I waited, all I wanted was to see her and to hold her. I spent ten precious minutes holding Cataleya before I rang the birthing centre to explain I had been booked in, with my due date in four days.

A lovely midwife said: ‘OK, what’s going on? Are you having contractions?’ ‘No, I’ve had the baby,’ I replied. ‘Would you like me to get in the car and come over?’ She told me they needed to send me an ambulance instead; and before I knew it, two ambulances and two or three first response cars arrived. A paramedic clamped the umbilical cord and William, who had arrived home half an hour after Cataleya was born and was upset he had missed the birth, was able to cut it.

I had an overnight stay in hospital and since then Cataleya and I have been doing brilliantly. In fact, it’s been my best post-birth recovery so far.

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When I think about this life-changing experience, I feel really proud of myself: when I gave birth to Blair last year I only had gas and air and now, having given birth to Cataleya without any medical intervention, I feel strong and proud. I know it’s not possible for everyone, and every birth is different. For me, this just felt right.

Giving birth at home with my other children and my mum as a birthing partner made it feel like Cataleya fitted into our family immediately; the children didn’t have to wait for her to come home. Looking back, I felt a different kind of overwhelming love for this baby because her birth was so special to us all.

One day, I’ll be able to tell my beautiful girl all about her sudden arrival in the world – and I can’t wait.

As told to Vikki White

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