23/10/2025
Thank you to Petra for sharing the birth story of little Juno with us! A beautiful homebirth of her second pēpi supported by Manaaki Midwives Lizz and Shari! 💚🌴
"Juno’s birth story really begins with her sister Indigo’s birth 4 years earlier. Indigo’s birth was long, spanning several days, and didn’t follow the typical progression I’d learnt about in birth classes. Eventually a home birth turned into an intervention heavy hospital birth and SCBU stay. I was grateful that although things weren’t going to plan it never felt scary, and the decisions we made along the way felt right for the circumstances (which I credit to my great midwife), but I still hoped for a different experience second time around.
On the 12th of August I went to bed experiencing mild cramps, and slept until 3am when they got a bit more intense and I had to get up and moving. At 5.30 I texted Lizz saying I was in early labour so she was ready for a call later that day. Within minutes of sending that message my contractions went from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes, and less than an hour later we were calling her to come! It was so quick we weren’t able to get the pool set up, so I got into the bath and had Joel pour water on my back through contractions. I focused on affirmations, and anecdotes that had stuck with me from Ina May’s book.
I felt like everything was going amazingly, but didn’t let myself believe it until Lizz did my first check at 7.20am and I was already at 8cm! I continued to labour in the bath until I was fully dilated, then chose to get out because I couldn’t get comfortable in the positions that would be safe to birth her. At Lizz’s suggestion I spent a few contractions on the toilet which finally broke my waters, then came into our bedroom and soon felt the urge to push. I really enjoyed the switch as I felt I was in control of my body again and I could influence how fast she came. Juno was born at 9.46, making active labour a speedy 4 hours.
Having her on my chest and watching her crawl to my breast was a moment I had dreamed of! After 20 minutes we were still waiting on the placenta so Lizz had me stand up to help it out. That was when Juno first successfully latched, which felt such funny timing as I was a bit preoccupied! I had a couple of small tears which Lizz stitched on our bed. By lunch time we were alone just the three of us, enjoying a few hours of quiet before picking Indigo up from daycare and introducing her to her new sister.
I could not have asked for a more perfect experience, down to the smallest details. Lizz did an amazing job keeping me calm, and had great suggestions which helped avoid even minor interventions. I am so grateful to have had both birth experiences, which left me feeling empowered and proud in different ways"
Photo credit: Stacey Lake Photography
