Pictured: Mum Georgia Brown with sons Roland and Walter
A youngster who woke up during the night while his mother was in labour during a home birth witnessed the moment his baby brother entered the world.
Walter Brown, two, was not perturbed at the experience at all and wanted to stay awake and watch, and even shouted: “Push Mummy, push!” to encourage his mum.
Proud parents Georgia and Michael Brown say although they had never planned for Walter to be there for the birth of his little brother Roland, they are overjoyed he was as it made it even more of a magical and emotional experience.
The family managed to capture priceless snaps of them all together only moments after the birth hey had all witnessed.
Georgia, 26, who lives in Colne, gave birth to her first son Walter at the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre at Burnley General Hospital and although she says all the staff were great, when she became pregnant again, she knew she wanted a home birth.
Georgia explains: “With our first Walter, we did not really consider a home birth.
“My water broke early with Walter and I ended up being induced and had to stay in hospital in case of infection.
“I felt it was not quite the experience I wanted the second time around.
“Even though having Walter in hospital was not a bad experience and the hospital staff were all wonderful, I really liked the idea of having a home birth.”
Georgia has several friends who had home births and they all had positive and smooth birthing experiences.
However, she admits her husband Michael, a community support worker at Lancashire County Council, was initially apprehensive.
Georgia mentioned wanting a home birth to her midwife Anne Rebanks, and she was very supportive of the idea.
Georgia did hypnobirthing when she was pregnant with Walter and when she became pregnant the second time, she used the EMPower for Birth audio downloads provided by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.
The downloads allow women and their birthing companions to use hypnotherapy relaxation easily from the comfort of their own homes.
EMPower was created by local midwife Maria Williamson who is qualified and experienced in deep relaxation preparation for birth.
The download costs £5 and the money goes to East Lancashire Hospitals’ NICU Endowment Fund.
Georgia says: “The first audio talks you through what happens in labour with your body and what your baby is doing and what the contractions are doing and tells you to imagine the cervix like the neck of a balloon.
“It is about visualisation and talking you through the information to understand what is physically happening with your body.
“The second audio is all about relaxation and how to cope with the pain and make your experience more focused.
“It talks you through imagining connecting with your baby.
“You can listen to these audios while you are pregnant to prepare for the birth and then during labour for relaxation.
“I used these audios from about 13 weeks of pregnancy. I would listen to them about once a week in the early days, but closer to birth, I was listening to them almost every day.”
Georgia says the reason home birth appealed to her was because she liked the idea of being at home in her natural setting with all her comforts close to her.
She says: “I liked the idea of not having to go anywhere.
“Normally when women are pregnant, they are waiting around for things to happen and then have to make the journey to hospital to give birth.
“I also loved the idea of having a shower in my own bathroom and having everything I needed close to hand.
“You still have to call the hospital and tell them what is happening – but there is no mad dash to hospital.”
Georgia started having contractions on Friday May 4 and rang midwives at the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre to let them know and was told to keep them updated.
At around 11.20pm, Georgia rang to tell them the contractions were now five minutes apart.
Georgia recalls: “It was all very relaxed. My husband came home from work and he put Walter to bed.
“My mum Sharon Davies was at our home too and we did lots of breathing through the contractions and I used the techniques from the EMPower audio and everything was very chilled.”
A midwife and student midwife from Blackburn Birth Centre went to the home to check how things were and told Georgia things would be a while.
They told Georgia they would come back later and if they needed to come back twice, that was fine too.
The actual birth was attended by midwives Sally Gillard from Burnley and Vicky Wright from Blackburn Birth Centre.
A Home Birth Box had already been delivered to the home a few weeks earlier containing everything the midwives needed including gloves, aprons and pads.
Gas and air in an oxygen cylinder had also been delivered to the home by the pharmacist.
Georgia remembers: “I just had gas and air and I was bouncing on an exercise ball and moving positions.
“Even though it was painful, at no point did I want to go to hospital or wish I had more pain relief.”
Just as Georgia’s front waters had broken, Walter, who will turn three in August, woke up and came downstairs.
Georgia says: “When Walter realised what was happening, he did not want to go back upstairs but wanted to stay and watch.
“He began encouraging me and shouting: ‘Push Mummy, Push!’
“It was so lovely and his encouragement really got me through that last bit.
“Then Walter saw his little brother Roland born. It was a really positive and special moment.”
Georgia says even though she and Michael had not planned on Walter being present at the birth, they are glad things turned out that way.
Georgia explains: “I had wanted Walter to be in our house while I gave birth as I did not want him to go somewhere else and then come back to find a new baby in his home.
“When everything happened at the time it did, I thought Walter would sleep through it all and wake up and see the new baby in the morning.
“But instead he saw Roland actually being born.
“We hadn’t considered having Walter at the birth but when it ended up happening, it was so magical and special.”
Baby Roland was born on Saturday May 5 at 5:51am weighing 7lbs and Georgia enjoyed skin-to-skin cuddling with him straight away.
By 8am, all the midwives had gone and they were all at home as a family just snuggled up together.
Georgia says: “Having a home birth was wonderful and everything I wanted it to be.
“I had a shower and a bath at home and it felt really blissful to do that in my own home.
“It was also nice that we didn’t have to cart bags of things to hospital as everything we needed was at home.
“We also had two midwives who were there for the entire birth. They were really friendly and supportive but also hands-off and happy to let us do things our way.
“All the midwives from East Lancashire Hospitals were fantastic and I can’t thank them enough for being so supportive of my choice to have a home birth and then being so brilliant during labour.
“Michael is a convert to home births and thought it was a wonderful experience and says he would recommend it to anyone.
“It was a really positive experience for us but Walter was the real star of the show.
“I will never forget him encouraging me and saying: ‘Push Mummy!’
“The birth did not upset or traumatise him in any way and he understands it in his own little way.
“He tells us: ‘Mummy had a pain in her tummy and then Roland wasn’t in her tummy anymore.’
“Walter had been so excited about meeting his little brother for months and we had a special T-shirt printed for him in anticipation.
“It is magical to see them both together now Roland is here and Walter is very protective of Roland and wants to hold ‘his baby Roland’ all the time!”