A relative said ‘you got away with it last time, don’t chance it’

WHEN lawyer Frances Ennis told friends and family she was planning a home birth, she said most thought she was either “mad or brave”.

The 36-year-old, from Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, had had her first baby – daughter Nessa, now four – in hospital.

“I didn’t have a bad experience, but I just felt there were a lot of things that made it more difficult than it needed to be,” she said. “I was back and forth to the Southern two or three times and I think that stalled my labour and made it longer. It was 30-odd hours and by the end of it I was just off my face on gas and air.

“It suits some people, but it absolutely did not suit me and I was on it for eight hours. I lost track of what was going on, who everyone was. I just remember feeling totally out of control and a bit freaked out at the end.”

With sons Ciaran, three, and one-year-old Eoin, she opted for drug-free labours at home with midwives and a ‘doula’, or birth coach.

“You get told you’re a hippy. I had a very close family member say, when I told them I was hoping to have a home birth with Eoin, ‘you got away with it last time, you wouldn’t want to chance it a second time’. I get that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m also quite risk averse. I’m a litigation lawyer so my whole life is about assessing risk. I don’t just say ‘let’s try a home birth and see what happens’.”

Ms Ennis said both births were “hard work”, but also more relaxed. Despite complications after Eoin’s birth – a retained placenta meant she had to be rushed to hospital – she has no regrets. However, she said she felt pressured to deliver Ciaran, who seemed large in scans, by C-section and to be induced with Eoin after going to 42 weeks.

She said: “When I said no, you definitely feel like you’re being belligerent, or difficult, but in my job questioning someone isn’t that big a deal. I know so many women who wanted a particular type of birth and feel they were railroaded into something else.”