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25th January 2024
12:20pm GMT
Aisling Kearns has shared that she welcomed her first child at home in October 2023.
The actress gave birth to her son, Tommy, with the help and support of a midwife, a doula, and her partner, David Fennell.
In an Instagram post, the mum shared that the idea of a home birth had always intrigued her.
"When I first heard of a home birth my initial thoughts were “No way, sure I need to be in a hospital” but then after a wonderful chat with @midwife_aine I learned all about home birth and how it was actually much more suited to me and my preferences," Aisling explained.
She added that after she read Reclaiming Childbirth As A Rite Of Passage' by Dr Rachel Reed, she knew for a certainty that this way the delivery route she wanted to take.
Following this, Aisling began prepping to give birth at home and welcomed her baby boy in late October.
Speaking on Aisling Keenan's podcast, Everymum, the Fair City actress shared that when she fell pregnant, her partner's sister, who is a doula, suggested a home delivery.
"She [Dave's sister] had mentioned it pretty early on in the pregnancy, but I was like, 'No way! Maybe if I had another baby, but not with the first'.
"She talked about some statistics and differences between hospital and home births but I was still like, 'No, I don't think so.'"
Aisling says she felt reassured by the fact she could go to the hospital if she needed pain relief, and always knew it was an option.
However, the TikTok star admitted that has always felt uncomfortable in hospitals.
"It's not a thing that's spoken about or offered to you when you become pregnant. You don't have to go to the hospital, but your brain just thinks that's where you go to have your baby.
"We are conditioned to think that it's the safest place to have a child. But before there were hospitals, women were doing it.
"I just don't find hospitals comfortable. I've never felt comfortable in a hospital."
Aisling then opened up about her experience of labour, which was made easier by having the support of two midwives and a doula.
"I had complete support around me all the time telling me I was well capable of doing it. I had my wobble, everyone does. My midwife encouraged me.
During labour, when the mum was eight centimetres dilated and 'exhausted', she reached a point where she wanted to call an ambulance and go to the hospital where she could have an epidural.
"But I moved upstairs into the bathroom and got into the zone. I had my birth pool downstairs, so I was in there for about two hours but I just couldn't get in the zone."
"The contractions were coming on top of me and I didn't feel like I had control. Next thing we knew, we were in the bedroom and he was being born a half an hour into pushing."
The social media personality also credits her labour being short to the home birth.
"I was only in active, intense labour for four hours. All the right hormones were pumping at the same time."
After Tommy's safe arrival, Aisling and her son did require hospital assistance.
The new mum was treated for issues related to her placenta, and her baby boy was born with jaundice.
"I did have to go to hospital for a manual removal. We ended up needing to be there because Tommy had jaundice, so I try to look at the positives.
"It's good that we were there because he could get checked. He had light therapy, so he ended up being in hospital a lot for the first week of his life."
Reflecting on the experience, the actress said she is open to having a home birth for any future children.
"It was obviously intense and it is painful, there's no pretending that it's not, but there wasn't anything about it that I'd change."
