Having your baby on the living room floor doesn't suit everyone. But that's what one local couple wanted, researched and made happen.

Maverick natural childbirth advocate Sophia Cannonier has had her second child at home, this time under water.

Vidya Josephine came into the world at 5.54 p.m. on August 16 in an inflatable birthing pool her father Michael Watson set up in the living room.

Michael was in the pool with Sophia when Vidya emerged and said he caught her as she came out. "She actually was born underwater and was there for about three seconds,'' he said. "I had my hand on her head. She felt like a jellyfish because she was still in all her protective membranes. She looked like a ghost ¿ some sort of apparition because the membranes were a thin white sheet over her whole body."

The day had started much the same as others this month for Sophia who was giving advanced dance classes for the National Dance Foundation. "I did my class from 9 to 10 and then went to the studio in Warwick to give a 10.30 class," she said. But after reaching the studio she didn't feel up to giving classes so she cancelled them and relaxed in a massage room on site. Her husband Michael also works at the studio. He was teaching until 11.30 then checked in on her.

Bermudian Tandy Deane-Gray is a registered midwife in Britain and as she was going to be in Bermuda at the time Sophia was due, she agreed to be her midwife. The baby was due on the 19th and on the 16th Ms Deane-Gray was sitting the Bermuda board exam for her profession.

Almost finished the exam, which was being overseen by Chief Medical officer, Dr. John Cann, Mrs. Deane-Gray received a call that Sophia's baby was on the way. She quickly finished, told Dr. Cann the news, and headed to rendezvous with Sophia at her Cavendish Heights home.

"I drove myself home from the studio,'' said Sophia. "I wasn't having any contractions yet but I did have someone in the car with me as a safeguard."

Sophia met up with her midwife at home and the two went to get some medical supplies needed for the birth. "After that I was so hot and really wanted to go for a swim so we went to a nearby swimming pool where I swam for about an hour. My membrane was still intact and I was not in pain because I was in the water,'' said Sophia.

At about 2.30 p.m. the women returned to the house where Michael was pumping up the birthing pool. By 3 p.m. the pool was inflated and was being filled with hot water. It needed to be kept at body temperature -37 degrees Centigrade. The couple still had their four-year-old son Ravi at home helping set up the birthing pool. During this time Sophia had a meal of brown rice, kale and lentils.

When she finished the pool was ready and she got in. "It was awesome," she said. " I felt supported by the water. I could twist and float a bit. I could move my pelvis without feeling any pressure on my groin. That was the difference with my experience of birthing on land," she said.

Her mother, who had home births for all five of her children, soon arrived. She massaged Sophia's back a bit and took Ravi away.

Her midwife was on hand the whole time checking with her that everything was alright. At 5.15 a doctor she had made prior arrangements with, came to the home and checked on her.

"I was not having contractions very close together at that time. I could still easily talk with him. He said I was doing fine and that we should call him when the birth was more imminent."

That happened about half an hour later.

Sophia learned to check her own dilation of the cervix and said at 5.45 she told the midwife she could feel the baby's head and a bubble which she took to be her cervix.

"I was belting out with those contractions and she (the midwife) put two fingers on my sacrum and kept repeating in an even calm tone 'energy down, tension out' I was on my knees I panted and with the next contraction she was out," she said.

"I heard them say 'she's still in her membranes'," she added.

Mrs. Deane Gray punctured the membrane with her finger and peeled it away from newborn Vidya. The umbilical cord was still attached. Sophia said she got out of the pool with Vidya in her arms; the cord still attached and began to breast feed her.

At about 6.20 the afterbirth (placenta) was issued. "The doctor was here for the delivery of the placenta," said Sophia. Then her husband cut the umbilical cord.

The doctor checked and weighed the baby (six pounds, six ounces) while the midwife checked Sophia ensuring she had not ruptured any membranes.

All was well with both mother and baby.

The couple's son Ravi returned home with his grandmother at 8 p.m. "He was very excited," said Sophia, "and for us it was so good that he was able to just go off with granny for a few hours and then come back home to mommy. There was no 'mommy in the hospital' adjustment to make."

Six days later still aglow from the experience Sophia is a complete convert for water birth. "There was only two hours of hard labour," she said. "It was calm."