Today’s blog post is a little different - it’s my birth story with Henry, my first baby who we had 6 weeks into the first Covid-19 lockdown, in April 2020.
Reading positive birth stories can be so beneficial for expectant parents, especially for those who might be feeling anxious or scared about childbirth. In my antenatal hypnobirthing courses I always recommend that clients should read positive birth stories as often as possible; the more you read the more your subconscious mind starts to realise that birth can be empowering, calm and amazing! Hearing and reading these stories will start to boost your own confidence in your birthing ability, it highlights the strength and resilience of women giving birth, and starts to normalise a whole host of different birthing scenarios that you may not have considered, so you go into birth feeling ready and prepared!
So, I really hope you enjoy this one - let’s dive right in…
It’s almost 5 years ago that I found out I was pregnant with Henry. This was my first pregnancy, I was nervous and scared about childbirth - how would I cope, would the pain be too much, what if it didn’t go to plan? My biggest fear was that I would lose control and go into full blown panic mode with this feeling inside me that I couldn’t control. I was one of the last of my friends to have a baby, so this point I’d heard all their birth stories, and not many of them were very positive!
I knew I needed to educate myself and do whatever I could to feel prepared and ready! We booked on to a group hypnobirthing course with two other couples and it was the best decision and investment we made during our pregnant! We loved learning all about what my body would be doing, what we could do to remain calm and how to set up our calm birthing environment. We loved doing our birth plan together, learning how to make informed decisions and ask questions in appointments so we felt in control of what was happening at every step of pregnancy and labour. This made both Sam and I feel so prepared and ready to face birth as a team.
My due date came and went
I was 5 days past my estimated due date on Sunday 26th, but I was calm and relaxed, knowing that baby would come when he/she was good and ready. That afternoon I started getting some minor period pain cramps; I didn’t think too much of it and they went away until the next day. 24 hours later on Monday evening the sensations started ramping so up we called the triage line at Frimley Park Hospital to tell them I was in labour (it was actually one of my close friends who is a midwife, but we didn’t realise until she asked for my name!) Sam made the call to the hospital, so I could continue to focus on my breathing, and it set the intention for how we wanted to birth - with him doing the communicating and advocating for me, so I could focus inwards and just think about me and baby.
We decided to try and get some rest and call back when things progressed more, it was impossible to sleep even though I knew I could have benefited from some kip! A couple of hours later I woke Sam up at around 1am when contractions were ramping up and feeling more intense.
He ran me a bath with some lovely candles, where I spent the next couple of hours. We practiced our breathing techniques learned during our hyonobirthing course, put some clary sage oil in the bath and I sniffed my lavender oil to help with the sensations.
Time to go to hospital
We decided it was time to go hospital when I was having roughly 3 surges in 10 minutes. As Sam gathered the final bits for our hospital bag I was still feeling super calm, rocking away on my birthing ball with the TENS machine and breathing through my surges. Sam had set up loads of candles in the lounge and put the blinds down, so it felt like our calm, relaxing little labour haven. By this point it was about 4:30am so still was dark outside, but it was still nice to shut out the world outside with the blinds closed for a little bit.
We arrived at Frimley Park Hospital at 5:30am, the hospital was so quiet, I don’t even remember seeing one person as we made our way up to the labour ward (although maybe that was just my hypnobirthing bubble I was in, blocking everything out!) The Mulberry Birth Centre, where we’d planned to give birth, was closed at the time due to Covid, but the labour ward rooms were lovely and exactly how I imagined them to be in the birth centre - nice and dark, relaxing and unmedical. I agreed to have a vaginal examination when I arrived and learnt that I was already 7cm dilated! Sam had to wait in the car for this part, due to Covid restrictions - I remember the elation when I called to say he could come up and bring the bags - I burst into tears with the relief that we were staying and that we’d have a baby soon!
The birth pool gave instant relief!
I got into the pool at around 7am while the midwife Sarah read through our birth plan. She mostly left us to it, I barely noticed she was there. Every now and then she checked baby’s heartbeat and had a little look underwater with the mirror. I remember her saying how calm I was and how great I was doing - I loved that boost of motivation, just what I needed!
I was completely in my hypnobirthing zone in the birth pool, using the gas and air, eyes closed, swaying from side to side, imagining my happy place. Visualising my favourite affirmation really helped: 'each surge brings me closer to meeting my baby’. The pool made me feel completely in control and weightless, I worked through each surge with my breathing techniques and the gas and air. Sam was incredible at keeping me focused on my breathing, giving me words of motivation, passing me water and feeding me Haribo!
At one point I felt a huge surge of intensity, I asked Sarah if that was the head and she suggested I felt down to see what I could feel. I did and at that moment my waters released!
The transition phase!
The transition phase came shortly after, the stage in between being fully dilated and getting that urge to push (signs of transition can be fear, panic, overwhelm, wanting to go home, wanting a Caesarean when you previously didn’t want one! This is your body’s really clever way at producing a boost of adrenalin to give you a surge of energy for the final stage)
Shortly after, the most incredible, overwhelming feeling took of me, my body was doing the pushing (this is known as the fetal ejection reflex, where your body eventually involuntarily pushes the baby out without you actively having to push). It truly was the most incredible feeling that I will never forget. I had no control over it, it just happened! That’s not to say it wasn’t hard work, I really focussed down on my breathing to work with my body, but there was none of the holding my breath, red faced, puffy cheeks you see on the movies!
He’s here!
After a short while and some intense surges and pushing, Sarah looked underwater and saw the head coming. It was such a surreal experience just waiting for the body to be born and everything then seemed to happen so quickly. After one final surge out came our beautiful baby into the water - with Sam shouting “IT’S A BOY!" Sam and I completely broke down in tears, sobbing at the immense relief and happiness we both felt. I did it, I birthed a baby! I was sooooo happy and felt so incredible having given birth in the water, just like we’d hoped!
We did optimal cord clamping and Sam cut the cord. After a while I got out of the pool, and lay on the bed to deliver the placenta. After Henry was born we soaked up the golden hour, started feeding, lots of skin to skin and newborn snuggles, some crying (from all 3 of us) and some stitches too.
When I was taken to the post-natal ward I remember just lying on the bed looking at Henry and thinking what do I do now?! Is someone going to come along and tell me how to look after my baby? We had one night in hospital to get some help with feeding, and then Sam picked us up the next afternoon and we were reunited as a family of 3. Homeward bound to settle into our newborn bubble!
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