This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple Dan and Erin who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Charlotte Inkpin of Hypnobirthing with Charlotte, covering areas across Braintree Essex.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us!
On September 8th 2020 we welcomed our first-born daughter Orla to the world after a very strange pregnancy and intense labour.
At my 12-week scan I was diagnosed with low PAPP A and had to go to London for further tests, luckily the results came back fine but we were told there was a risk of baby being born smaller and early (how wrong they were!!). Due to this we had extra growth scans throughout.
My pregnancy overall was enjoyable and despite COVID we managed to make the most of the time we could spend together before baby arrived and got lots done ready for her arrival. With my husband unable to come to any of my appointments it did feel as if he missed out so we really looked forward to our Wednesdays with charlotte where he really felt part of the experience and the decisions.
Despite being “high risk”, the midwives were happy with my pregnancy and baby’s growth so it was looking as if we would be going into a birth unit for the birth, however Orla had other ideas.. this baby that was going to be small and early was in-fact very comfortable!! I was booked in at 40 +4 weeks for a sweep, and despite feeling a little apprehensive to have it done, charlotte had my back the whole time and was regularly in contact and offering advice and support. 1am the next morning my surges started coming on but they were slow and irregular. I went in at 41 weeks to be induced only to be told that I was in-fact in labour already! Luckily the midwife was amazing and despite the “high risk” label she prepped the pool for me so we could have the water birth we wanted.
5-8 cm Seemed to fly by and with my hypno breathing and MP3s I was very comfortable and coping without any pain relief. Feeling tired but keeping positive that I was nearly at the finish line, I was sure I could muster up the energy. However, the birth took another unexpected turn and at my next examination, my body had stopped progressing and was going into shock due to the tiredness. Stubbornly, against the advice of my husband and midwife I struggled on without an epidural for another couple of hours. My husband reminded me of our hypno training and that the most important thing was to get baby out safely whatever means needed so I had the epidural. The midwife insisted I sleep for 4 hours after she had broken my waters and woke me with tea and toast ready to push! Because Orla was bigger than expected and my birth canal being narrow, we needed a little help to get her out so I had an episiotomy and vonteuse as her heart rate wasn’t recovering as quick as they’d have liked and after nearly 40 hours at 07:51am weighing 7lb 7oz Orla came into the world!
I honestly have to say that without Charlotte we wouldn’t have been able to remain as calm and positive as we did and we can’t thank her enough for all of her support throughout. My husband, who really threw himself into the hypnobirthing, was an absolute rock and got us through it. It really was an experience that we faced together! THANKYOU CHARLOTTE xxx
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