This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Pregnancy Relaxation Course Leanne Lawrence of Brighter Birthing across Hertfordshire.
Home Birth had seemed like something out of reach first time around, so this amazing mummy was determined to make her second birth different. She persevered and showed amazing strength to get the birth she dreamed of. Here is Ollie’s home birth story.
“Our First Birth
The birth of our first child was full of worry and intervention. We narrowly avoided an emergency C-section after an induction. This is something which I’d struggled to deal with physically and mentally afterwards.
I had completed a hypnobirthing course prior to the birth of my first child but I swiftly stopped using any of the hypnobirthing methods and went into “panic” mode when I was induced.
Making Our Second Birth Different
When I fell pregnant again, we knew we wanted to do things differently, so I requested a home birth. I was also keen to try hypnobirthing again with a new teacher. Despite not living locally to us, Leanne was highly recommended and so we got in touch.
We had a Hypnobirthing Refresher with Leanne as well as joining in Leanne’s Pregnancy Relaxation classes which were invaluable. Whilst all of our contact with Leanne was virtual, this made no difference to us. It was only whilst I was writing my birth story, that it dawned on me we had never met in person!
Home Birth Hopes
We were determined to have a home birth, but our home was undergoing MAJOR redevelopments. Juggling this and the covid pandemic and lockdown proved interesting! In the end, we rented an AirBnB close to my parents and the hospital and planned to have our home birth there.
For 2 weeks, I had been having false contractions most nights. When these started again around 11pm I ignored them as usual. However, after nearly an hour of contractions on this evening I decided to get in the bath to see if they would stop.
We realised about 2am that my contractions weren’t stopping but were coming every 3-4 minutes. I contacted the home birth team to let them know things had begun, but I was managing fine. The on-call midwife messaged an hour later to see how I was. My contractions were now every 2-3 minutes, so she headed over and arrived around 4am.
Our midwife arrived. It was amazing having the midwife come to us. She completed all her checks so calmly, without me barely realising. I was pleased to know I was already 4cms.
Pool Birth & Home Birth
Eventually the birth pool was filled, but when I got in my contractions slowed. I really wanted the relief the water offered. I realised the best thing to do was to stand up in the pool between contractions. Then, kneel back into the water each time a contraction arrived. I did this for an hour and by this point my contractions were coming really frequently.
Our little one was born just after 10am on his due date in the water.
Ollie was born with his hand and head being birthed at the same time. Having watched Call the Midwife, I’ve since learnt that this is called a compound delivery. It actually slows labour down as it stops baby’s head hitting the cervix. This may explain why I was engaged for 4 weeks before the baby was born.
Our first birth had felt difficult. Moments after our baby had arrived, he had been whisked away for checks in the theatre. We hadn’t got the chance to hold him, and it had felt stressful and full of worry.
This time around, we feel so lucky to have been the first ones to hold our baby. He got delayed cord clamping and my husband cut the cord.
Birth Plan Review
Having written a birth plan for our first baby, which changed so drastically, I didn’t write one for our second. I looked back on that first birth plan last week. I realised we got everything we had wanted first time around with this birth. A massive part of that was due to Leanne.
Having a home birth with Leanne’s support was one of best decisions we ever made. I read so many positive birth stories and after the challenges of the birth of our first child, I can’t believe I am now writing our own positive birth story. This is testament to Leanne’s Hypnobirthing course.
In addition, her bi-weekly Pregnancy Relaxation classes enabled me to practice my relaxations and dedicated some time to baby number 2. They also gave me the opportunity to talk with other mums-to-be, which was much needed during the covid pandemic. Plus, they were a safe space to ask questions and discuss any concerns with Leanne”.
If you want to create your own positive birth, you can start today!
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