This week’s birth story comes from a lovely Hayley and Liam, who attended a TCBS with Jenie Scholes from Empowered Bumps Hypnobirthing, Doula & Baby Massage which covers Merseyside, North Cheshire, and South Lancashire. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us.
Adeline Rose Dawson born 22nd June 2019 weighing a perfect 7lb8oz .
So, our baby girl is finally here and arrived a week early..
It was Saturday and my mum and dad came over just after dinnertime and Liam was going out to do a job at his brothers. We had attempted to check my cervix that morning but wasn’t overly sure what we were doing so we decided to have sex to see if it would get things going… Afterwards, I felt very sore because I had been suffering very badly with Spd/Pgp and the pain was really bad sometimes and sex hadn’t helped!
When my mum and dad arrived, I was struggling to walk and we sat in the back garden in the sun chatting. It was around 2pm and I was having braxton hicks and had the spd pain at the same time so it was quite uncomfortable. As we were chatting away about what food we could get in, I realised my braxton hicks seemed to be coming regular in time so I downloaded a contraction timer and realised they were exactly every two minutes! I phoned Liam to let him know incase he had to come back. He asked if he needed to come back straight away but we had already had one false alarm the day before so I said no.
Throughout that hour, they stayed consistent in time and they started to feel stronger but I still wasn’t 100% sure if it was labour.. Me and my mum kept an eye on how I was reacting to them and the timings and thought it might be best to phone the midwives to come out and check and also phone Liam back and tell him to come home as I really didn’t want him missing anything if it was the real thing.
I asked my dad to fill my birthing pool whilst we waited for Liam as I had this huge fear that when I did go into labour, it was gonna be super fast and I wouldn’t be ready lol. Me and my mum were putting manderin in the diffuser and getting my birth board and fairy lights on even though it was still daylight. I put my happy, chilled music on and waited.
Liam got home and the midwives arrived shortly after. I still felt OK and they still just felt like quite strong braxton hicks. I was examined and told I was 3cm and my cervix was still long which apparently is normal for your third baby. So it was the real thing…
They stayed for a little while and then asked if I felt comfortable enough for them to leave and come back when I needed them to which I was happy to do. I wanted to relax myself and spend time releasing oxytocin.
My dad made snacks and I suddenly realised I’d not eaten since breakfast and I was starving! So I ate some chicken whilst rocking side to side. The surges still just felt like strong braxton hicks and I felt pretty good. I wasn’t expecting to feel so chilled in myself. I was looking at the pictures on my birth board of us as a family and our scan picture and getting excited. I was reading all my affirmations, reminding myself that my body is strong and made to do this and that me and my baby were working together. This thought made me so determined.
It was such a beautiful, sunny day and I didn’t want to be too relaxed and slow things down. I wanted to go for a walk but I couldn’t walk very far due to the spd so me and Liam walked up and down the front street. Liam had his arm around me and it was really peaceful on the street, the birds were singing and we were chatting about how exciting it all was and that we were gonna be meeting our baby girl soon. I felt so so happy and excited.
We went back to the house and sat in the garden in the sunshine. It had started getting quite late and Charlie was getting tired and we had to get the kids fed and settled for bed. My mum and dad made pizzas for everyone and I continued breathing through surges whilst walking around the house and garden chatting and swaying. My dad made funny comments and had me laughing alot through surges which must have been helping.
Everyone just chilling together and spending time together was helping keeping my oxytocin flowing and honestly, it just didn’t feel like I was in labour but it still kind felt real.. Like it was close…
We put frankincense in the oil burner at this point because I knew it would help keep me calm and relieve any tension that I might have build up. I also absolutely love the smell.
After the kids had eaten, my mum and dad decided to try and get Charlie to sleep in his pram by walking him round the block. He wasn’t settling very well and I think he sensed something was going on. A friend who I was talking to said that things might ramp up when he’s settled as my body might relax into it more. She was right. I felt the surges starting to get strong so I got in the pool for a little extra relief and it felt nice. I gave my midwife Claire a quick txt around 9 o’clock to ask her to come back. When she arrived back, she examined me and I was amazed to find out I was around 8cm!!! I had reached 8cm on my own using the amazing production of oxytocin!!! I was really excited so got back in the pool and started to use gas and air.
Things did get more intense now but I was still chatting casually with my mum and Liam in between surges. Even managed to plug my eye lash technician hahaha.
My surges were getting stronger and stronger and around 11pm I started feeling like the head was crowing. At one point when I felt it too intense, I remember staring at the photo on the wall in front of me of Liam, Ajay and Charlie and I drifted off in my mind thinking about how much love I have for them and this took me away from the sensations in my body. I also kept looking at my affirmations to reassure myself that I was strong and I could do this.
I tried breathing down everytime I got a surge but I felt like it wasn’t working. The feelings down below were pretty intense and I was convinced she was coming each time but she didn’t. I asked Claire who had allowed me to do my thing and reassure me whenever neccassary and she said I needed to give a little push. I was confused as I was convinced I could breath down rather than push like I did my last baby but that wasn’t enough this time so I listened carefully to Claire, who told me when to push and when to breathe. I was so grateful for this help because my biggest fear was tearing like I did with my first baby so I wanted to ensure she came out slowly.
I pushed and felt the head coming. I won’t lie, it hurt but I wasn’t afraid. I knew what I had to do and stayed calm. I stopped pushing and breathed when I needed to until I finally felt her head come out. This was such a relief! I could feel her little body inside me and I could feel her wriggling. I knew she would wriggle her way out of me because she was sooo super active in my belly lol.
With my final surge, I pushed her body out and she was brought out of the water onto me.
She was here and she was a girl!!! I hadn’t believed it all the way through my pregnancy! But here she was, born at 11:27pm.
She gave us quite a scare at first because she wasn’t moving and so she had to have her chord cut immediately to check her and get her moving. As soon as she had the chord cut and was rubbed down a little, she let out a huge wail to let us all know she was ok. It was such a relief! I got out of the pool and lay on the mattress with her on my skin and instantly fell in love. She’s perfect and beautiful in every way and together we had the most amazing labour and birth.
My Hypnobirthing is the reason why I had such an amazing labour and birth.
A couple of hours after I had Adeline, I started bleeding heavily due to large clots. I had to be rushed to hospital and suddenly found myself in a completely different position with lots of scary medical things happening. I used what I learnt in Hypnobirthing to get through it all and come out of the other side and I’m not sure how I would have coped without it. The breathing and the mind focus and self hypnosis. The belief that everything is going to be ok. It got me through it and thankfully they got the clots out and stopped the bleeding. Adeline had amazingly latched on perfectly and fed twice before all this happened so she slept soundly next to me through it all.
Even though I didn’t want to end up in hospital, I took the positive from it that me, Liam and Adeline got some nice, quiet bonding time before intruding her again to her brothers .
I want to thank everyone who helped me achieve the most amazing experience. Liam for being the most supportive partner through pregnancy and labour, my mum and dad for being there and doing whatever possible and working with Liam to help create the perfect, happy and calm atmosphere, my midwife Claire who allowed me space to do my thing and helped me tremendously when I needed it the most at the end and my Hypnobirthing teacher Jenie, who gave me all the tools needed to create a positive birth experience and how to remain calm throughout any circumstance .
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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