We had to share this beautiful birth story with you on the blog. Congratulations Lou:)
“It’s taken me a while (mainly because I’ve spent the last 2 weeks staring at her!), but let me introduce our amazing little daughter, Noa Isabel Castillo, who was born on Friday 29th April (40+2) at 7pm weighing 3.4kg (7lb5oz) and measuring 57cm. We’d always thought we’d have a boy, so it was quite a surprise to see our wide eyed little girl looking up at us.
Our story goes like this: my waters broke on Friday morning at around 11am. I was expecting to have to wait a while before anything really got moving but I was wrong. I was getting period type pains very shortly after and quite regularly. After about an hour I decided to start timing them as I came to realise these were probably the beginning of the surges, they were lasting between 45-60 seconds and coming every couple of minutes. I held off calling my husband who was at work as thought this could go on for a while but at 1.30 when they were starting to feel stronger I called to say I thought things were moving.
I went to the birth centre at 2.30 to have it confirmed that my waters had broken. I was seen at 3 by which time I was really having to stop and breathe through each surge. The midwife examined me and said my cervix was really thin already but I was only 2cm dilated. Then she told me what I didn’t want to hear and that was that I needed to go back home. The surges were coming thick and fast by this point and I couldn’t see how I was going to manage to get in a taxi and get home only to come back again. Luckily I had to wait for my husband to arrive so the midwife left me in the birthing room.
Unbeknown to me, my husband got caught in traffic so there I was on my own on the floor breathing through each surge as best as I could while I waited. At 4.45, my husband arrived and was shown to the room by a student midwife – he immediately got some music on that he’d prepared (so he had been listening after all!) Surges were intense and I wasn’t really getting a break from them at all by this point. I won’t lie, I was not quiet throughout my surges, I was really getting down with the animalistic instinct – which I was sure I wouldn’t do! But I am certain this helped. I asked for gas and air which I was told I couldn’t have as they thought I was still in the latent phase. I knew that I was a lot further than that and that this baby wasn’t hanging about! I asked them to examine me again in this case but she refused and said they’re only allowed to examine every 4 hours and it was only 5.30pm so my next one could be at 7pm.
After some strong words, the student agreed to go and find my original midwife. When she came in and saw me she said that she did think I could be further than they thought. She examined me and said I was fully dilated and my baby would be here very soon. To which I replied in no uncertain terms “I f***ing told you!” She said she didn’t think they’d have time to fill the pool even but they’d start. They agreed to give me gas and air but I only managed a couple of gasps as I found it harder to breathe it in than using the control I already had so I quickly ditched it.
By 6.30 I was in the pool and at 7, Noa was born. I stayed in the pool with her in my arms until the umbilical cord stopped pulsating completely and my husband cut it. Once out of the pool, I birthed the placenta really easily and naturally which really made the whole experience complete. I’m also happy to say there wasn’t a stitch in sight.
We were very lucky with our midwife who was totally on board with hypnobirthing techniques. She gave great instruction when we were at the pushing stage and I was really able to put my faith in her. Even so, she was still surprised at how fast things had moved being a first birth and said it’s rare she has seen things move along as smoothly as it did. I think the news spread to the other staff as anyone I consequently saw commented on how they’d heard it was an amazing birth.
‘The Calm Birth School’ really lived up to it’s name and I’m thankful beyond belief that I used the techniques coupled alongside plenty of yoga throughout. As a result, we have a lovely calm little girl who loves her sleep and food! So thank you Suzy Ashworth for being such an integral part of our experience”.
To see how you can create your own calm birth please sign up here: www.thecalmbirthschool.com/freehypnobirthing-2016
