Lara’s Calm Hospital Birth

I just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone at the calm birth school for all their help and support. Isla Grace was born at 7:50 am on Sunday 10th May and we couldn’t be happier. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mummy! Here is my birth story… With my guess date only two weeks away (Wednesday 13th May) I started spending my maternity leave going for lunches with friends, having massages, watching things that made me laugh on TV, redecorating my bedroom with my partner, being spoilt by my mum and most importantly really enjoying being pregnant and indulging in the fact that we were about to become a family of 3. On Friday 8th, after having being at my mums surrounded by my family having lots of raspberry leaf tea, my waters broke! This was so exciting and we were asked to go up to the midwifery led unit for an assessment. Two hours later, I was at home after being told that they couldn’t tell if my waters had completely gone or not and just to keep an eye on things over the next few days. At this point I felt slightly disheartened so I spent that night listening to my Powerball and Fear release mp3’s. The next morning my partner and his mum were wallpapering my bedroom so I spent all day talking to them, listening to my MP3’s, bouncing on my birth ball and walking up and down the stairs but still wasn’t even showing any signs of early labour and was starting to get a bit grumpy! So that night I used my Vital Touch massage oil to relax and try to go back to just enjoying being pregnant and trusting my body to do the right thing when my baby was ready. 1:30am Sunday morning I woke up with a cramping sensation (HURRAH). At this point, I tried to lay in bed and get some sleep. Not wanting to wake my partner as I knew he would need the rest so I went into my front room and lit all my candles and put my fairy lights on along with my music and starting bouncing on my ball and using my breathing techniques. This made me feel so relaxed and calm but was very short lived and at 2am I had to wake my partner up as my surges were getting closer and closer together and I felt that I needed his support. We were at the hospital by 4:00am. After being told throughout my whole pregnancy that I could go into the midwife led unit, I was quite looking forward to getting in the room with the birthing pool which was AMAZING, however, I was told that I was suddenly high risk because they weren’t sure that my waters had released properly and was put in this AWFUL room with a woman screaming in the next room, safe to say I started to feel a bit distressed. At this point I started using my tens machine and just focusing on my breathing. After being examined, I was told that I wasn’t even 1cm dilated and that I could go and sit in the birthing pool for an hour but then I would probably be going home. I was GUTTED. I was then taken round to the midwifery led unit and put in a room which was like a hotel. It was beautiful! The midwife said that she wouldn’t be in much because they weren’t treating me like I was in labour just yet. My mum and partner put up my fairy lights and tea lights, turned the lights down, got my oils and music ready as I got in the pool. At this point my waves were almost relentless and I wasn’t getting much of a break in between but was told that I was too calm to be dilated and that I wouldn’t be getting any gas and air as they didn’t want me using up the resources too soon. This was at 6:00am. From this point onwards my waves continued to get stronger, my partner was using the massage techniques we had learnt and I was saying my affirmations in my head and every time I took a breath visualised my baby moving down. At 7:25am I started thinking how am I going to cope when I start to dilate?! I feel like I can’t do this anymore. When I said this to my mum, she popped out to ask a midwife to come and look at me. Within 2 minutes of being looked at, I was on the bed and breathing my baby out! I had gone from not being dilated to my waters releasing and being fully dilated with no pain relief!! I started “pushing” at 7:30am and my baby was born at 7:50am with just a bit of gas and air and lots of emotional crying! Although it wasn’t how I pictured my birth going in my head, it was the most amazing experience and the midwives could not believe how calm I was throughout the whole thing and are now massive hypnobirthing fans!! Thank you again for coaching me through this part of life!! To see how you can create your own calm birth please sign up here: www.thecalmbirthschool.com/freehypnobirthing-2016