This week’s birth story comes from the lovely couple who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Atosa Stedman of Kent Hypnobirthing, UK.
Thank you for sharing such a positive birth story with us!
Preface: On the night of the 09 of July, J (my husband) told me he’d be seeing me at 3am and that I needed to go to sleep… spooky.
I woke up at 02:30, no pains, no feeling to wee, just awake accompanied by
pressure in my bum. I’d been feeling this same pressure in my bum for the past week.
Not long after initially waking up I started to feel cramp like pains that soon manifested into what I now know as contractions. I breathed through each cramp/contraction taking a rough note of how frequent they came. After an hour and a half of kneeling against my bed swaying using just my breath work as a mode of pain relief, I decided it was time to wake J as they start to increase in duration and frequency- at the time I wasn’t 100% sure if I was in labour, just that something was definitely happening.
The waves are starting to intensify, I projectile vomit, empty my bladder and have to run for the toilet to empty my bowels- I know very glamorous but who said labour would be. J and I both agree I’m in labour and what we think is early labour and that I should have a long while till baby arrives; oh, how naive we were…
I jump in the shower because I know water is good for the pain, I’m on my hands and knees in the shower, J’s at the door taking note of each contraction and speaking to me. In between contractions I wash my hair (why I did this I don’t know), the pain is getting stronger so I get out as quick as I can and J puts on my tens machine, I whack this up and on my knees I lean against the bed swaying, lights dim. I ask him to call triage to let them know I’m in labour.
J’s on the phone for a total of 18 minutes and for the duration of the call my contractions ramp up to 4 in 10 minutes, the midwife on shift asks if he can get me to the hospital within an hour- she can hear me moaning in the background of the call. (Worth noting at the beginning of this call, the midwife recommended I stay home and that early labour could last several hours… before changing to bring her in asap)
It takes J an hour to get me downstairs and into the car because every time he left my side to pack the car I’d shout for him to come back- I felt safe with him next to me, holding my hands, stroking my back and squeezing my hips. For the car journey I squeezed my wooden tactile balls and continued to turn up the intensity of the tens machine, it was sooo high it was hurting but I needed a distraction from the contractions – J speaks to me the whole drive and plays a playlist to keep the oxytocin bubble I keep my eyes shut and continue my breath work.
We get to WHH, J secures a parking spot directly outside the entrance, what should be a 2 minute walk, takes us half hour because I had to pause for each contraction- it’s intense, I’m still using my tens machine and tactile balls as pain relief.
We get inside FINALLY, and J asks a member of staff where the Midwife Led Unit is, whilst he does I take myself off to a corner and on my hands and knees I’m moaning and mooing, I’ve got my eyes permanently closed so I see nothing I just hear voices around me asking for my name and trying to get me up- I’m non verbal, I’ve been non verbal since J called the midwife around 5am and now it’s just gone 7am.
Next thing I know I’m in a wheelchair I can feel the wind like actual wind on my face, a midwife who hasn’t started her shift yet and just walked into the hospital has put me into a wheelchair and is running me to the unit- actual running! J is following behind. The pressure is intense I can’t put any weight on my bum.
Once at the unit I’m on the bed (waters and membranes intact) I agree to be checked, everything is happening so fast, I’m 8cm. The room is in shock, (they thought first time mum, first baby must be early labour). I’ve been in labour 5 hours at this point. I hear the taps of the pool switch on and I’m rushed over and in.
The birthing pool is absolutely fantastic, the relief. I’m sucking on gas and air during each contraction, squeezing J’s hand, floating in the pool, eyes closed, with our wedding playlist playing. The midwife is super hands off, just watching me, allowing me to labour alone with J.J’s talking to me, stroking my arms and holding my hands, he was incredible!
Not long and I feel this urge to push except I’m not pushing my body is just doing it, it’s intense right in my bum, I can’t control it, I’m now on my knees upright, J’s got the gas and air in my mouth and I’m holding onto the handles in the pool… eventually after 3-4 of my body pushing, I locate how to push with my body, and after a few pushes, out my baby boy pops, in one! (Never felt my waters break, think they did in the water as he was born) No crowning of the head just pop out – the only way I can describe it.
The pushing stage is intense, it’s uncontrollable and joint with contractions it’s painful and primal. I lift my baby out of the water myself and place him on my chest, J announces his gender- my boy is hereeeee!
Baby boy snapped his cord so J couldn’t cut it (he did trim it down though) we don’t know if it snapped when he came out or when I stood up to get out the pool. We’re both clamped either side as I was losing blood and so was baby- don’t fear we both had blood tests and our full blood count was fine in the both of us! So, it was brief.
As baby’s cord snapped the midwives wanted my placenta out quickly, so I did take the injection to help it come out (this was the right choice for us) and within seconds of her injecting me it blobbed out.
I had a 2nd degree tear down my perineum and had to have stitches (these are awful won’t lie). J had skin to skin with baby immediately after birth whilst I had my stitches (he got a nice view of that bless him, watching at eye level). And then baby was placed on me for skin to skin and latched at the breast.
And there we have it, baby boy, is born after a quick 6 hours.
Joint with the safety of my husband, phenomenal midwives at WHH and the endless information provided by our doula Atosa, we were informed and empowered to have our dream birth for our dream boy.
What did I do to prepare for birth? 6 week yoga course, 3 week hypnobirthing course, created a birth visual board I could see and read every day, desensitised myself to labour and watched various birth videos, listened to positive affirmations, swam weekly, took long walks, spoke to J about our preferences and dream birth, expressed colostrum, and used my birthing ball every evening.
(We did have to stay for 3 nights as bub was jaundice but didn’t require treatment, and then he’s blood sugars dropped so we pumped him full of my colostrum and then we got to return home!)
If you birth on the midwife led unit you get an automatic private room/ en-suite/ kitchen which was fabulosaaaaaaaa! We did 2 nights in the midwife led unit and 1 night on the ward as we were transferred to the paediatric doctor and that required us to be sent to the ward, which is rough, you share a room with 3 others and no kitchen or private loos/showers.
There we have it, the birth of F, done in 6 hours, natural, via birthing pool – a speeeeddyy entrance.
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