My son was born by emergency caesarean on the back of a 5 day labour and an unsuccessful homebirth. When I discovered I was pregnant again I did a lot of trauma resolution to ensure I could have the birth I needed to heal from my previous experience.
On Saturday 2nd March we had such a lovely day. My husband and I did a hypnobirthing workshop and it really got the good feelings flowing. We did a trail run of the birth pool with my son, he loved it! On the Sunday we had a lovely family day and for the first time I really felt ready for the baby.
My contractions began at bedtime on Monday (4th) March. They were only one an hour so I went to bed and managed to get sleep in between them. In the morning I decided to get my mum to pick up my son so that I could have a good go at “getting things going”. My husband and I went to a midwife appointment then to get a few last bits for the birth.
When we got home my husband set up the room and I spent the time watching some tv and listening to music. By 1pm my contractions were more regular but lasting no more than 30 seconds. I was only really able to get comfortable standing up, swaying, breathing through the contractions, using the TENS machine and my husband sweeping down my legs. By 6pm I believe I was in established labour with consistent contractions (still not the 3 every 10 mins lasting a minute that is the guideline for calling the midwife). We called our Doula as I felt like I could do with some guidance and reassurance. She arrived and suggested that we should call triage to get the ball rolling with the midwives. There was a delay with them getting back to us by which time I was very much in the thick of it, weeping and tiring from all of the standing up. I decided to go upstairs for a lie down, at this point the midwives arrived (around 9pm and both together). They requested an examination, I allowed for them to check my blood pressure and the babies position but declined internal examination. After a short while upstairs and finding the presence of the midwives a bit overwhelming and the pain relief of the TENS machine wearing off, I requested the pool. My husband readied it and I got in, the water was very soothing. The next 2 hours were spent breathing my way through strong contractions but feeling in control and relaxed in between. On request the midwives were really hands off, enabling me to connect with my body and truly feel what was happening and believe my body knew what it was doing. I could feel her moving down with every contraction and when her head was born I was elated! I had done it, birthed my baby, my way! The midwives said they had never seen anyone this elated before the whole baby was born but I knew that was the hardest bit done. My doula used clary sage to speed up the next contraction and with that my baby girl was born. Just the best feeling in the world. We stayed in the pool for my placenta to be born, lapping up the amazing experience. The midwives stayed for a few hours doing their checks and clearing up and then it was just us. We were tucked up in bed by 2am with our precious baby.
Trusting my body and having the strong support system of my husband and doula allowed me to give birth to my baby in the way I had always hoped I would.
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