”My labour started with niggles at around 3am on the morning of my due date, and the worst headache! I took some paracetamol and went back to sleep. When I woke up later that day my body was just telling me that I needed to rest and I slept until early afternoon which is not like me. I woke up feeling a little more normal but instinctively knew it wouldn’t be long. By about 4pm my surges had really kicked in, and ramped up from being every hour to every 20 minutes by 7pm, so I had a bath and my husband called the maternity unit.
The midwife advised to call back when I was getting three in a 10 minute period. This happened by 8pm and so we made our way to the maternity unit and arrived around 10pm. The atmosphere was calm when we arrived and the room was dark with River Dawn playing and some lavender aromatherapy which was perfect, and I felt very at home. I agreed to be examined as I wanted to know how dilated I was, I found out I was 2cm but as my surges were coming thick & fast I knew I needed to stay. I laboured for a while breathing through my surges and using the birthing ball before deciding I would get in the pool. As soon as I stepped onto the water, the relief was instant.
I laboured in the pool for the next few hours with my husband constantly by my side, reminding me of my up breathing and to relax my shoulders when a surge was making me tense up. Around 4 hours after the initial examination, I was examined again and was now 4cm. This spurred me on as I knew I was progressing. I got back in the pool and carried on with my breathing, with my husband cheerleading me on. At one point, which I now know to be the transition period, I had a moment where I told my husband I couldn’t do it anymore.
He was amazing and reminded me of how well I was doing and to continue using our hypnobirthing techniques. As the first urges to push started coming, I asked for some gas & air which helped me through the intensity of the surges. It took me quite a while to push the babies head out, but an hour and a half later, Olivia Jacqueline made her appearance into the world calmly into the pool. The midwife pulled her out and put her onto my chest, and I couldn’t believe she was here! Finally, after waiting 9 months, my baby girl had arrived. We had asked for optimal cord clamping and so around 10 minutes later, when the cord had completely stopped pulsating, my husband did the honours and cut the cord. By this time I had had enough of pushing as I was so exhausted, and so my husband had Olivia for some skin to skin contact whilst I got of the pool and had the injection to birth my placenta.
I then had Olivia for the precious ‘golden hour’ and we established breast feeding straight away. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect, calm entrance into the world for my baby, and it is all thanks to hypnobirthing, understanding that my body was made to do it and understanding that I had choices. Having my husband be an active part of my birth experience was precious and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him, and practicing hypnobirthing together made this possible.
I’m not going to lie, giving birth was an intense experience and one of the hardest things I have ever done, both physically and mentally, but also one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And now we have the most previous prize to be treasured forever.“