Birth story - Alessandra and baby Arthur

It's taken me a while to write my story as my labour was a real whirlwind experience. I had my heart set on a water birth at home. Even though I was open to the fact anything could happen, my mind never considered the path my labour went down. However, this did not in anyway make my labour a negative experience, so I want to share my story.

Pregnancy:

For most of my life I have been terrified of labour, to a point where I had been avoiding starting a family. Even though, deep down it is what I really wanted. I had been full of self doubt, and crippled by anxious thoughts.

When we found out we were expecting, I was determined to not let this spoil my experience of pregnancy. So, I spent nearly all of my pregnancy tackling my fear head on with CBT, Mindfulness and The Positive Birth Company course. I soon realised knowledge is power, and my fear derived from lack of information and years of watching movies and TV shows depicting labour to be a negative experience. I was on a mission to recondition my mindset, so I filled my days with positive affirmations, stories and mindfulness practises.

We were lucky to have an uncomplicated pregnancy, and I was fit and healthy the whole time.

At 38 weeks, we were offered an induction and a stretch and sweep. Using our BRAIN, we declined knowing full well our baby boy could arrive up to 42 weeks. We knew he would arrive when he is ready, we wanted as little intervention as possible and for labour to start naturally.

Due date arrived and still no sign of our little boy Arthur. We hoped that Christmas would be an ideal time to get the Oxytocin flowing. Every night going to bed thinking, is tonight the night!? I had been eating lots of dates, drinking raspberry tea, doing yoga and even jogging to encourage him to arrive! However, ultimately, I knew he would simply come when he was ready.

Christmas and New Years Eve came and went and no sign of our little boy.

However, in the first week of January, I started to get period like cramps which were totally manageable. In addition to this, a heaviness in my pelvis.

We were offered an induction and again, we declined. I knew things were starting because of the cramps and heaviness. He was on the way, I just needed more time, so we agreed to extra monitoring. I tried to stay positive and focus on the affirmation "my baby will come when my baby is ready."

Labour:

At 41+6, I decided to try a stretch and sweep as a less intrusive step compared to an induction. I knew things were progressing, and I hoped the sweep would help moving things along. To my delight, my midwife confirmed I was 1cm and baby was very low down! My instincts were confirmed.

Throughout the day, I experienced increasing pressure in my pelvis, to a point where I couldn't sit anywhere other than my birthing ball. I also had increased cramping which required Tens and paracetamol. Armed with my hypnobirthing toolkit, I listened to positive affirmations and focused on producing Oxytocin.

11pm the same day:

Feeling super uncomfortable, I decided to lay down on my bed and meditate. Rolling over, ready for a snooze, I felt two large 'pops'. No water initially, so I stood up to check....and woosh, the waters came!

I excitedly told my husband that our little boy was on the way! Within minutes, the surges started, so hubby started timing them using the Freya app. I focused on my upbreathing and listened to the PBC MP3's that I had conditioned myself during my pregnancy.

I spent a lot of time on the toilet, my body emptying itself ready for labour and my mucus plug came away. Thanks to the PBC course, I knew this was coming, so I felt totally in control and armed with knowledge.

My surges really ramped up, and hubby realised labour was progressing super quickly as suddenly I had turned the Tens on to boost! Breathing through each surge really helped me to stay in control and calm.

Midnight:

Our midwife arrived ready for our home birth. She carried out some checks on me, and I had to keep stopping her to allow me to ride each surge. My blood pressure had never been an issue during pregnancy, so I was surprised when the midwife said my blood pressure was high and we may have to go into hospital. My heart sank, and so I asked her to check again in a few minutes.

A few minutes passed and still no improvement in my blood pressure, and I noticed the surges were coming in thick and fast with no gaps. My midwife was concerned and suggested we go in an ambulance to hospital. Using our BRAIN, we decided to agree as high blood pressure put myself and baby at risk. There was also the potential we could be sent back home if all was OK.

Because of the intense pressure in my pelvis/bum area, I couldn't sit down and I knew getting in an ambulance would be tricky, so asked for gas and air. It's not for everyone, but for me it was gold! I was able to get onto a stretcher into the ambulance.

From here, it seemed like an out of body experience. I remember making the famous 'mooing' sounds in the ambulance with each surge. I found it really therapeutic, comforting and worked well with the gas and air to regulate my breathing. It was at this point I started to feel the urge to push. It is an unmistakable feeling, and I knew we would be meeting Arthur soon.

1am:

We arrived at hospital, and I remember thinking I don't want to go back home as travelling was very uncomfortable. My blood pressure stabilised, but labour had certainly progressed! The midwives suggested my high blood pressure was caused by the sudden intensity of surges in a short amount of time On arrival, hubby and the midwives set up my candles, lights and to my delight, started running the birthing pool.

My midwife examined me, and told me I was 8cm! I was in shock at how quickly things had progressed, there was no time to set up my MP3's and relaxing music, Arthur was on the way…

Soon after (I lost track of time!), I was examined again and found to be 10cm! It's true, your body automatically pushes for you - it is an incredibly powerful feeling.

Instinctively, I went into a UFO position over the bed. I knew Arthur was close at this stage, as I remembered this from the course. Because of this, I didn't feel panicked, I felt in the zone and focused. I kept repeating the positive affirmations in my head over and over again.

However, because my surges had been so close together with no gaps, I didn't get a chance to empty my bladder. This made it hard for baby's heartbeat to be monitored. Our baby was also suspected to be back to back - which explained the intense pressure I was feeling.

The decision was made to ditch the pool at this stage, and be taken to theatre for forceps or a potential C-section to get baby out safely.

We were given the choice of forceps or a C-section, with the risks of a C-section being explained to us. Arthur was so low down, that a C-section would mean moving him back up again to get him out safely which would pose a higher risk to baby. Forceps delivery would require just a few pushes, the midwife explained he was so close to arriving. Realising how far I had come, and using our BRAIN again, we agreed to forceps.

I was given a spinal, episiotomy and forceps. Using the down-breathing technique, it took only 3 pushes for our baby boy to arrive! He was here, safe and sound at 5.30am.

Golden hour:

We were taken to the recovery ward where I had lots of skin to skin cuddles with Arthur. There it suddenly hit me... I conquered my biggest fear and delivered him in just over 6 hours, on just gas and air and hypnobirthing tools! I felt like a superwoman, I actually did it!

Afterthought:

I had obsessively planned my homebirth in such detail. From a music playlist, to lighting, even down to the snacks I was going to have.

However, I didn't use anything other than my breathing and positive mindset. After doubting myself for so long, words cannot express how proud I was of myself.

To any mum to be fearing birth, I know it is easier said than done, but please don't be scared. We as women are designed for this, it is a completely natural process that reveals how amazingly strong you actually are.

I cannot recommend PBC enough, it transformed the way not only myself, but my hubby thinks about birth. It gave me a strong toolkit to turn any labour experience into a positive and informed one.

Good luck to all the soon to be mama's, you are so much stronger than you think!