Birth story - Alex and baby Daniel

After using the PBC for my first son in 2018, I knew I wanted to practice the techniques again when I found out I was pregnant in February, when the world was normal!

Throughout my pregnancy I was convinced the baby was going to be early, and I had a lot of anxiety about getting to the hospital in time as I was also convinced it was going to be quick (my first labour was 21 hours so I’m not sure where this came from!)

I woke up on Wednesday morning at 39+4, popped out with my son in the morning and then when he went for his afternoon nap I had the urge to sleep (something I wish I had more often). I laid down on the sofa and slept for around 2 hours and when I got up from the sofa I realised my waters were starting to go.

At 3.30pm I was sat on my birthing ball and when I stood up - a definite confirmation that my waters had gone! I called the birth centre and they said to come in to be checked. I called my fiancé who was at work to come home, and my mum to leave to work to come and look after our little one.

At 4.20pm we were leaving the house and it just so happened that this was the last day before lockdown 2.0 - and it seemed every car in the town was on the road! At 4.40pm I got my first contraction in the car - I was delighted because I really didn’t want to be induced if labour didn’t start naturally. I recorded the contraction on Freya and before I knew it, 3 minutes later, I had another, followed by another. After 3 contractions Freya told me I was in established labour!

We got to the hospital at 4.55pm where my contractions were coming thick and fast.

We got into our room in the birth centre and I asked for the pool to be run; at this point I was still convinced it was going to be sooner than everyone thought. I was checked at 5.15pm and I was 4cm dilated, around 35 minutes after my first contraction.

The midwife started running the pool and I laboured stood up by the side of the bed. After 2 or 3 contractions in this position something started to change in my body and I asked to move into a better position in case I needed to push. I got onto the bed facing the back and with one more contraction I knew I needed to push. The midwife told me to go with what felt right in my body and on the next contraction I could feel my body doing what it needed to do. My fiancé couldn’t believe how fast everything was happening and this was when the midwife said the words ‘2nd babies do what they want’. This will stick with me always!

The pool wasn’t ready for me to deliver in (gutted!) and we didn’t have any time to set up candles etc. but the baby was coming and so with the next contraction I started to push with everything I had and I could feel the baby moving down the birth canal - and then the sting!!! Baby’s head was halfway out and with the next push was out completely. With one more push our little boy had arrived. The midwife passed him up onto my chest and I had another beautiful boy.

He was born at 5.55pm - 1 hour after arriving at hospital and 1 hour 10 minutes after labour had started! My feelings of a quick labour were correct but even I didn’t expect it to be that quick! I had a second degree tear but this was sorted quickly and we were left alone as a family until we were discharged later that night around 2am.

The speed of labour caught me off guard even when I knew what to expect and how to practice my breathing techniques; I had no build up in intensity of contractions and there could have been so many stages of panic with the whole experience.

I am so grateful to the PBC and all it has done for me to bring my 2 boys into the world and would recommend it highly to any expectant mumma 💙