Birth story - Alisha and baby Roya

Anyone who knew me through this pregnancy knows how much I was scared for labour and delivery, having been 7 years since I had my eldest daughter, I wanted an extra 40 weeks! I practiced Hypnobirthing with @thepositivebirthcompany and I HIGHLY recommend it, I had absolutely no pain relief and didn't scream through the entire process, I could hear women screaming and I was so scared that I still had to get to that stage, I was stuck in an assessment room for hours as there was no room on delivery unit.

I had my sweep at 16:00 on the 31st July (which I was also scared to have as I knew established labour was imminent after that as deep down I knew I was in slow labour) turns out I was already 3 cm and in labour before I left the doctors room.

I got to the hospital and spent majority of my labour in an assessment room as they didn't think I was in labour considering I had only just had my sweep & was relatively calm. I was calm and by half 10 I had only gone up to 4 cm and my contractions were lasting nearly 2 mins and were in constant surges with barely a 10-30 second break between each one I was adamant I wanted an epidural. I was not in severe pain but I thought I had hours left and the pain was going to get worse considering I’d only gone up 1cm, but I was wrong.

By 03:00 am I had jumped to 7 cm just by walking to delivery unit, the midwife broke my back waters as they didn’t realise they hadn’t gone and I could of had her sooner if they had realised. Nine deep inhales and exhales later Roya was here, she was so perfect, happy and content, wide eyed awake and alert, just quietly staring at everything and taking it all in.

I was so shocked, happy, overwhelmed and proud of myself at the same time. Every midwife that dealt with me was shocked it went so quick they had no chance to write anything down as they thought we would be there for hours.

I was less prepared for labour this time round, I constantly said " As soon as it hurts I’m having an epidural, and even if it doesn’t hurt I think I want one as I don’t want to feel established labour pains “ I know for a fact I would not of coped if I hadn't done Hypnobirthing, I tried my hardest to remain calm to keep my adrenaline down and oxytocin levels up. Everyone said I could do it and I completely doubted myself but at one point one of my contractions registered extremely painful on the monitor, I seen both my mom & midwifes reactions & both were so shocked and said if I got through that one by breathing I can get through the rest easy. They were right!

I thought it sounded too good to be true but I was wrong we now have a happy healthy baby girl here who arrived safely. I know not every labour is like this my next labour may not go this smoothly but I thought I’d share my positive birth story as reading some positive stories for nervous expectant moms can also help with any anxieties or worries some may have.

Welcome to the family Roya👑 It's been long awaited
Now 8 months old.