Birth story - Andrea and baby Cameron

I will keep this short and sweet...just like my birth.

Being a first time mum I was nervous and excited about the prospect of birth and heard a colleague at work mention about hypnobirthing. I did my research and came across the Positive Birth Company. I downloaded the digital pack and went along to hospital run hypnobirthing classes in the third trimester. I also attended pregnancy Yoga which incorporated hypnobirthing and also taught us the breathing techniques. I showed my husband the PCB videos around breathing and how he could help me as a birthing partner! 

My 'due date' was Sunday 15.09.19. That day came and went and although I didnt think I would, I became fixated on that date and was quite distressed that I hadn't given birth. I was so excited to meet my baby boy and every hour that past upset me. 

On the Monday I went for a long walk. I picked up conkers along the route which I have placed in my baby's bedroom. On the Tuesday evening I bounced and bounced on my birthing ball and had a pressure in my lower back and pelvis. I picked up my husband from work and we went to bed around midnight. At 2am, now Wednesday, I woke with lower back and pelvis pain, that at the time I didnt realise were surges. I eventually got out of bed at 8am and the pains were still there. My husband was due to go back to work for 2pm but we had decided around 10am that these pains were the start of my labour and he phoned to let his work know that he wouldn't be going in.

I had a lovely warm bath which eased these pains and after I put on a tens machine that a friend had lent me. This really helped! 

I had phoned the labour ward and explained what I was feeling. The pains, as stated previously, were in my lower back and pelvis and I was confused because I believed I would be getting these feelings across my stomach. It was back labour! I had never heard of this so I was quite confused and was still unsure whether I was then really in labour.

The tens machine made the pains bearable and as it was a lovely sunny day my husband and I went out and had lunch and I took 2x paracetamol. We came home around 3pm and I phoned the ward as these pains were getting stronger but very inconsistent and ranged from every 15 mins to 4 mins. A community midwife came round to see me and examined me and said I was 3cm dilated - I was very pleased with myself! She told me to continue doing what I was doing and I decided to have another bath. I continued with my breathing. My husband sat on the floor next to me coaching me on my breathing. I also had an essential oil burner on the go with a lavender scent in it which took my back to my yoga classes and kept me calm.

We had saved lots of programmes on the TV to watch which included Mickey Flanagan so we sat in bed laughing which took my mind off what was happening completely! 

It got to 8pm and out of nowhere my surges came every two minutes! We only live a 10 minute walk from the hospital and I had been adamant my whole pregnancy that I would be walking to the ward to have my baby.

As this had happened all of a sudden my husband decided that we should drive and we jumped in the car and got to the ward around 8.30pm.

I was examined and the midwife said I was 5cm dilated. She took me to my room, which was perfect, at around 9.10pm. There was no bed just mats on the floor, bean bags, mood lighting and a birthing pool. I was very lucky in that the hospital is very pro hypnobirthing. The midwife began running the birthing pool for me. My waters broke on the floor and I had an urge to push. The midwife re checked me at 9.30pm and I was fully dilated! I couldn't believe it! 

The midwife gave me some gas and air but I just didn’t like it, it made me feel dizzy. I had carried this baby for 9 months and wanted to be fully awake when he came into the world! I decided I didn’t want any pain relief I continued with my breathing and got myself into the all fours position. Unfortunately the midwife couldn’t monitor my baby's heart rate properly in this position and asked me to lay on my back. From the videos I had learnt about the UFO positions, upright, forward and open and I was concerned that this position would restrict me but I knew that it was more important that she could trace his heart rate. After 40 minutes my baby boy was born absolutely perfect and clean! I gave birth to him on a mat on the floor! The water was still running in the birthing pool! 

As this happened so quickly I suffered a second degree tear but I honestly didnt feel it! 

Thank you to the PBC for the techniques I learnt throughout my pregnancy. I will forever cherish the memories of my labour and birth....and I cannot wait to do it again. For now here are some pictures of my perfect baby boy xx thanks for reading!