Birth story - Annabelle and baby Perrie

*Trigger warning* - Word use Contractions, Small Tear, Cord round neck, support breaths, reduced movement

Pregnancy:

Definitely the hardest of my three pregnancies! I suffered with HG throughout but was able to be prescribed Ondansetron early on which made looking after my other two, and myself, manageable. I was offered an induction at 39+5 when we went in for reduced movement. But we used our BRAIN and felt that as the monitors showed baby was well and moving we would prefer to wait.

Birth:

I'd been cramping every 20 minutes for about 3 days prior to baby arriving and was actually hoping she wouldn't come on her due date as this is her 5 year old brother's birthday...! But as we know, babies will choose their own birthday. By the evening the cramps had intensified and I decided I could call them contractions, though the transition from cramp to contraction was hard to measure - even though I'd done this twice already! I started to wonder if I'd got so good at the hypnobirthing techniques that maybe the whole sensation was going to be different, and to be fair it kind of was!

I didn't tense against the contractions at all, and really tried to welcome them in. I spent time on my ball with the lights very low and my headphones in while my husband set up the room. Headphones were a really good idea at this point as it drowned out the noise of him bustling about and let me focus on my music, affirmations and Freya App counting me through each surge. My husband loves a list - I think it's his Love Language - so we had made a very comprehensive one which helped us both feel really prepared and calm both in the lead up and in the moment. ('Put champagne in fridge' was one of the items! Along with 'Feed the cat' and 'Make sure the washing machine isn't doing that annoying beeping thing')

Once the space was all set up it felt entirely magical. The contractions were feeling a lot more intense now and I found I needed to vocalise during each one, making low groaning sounds on my out breaths. Each contraction was lasting almost 2minutes and even though they weren't following the classic 3 in 10 pattern, my instinct said I wanted the midwives to come now. This was about 2am. My mum turned up to supervise the sleeping brothers, two midwives arrived and we also had a local friend (a retired midwife) who was sort of our doula who came to support us. This part was so wonderful, I felt so incredibly well supported, so safe, and so at peace in our magical birthing nest. I worked through the contractions with everyone's support using the pool and my breathing till about 5am.

Then at 5 the intensity of the contractions seemed to die right off. The midwives thought it might be because I knew the brothers would be waking up soon. I asked for an examination as I was a bit confused as to how far along things were. I was disappointed to hear I was at 3cm and we agreed as things had taken a bit of a pause the midwives would head home and my mum would take the boys away when they woke up. We went back to bed to try and get some rest before it picked up again. The contractions continued to come every 10minutes once the midwives left and after a few hours I could no longer lie down so went back downstairs using the tens machine and my Up breathing timing everything on the Freya App.

Once again, things picked up and although I still wasn't following the classic 3 in 10 pattern I felt I was ready for the midwives to be with us again. I got back into the pool and shortly after 1030am a midwife arrived. At 11am I asked for some gas and air as I remembered I had found that really helpful with my previous labours however it didn't seem to be as effective this time round. I continued to use the breathing techniques and my vocalisations to ride each contraction through. They were still very sporadically spaced and still lasting almost a full 2minutes. All of a sudden I felt like I needed to push. The midwife thought this was perhaps my waters as they still hadn't gone and that maybe once they'd burst I'd start to get more regular shorter contractions. I listened to my body and it pushed. I could feel her head! My husband and the midwife checked using the mirror under the water and were both shocked to see a head suddenly appear.

This bit was incredible. With four pushes she was born and out she came in her sack - a proper mermaid birth. I delivered her myself and lifted her out the water. I spotted her cord was round her neck so I quickly flipped it off and heard her make a little noise so I knew she was well. The midwife then took her for a few support breaths and within seconds she was back with me. This sounds really scary but it really wasn't for me. On debrief with my midwife team they think that my body knew the cord was round her neck which is why it wasn't over stressing her with shorter closer contractions, and was instead allowing her to recover between each one. Bodies are amazing and I'm so glad I trusted mine and listened to my instincts following my BRAIN throughout.

We then had the most wonderful three hours cuddled under towels and blankets on the sofa while I delivered the placenta, had a few stitches, ate some pizza and had that glass of champagne.

What an amazing experience. I am so grateful to the Hypnobirthing course and the care we received from the homebirth team. I felt truly empowered to make decisions that were right for me and my baby and ultimately trust my body.