Birth story - Caroline and baby girl

I'm a very nervous and anxious person so was naturally a bit worried about labour. With it being my first baby, I really didn't know what to expect or what it would feel like.

I started having surges around 10pm on Thursday 19th September, although at the beginning I thought they were Braxton hicks as they were not regular at all. I couldn't sleep, so my husband set me up on the settee with a hot water bottle on my lower back and a cup of tea while he went to bed.

It was so peaceful in the living room with street lights shining through the window and not a single sound outside. I used my up breathing and freya app to track the surges and keep myself calm. At around 4:30am the next morning the surges got stronger and I found leaning over the settee arm the best way to manage them. I went up to wake my husband at 5:30am and decided to get into the bath, he rubbed and poured warm water down my lower back while we tracked the surges and he counted me through my breathing.

At 6:10am the labour ward told us to make our way to hospital, I was nervous about leaving home and actually felt like I didn't want to go, but once we arrived I felt so safe and even more relaxed because I knew they'd be able to look after me.

Upon arrival at 7am I went for what I thought was a wee and suddenly had the urge to push and my waters broke with a big pop.

Unfortunately, I was unable to have the water birth I had hoped for as the rooms were full, however, at the time this didn't upset me as I was quite comfortable on my hands and knees. The midwife offered me gas & air (which was amazing!!) and confirmed that I was fully dilated. We couldn't believe it, thanks to you I'd managed to do that all by myself.

Our baby girl was delivered safely at 8:03am, after an hour of down breathing on gas & air. It was incredible to actually feel her come out and I'm so glad I was able to do it naturally.

After she was born we had about 15 minutes of skin to skin, she wasn't taken away from me to be weighed and we didn't even check if we had a boy or girl!! We just enjoyed being in the little bubble for a while. My husband then cut the cord and confirmed we had a beautiful baby girl.

My placenta didn't come away naturally after an hour so I opted for the injection and that was delivered shortly after.

I did, unfortunately, suffer a 3rd degree tear and had to have stitched but I didn't feel anything and I'm healing well.

It really is amazing how your body just knows how to birth your baby, and I would encourage every woman to do this course, best £45 I've ever spent