Birth story - Elani and baby boy

This was my first pregnancy. My plan was always to have a natural water birth, which was possible because I had no issues or complications throughout my pregnancy. I kept on, however, reminding myself that these were only my preferences, and should things go differently, it would be okay. At exactly 40 weeks, on a Friday morning in August, at around 3am I started feeling surges. they were light enough for me to breathe through and I used the tools in my toolbox (positive affirmation and breathing and music) to relax through it as I knew I had a midwife appointment that day.

When the midwife examined me at 11am I was 2cms dilated. I was thrilled! I went back home and continued practicing my breathing through the surges which steadily increased in intensity.

The morning after, at 3am I was in real bad pain and called the hospital as my surges were about 4 minutes apart. They said I should come in, which I did, however they found I was still only 3 cms. At that point they suggested I go home and come in when the surges were 3 in every 10 minutes. I was discouraged but continued to practice my affirmations, saying that my baby would come when he was ready.

At 11am I could not handle the pain anymore and decided to go to hospital again. I was again examined and I was only just past 3cms. They admitted me at that stage and asked whether I would like to get the Pethidine injection. As I was at a stage were I really couldn’t handle the pain but was not dilating further, I used my BRAIN and decided it was the best decision and would help me to relax.

Fast forward to 2pm and I was still not dilating. I was very discouraged and exhausted at this point. With the Pethidine working off, and after being in labour for more than 30 hours, my partner and I used our BRAIN and agreed having an epidural would be best for me. The anesthesist was luckily around and I got one shortly after.

This was the best choice I could have made. I was able to relax a bit and things progressed quickly from here. I was examined at 7pm and was already 10cms and the midwife let me know I could push after an hour.

The epidural started wearing off as I started pushing so I felt intense pressure and pain during this stage, which my partner helped me breathe down through. After 2 hours baby's heartrate was dropping and he was not making much progress so the doctor was called in. The doctor mentioned that they would prefer to help get baby out a bit quicker using forceps. We decided this would be the safest option for baby and agreed.

With this help, our beautiful baby boy was born healthy at 10:50pm that night. I have never felt such intense love as I did in that moment! Although things went completely different from the preferences I initially had, using your book I had the right tools to still experience all of this as a positive birth and am very proud of my birth story.

Thank you for this wonderful book!