Birth story - Elle and baby Finlay

I had a positive birth with my first born in 2016 and had used aspects of hypnobirthing after attending birthing classes and wanted to do the same this time around. Although, I had convinced myself I had just been ‘lucky’ that it all went so well so wanted to refresh on all the tools I had learned and purchased the digital pack at 28 weeks after finding the PBC Instagram page.

My due date was 7th December and from 34 weeks I had been measuring a week or 2 ahead. Inductions were already being mentioned should the baby be classed as ‘big.’ Using BRAIN I was adamant that my baby would be the perfect size for me and I would refuse an induction until it was absolutely necessary for other medical reasons. A growth scan at 38 weeks estimated that the baby weighed around 7lbs and that extra fluid was the reason for my larger measurements.

My due date came and went and I had been offered a couple of sweeps but again using BRAIN decided to decline believing baby would come when ready. At my 40+4 appointment the midwife booked an induction for me for 40+12 which was 19th December. This was hospital policy that 12 days was the maximum amount of days over they would allow however I remained positive that baby would arrive before then.

I lost my mum to cancer in 2015 and she would have turned 74 on 15th December. My family were convinced that baby would be born on her birthday. Although I wanted baby to arrive sooner, in the back of my mind I thought what a lovely tribute that would be and that she was maybe having some influence over when baby would arrive…

At 4.30am on 15th December I woke up with some cramping which had been on and off for a few days beforehand. However after lying awake for an hour I realised that they were surges and coming every 10 minutes or so. I woke my husband at 5.30 and called the hospital as I was Group B Strep positive I wanted to check to see if they wanted me to head straight in. Thankfully I was told to wait it out at home until the surges were 3 to 4 minutes apart.

We called my mother in law to head over to watch our 2 year old son and I got a shower and made some tea and toast whilst using up breathing. Surges, although becoming stronger, were still manageable. I found it difficult to use the visualisations from the pack however on breathing in for 4 I raised my chin up towards the ceiling and then out for 8 lowered my chin slowly back to my chest. I found this really effective and also quite relaxing and rhythmical.

Just before 9am I called the hospital as surges were now around 4 minutes apart and we headed in which was a 10 minute drive away.

On arrival at hospital we were given a room in triage where we ended up staying for approximately 2hrs whilst waiting on the midwife from my allocated team to arrive at the hospital so we could go to the labour ward. This was a little frustrating as the room wasn’t particularly pleasant and I had already expressed that I was keen to use the pool room if it was available. However during this time I agreed to an examination as I was interested to see how far along I was. To my delight and the midwife’s surprise I was 5cm dilated. She confirmed that a pool room was available and I could use it as soon as we got up to the labour suite. My midwife finally arrived and we headed up to room 15.

I had not met the midwife who was looking after me before and we found her quite negative and lacking in confidence when it came to me using the pool and the equipment in the room. I felt the reason for this could be due to me using hypnobirthing and she perhaps felt she had to continually give me lots of options which was a little off putting whilst getting through surges. However despite this I remained very relaxed and calm using the up breathing, the room was dimly lit, I was wearing my own clothes and I had put on my own music. My husband ensured I was sipping water regularly and snacking when I needed to.

After being given antibiotics via a drip for the Group B Step, I finally got in the pool at around 1pm. This felt absolutely amazing. The warmth and feeling of weightlessness really helped to relax me further and surges were still very manageable thanks to this and up breathing. My husband was timing my surges which were now less than 3 minutes apart. The midwife kept stating that my surges were not regular enough and labour could be slowing down and that being in the pool might be the reason. I found this strange as I felt she had not been in the room often enough to determine how frequent my surges were. I was very quiet and controlled as I was in the zone and she maybe thought I wasn’t displaying enough discomfort to be in active labour. I also had not asked for any pain relief as I was managing fine with breathing and being in the pool.

At 2.30pm the midwife asked to examine me. Again using BRAIN I decided to accept as I was a little concerned by her comments that labour could be slowing. This however meant I had to get out of the pool and onto the birthing mattress on the floor. The exam confirmed I was 8cm stretching to 9cm. My waters were still intact and she asked if I wanted her to break them stating this might speed things up. Although unsure I was quite uncomfortable by this point, feeling cold having got out the pool and a little anxious so I agreed as by now I just wanted to meet my baby.

My waters were broken which showed some meconium present. The midwife said this was only a small amount and could be due to the baby being a week past due date as opposed to being distressed. However this now meant continuous monitoring and I could not get back into the pool. I had to stand at the side of the pool whilst she prepared the bed and this is when surges became very intense. The midwife suggested I lie on my side and use a peanut ball between my legs to help get baby into the optimum position for delivery. I could only stand being in this position for a short while as surges were so intense with no break between them. I was now moaning uncontrollably and could no longer focus on my breathing. I immediately had the intense urge to push and could feel that baby’s head was ready to come out.

I got up onto my knees and leaned against the back of the bed which is the same position I delivered my firstborn. With the first push his head was out and with the next surge at 1523hrs he was born. He was crying although gargling and the midwife had to rub his back for a few moments to clear his airways. After this I took him up onto my chest for skin to skin and a short while after he was feeding whilst the midwife checked me over. I only had 2 small grazes which didn’t need stitching despite Finlay weighing 10lbs! I had the injection to deliver the placenta which came away within 10 minutes.

Everything went so well and like my first birth I remember it as such a magical day and experience. And to my absolute delight, my son shares his birthday with his Grandma 😇

I am absolutely astonished that I was able to get through surges with just up breathing and deliver a 10lb baby without any pain relief. This wasn’t necessarily my intention as I had planned to use gas and air however by the time the surges were so intense baby was born about 20 minutes later and I really didn’t have time to think about it!

The digital pack is an invaluable tool and I have no doubt that both my birth experiences are thanks to the knowledge I gained from hypnobirthing which the Positive Birth Company has made affordable and accessible to every woman. It is my belief that hypnobirthing should be covered as part of pre-natal care as there must be so many women who are unaware it exists or don’t consider it due to cost or believing it is still some airy fairy practice which could not be further from the truth.

A massive Thank you to Siobhan and PBC 😊 xx