Birth story - Eve and baby Boy

A week prior to my due date, I started to lose my mucus plug and we both got excited, but fully aware it could take a bit longer before anything happened! A week on from this, just before my 40 + 2 midwife appointment, I had my show and the midwife was convinced she’d see us the following day 😉 and she did!

At 4.30am my contractions began, they felt like very heavy period pains and after an hour or so I started to time them as they became stronger. I felt they were manageable so just got in a comfortable position and plugged in my music. At this point they were 3-4 minutes apart lasting a minute.

At 9am my other half text the midwife just to update her and she told us to call triage to see if I could be assessed at home. At this point things were manageable and triage suggested that because my oxytocin seemed to be flowing well (I honestly did feel quite serene!) that sending a midwife too soon could disrupt things.

At 11am I was starting to find it harder to talk through contractions and our midwife actually called triage herself (!) and insisted someone come out to us....she later told me she knew I was already in established labour!

At 12.30pm the Midwife’s arrived. I was set up in the room, it was warm, quiet, calm and I was completely in the zone. My other half was incredible and I can’t thank him enough for how settled he made me feel ❤️ at 1pm they asked if we wanted to be assessed to see how far we were. Both of us chatted with them about whether this would disrupt things, but decided because we were already in labour, it wasn’t like we were kick starting the process before it was ready to begin! And I was elated we’d checked as I was already 7cm!

At this point I felt very calm, but also so immensely proud of my body, I just felt like giggling in amazement! I stopped timing contractions and put any time frames aside.

I focused on myself and paid great attention between contractions to remain calm and in a slightly trance like state. I started to transition into the second phase fairly soon after the examination and the classic mooing began! 🙈

I remember thinking ‘oh it kind of feels like first stage...oooohhh no wait it’s definitely different!’ And my body was just doing its thing. I definitely found it harder to control my breathing because the power behind the contractions was incredible. This is where I could not have been without my other half....in fact, whenever he strayed too far my contractions became further apart and more intense. There is a part of me that now truly understands how immensely wearing labour is on the body! Unless you’ve got it under some sort of control, it would be very easy to get slightly panicked and out of sync. I have no idea how anyone does it without some sort of preparation! The Hypnobirthing was invaluable ❤️

At one stage my contractions became slightly further apart and we decided to have a look to see what was happening! This was very difficult I’ll be honest - I had to be turned onto my side/back, when all fours had been the most comfortable for me the whole time. The Midwife’s confirmed my waters were bulging with every contraction, but were also pulling some of the cervix with it, which was preventing things moving forward. The midwife had to hold the cervix back as the next surge began and I had to breath and give an extra push to help the waters break. I was very uncomfortable and found the position did not allow me to breath or focus properly. There was a LOT of noise (!) but as soon as the waters broke, it ramped up a notch and off we went again!

I managed to get back onto all fours and I could now feel the head descending. All I can say at this stage was WOW! The power and intensity was phenomenal, I was again wanting to laugh/cry in utter amazement but there wasn’t much time to admire what my body was doing 😂 the contractions were regular, intense and doing their job.

When the head finally made an appearance, I absolutely knew the burning sensation everyone talks about 😂 I reached to feel the head, which was very surreal, but it also comforted me that the baby wasn’t coming out of my backside 🙈🤣 my mum always told me it was like 💩 a football....yep it pretty much was!!!

When the head popped out, there was a huge feeling of relief and with one last gentle push the baby was out! My other half helped bring him through my legs to my chest and announced that we had a baby boy!

We had asked for a physiological third stage which we got. The placenta came out very swiftly of it’s own accord and was clamped once it stopped pulsating. I was given a precautionary injection to help the bleeding as there was concern I might be losing a bit too much blood. I had 3 stitches and before long, we were a family of four (including our dog!) settling down in our own home, just amazing!

From start to finish it took 16 hours, it sounds long but it was consistent, progressed well and it really did fly by! I NEVER thought I would be able to give birth in such a relaxed state or without any pain relief. However, I truly feel the Hypnobirthing allowed me to trust my body and go with it!

The PBC has allowed me to dig into a deeper side of myself that I never knew existed. I have the utmost respect for the female body AND myself now....I think every woman needs to remind themselves regularly when times might be hard that you absolutely CAN dig deep and can make it through.

Good luck to everyone eagerly awaiting any arrivals 😍 and thanks again to everyone for empowering me to birth just the way we wanted xoxoxoxo