Birth story - Helen and baby Louis

I had a sweep the 21st of June and we were delighted to hear that I was already 3cm dilated. We returned home looking forward to Labour starting. Unfortunately it was a hard week and nothing looked like it was happening. We went on long walks to try and help labour start.

By Friday 25th I was starting to feel a little disheartened. At 3pm that afternoon my waters went. My husband was so excited and we started to prepare our home for the onset of labour. However, still nothing happened so we decided to get some sleep. At around 11:30pm I started to get mild discomfort. I listened to some relaxing music and read through some of the positive affirmations. This really helped until the surges became more prominent. I ran myself a bath and listen to my Freya app. I did this for an hour until the surges were coming much closer together.

We rang the hospital and decided to go in. I was examined and, as I was only 3cm, we were sent home. The car journey was tough but I put on an eye mask listened to the Freya app and focused solely on my up breathing. I ran a bath, dimmed the lights and created a sanctuary. I concentrated fully on my up breathing and hydrated between surges. I made sure I recounted the positive affirmations that I had been reading. This worked well, I reminded myself that my body knows how to birth my baby.

I felt a sudden change in the surges. I got out of the bath and squatted on the toilet. My husband noticed a change in my behaviour and so rang triage. Whilst on the phone I told the midwife that I could feel something inside my vagina. This was in fact the baby’s head. The midwife instructed my husband to call 999. The ambulance arrived swiftly and took us to the birth centre. On arrival it was found that I was 10cm dilated and our baby was close to being born.

After 20 minutes of pushing, using my husband to support me squatting and on all fours, our baby was born.

The ambulance crew that showed us such great care stayed and witnessed the birth of our beautiful baby boy. I credit the positive birth company for empowering us to create a sanctuary at home that helped me progress in labour and made me feel like a goddess in labour. Thank you.