Birth story - Iona and baby Theo

I only found The Positive Birth Company when I was 38 wks pregnant. I had a scan showing baby was above the 99th centile and I’d had a previous 11lb 1oz baby and after some panic googling I came across your affirmation ‘my baby is the right size for my body’ and decided to order the book. It was delivered when I was 38+4 and I couldn’t put it down, ‘the science stuff’ had me hooked, it all made so much sense! I’d intended to look into hypnobirthing my entire pregnancy and never got round to it.

I got to 11 days overdue and my induction was booked for the next morning and I was feeling pretty anxious as that was something I really didn’t want, but I was still worried about how big the baby would be and the covid-19 situation was changing quickly, so I wasn’t going to postpone it. I spent the evening re-reading the chapter on induction and googling positive birth stories featuring induction while my husband loaded the iPad with Netflix downloads! I went to bed feeling calm and excited and woke up 45 mins later in the start of labour! The cramps started at midnight and were 6/7mins apart, within half an hour they were lasting over a minute and they were getting stronger quickly. I used the Freya app to time them and called my Mum at about 1:30am to come and look after our other two children. By the time she arrived the surges were 3/4 mins apart and most were lasting over a minute, I had a shower and we got ourselves ready and left for the hospital.

I was examined at 3:45am and was 4cm, I struggled hearing that as I felt like things should’ve been further along by the intensity of the surges but I lay on my back for the examination and that definitely wasn’t helping as I was feeling them in my back. Baby wasn’t completely back to back but was in the wrong position. As soon as I got back into an UFO position and concentrating on what my body was doing, I zoned back into the Freya app and felt I was coping again. I had been desperate for a water birth with my previous 2 labours and never got one and knowing this would be our last baby my heart would’ve broken had I not got the pool again! They advised that someone was being prepared to be discharged so they would get it cleaned and prepared for me as soon as they could and in the meantime they ran me a bath. The water helped immensely as soon as I was in it but it wasn’t quite deep enough or big enough to get in a comfortable UFO position.

At 5am we made our way through to the birthing pool and the difference was unbelievable, the water was deep enough to cover where I was feeling the surges in my back and I had much more space, my lovely midwife also started massaging my back through the contractions which was amazing. I was totally focused on my up breathing and don’t think I spoke other than to ask for water now and again. My breathing changed very quickly and all of a sudden I was pushing and I could actually feel our babies head coming lower and then going back up, in my previous labour it was so fast and I was so panicked by this point I didn’t notice any of these sensations, so I’d been doubtful when I read about this but I genuinely felt everything. I carried on with my down breathing and the head was born, the shoulders were slightly stuck so my midwife got me into a different position and finally our team yellow bump turned into a gorgeous baby boy called Theo, on 19th March at 06:55am, weighing 10lb 13oz! 

The entire experience was totally different for both my husband and I due to the calm labour and how I was able to handle it thanks to hypnobirthing, the understanding of what my body was doing and the Freya app for keeping me entirely focused. I honestly can’t believe how I was able to take that much from a book I’d got less than 2 wks before I was due! I am so proud of myself and completely buzzing from my positive experience. My midwife was absolutely amazing, she totally supported hypnobirthing and gave us the space we needed to make the birth our own while still being a huge support. My husband was able to be there the whole time and we were discharged 6 hrs later straight from the midwife led unit which was a huge relief to us as we were worried about being in a hospital at this time and then going home to our other children. The Midwife’s are doing an amazing, selfless job and I feel so lucky for how well I was looked after in all this chaos.