Birth story - Ishka and baby Casey

I came across Hypnobirthing when I was pregnant with my daughter in 2015 and although the experience was positive, where I did most of the work at home, as soon as we got to the hospital, the delivery resulted in intervention (forceps delivery). This left me feeling slightly disappointed as both myself and my husband didn’t feel completely in control.

For my pregnancy this time round, I wanted to refresh what I had learned previously and to find out why the delivery of my daughter resulted in the intervention and to further educate myself in the science behind hypnobirthing. I came across the digital birth pack around 20 weeks and went through the course with my husband very quickly. We found the course very informative and inspiring too. I was also keen for a homebirth to prevent intervention this time round.

At 12.30am on 10th December 2018 I woke up to light surges. My son was not due for another two weeks, due on 24th December so I initially thought I was having Braxton Hicks. I woke my husband up 30 mins later as the surges were coming every 15 minutes lasting 30 seconds to a minute and managed to do a few up breathing exercises before falling back to sleep.

At 6am we woke up and my surges were still coming in at 10 mins apart lasting 1 min, this is when I knew I was in early stages of labour and not having Braxton Hicks. My daughter came into our room to sing me happy birthday which was really sweet. We then discussed about getting the pool ready for the birth. We were going to test out the pool two weeks before due date and now it looked like we were going to use it today. Little did we know that the birth would be very speedy.

After a quick breakfast and me opening my birthday present and cards from hubby and daughter (all through this I am very calm and relaxed and using my up breathing for the surges that were coming every 10 to 15 mins) hubby hoovered the house (at my request as I was in cleaning mode lol) and then dropped off our daughter to day care. I got a little bit emotional as she was leaving and gave her a big hug. As they were driving out the drive way around 8am, I then had a big surge and went to use the bathroom to which I noticed a bloody show.

I took a quick shower after this and hubby returned home and started setting up the pool. While he was setting the pool up I got into comfortable clothes and listened to the positive affirmations audio and started bouncing on the birth ball while using my up breathing through the surges.

The pool was inflated and the room was set up within half an hour, however as we thought the labour would take a little longer we decided not to fill the pool up. The next two hours I continued with the up breathing and surges were coming every 10 mins. The surges were now becoming more powerful and so I decided at this point to use the TENS machine and hubby was intermittently rubbing my back and helping me with the breathing. I texted my midwife at 10.56am who was very supportive throughout my pregnancy and told her that I was having surges. She texted back and advised to call labour line to let them know I was in early labour (I didn’t see the message until after 11.30ish)

Hubby called labour line around 11.45am and they asked if a midwife should be sent out to us. At this point I thought that it may be ok to wait an hour or so before a midwife be sent as I didn’t think I was that far along, and I was coping really well with my breathing, however as soon as we got off the phone I had a really intense and powerful surge around 12pm and then noticed that I needed to use the bathroom (to do a poo).

Hubby manged to help me to the toilet. At this point things ramped up considerably and I had another intense surge where I felt pushing and knew baby was coming. I expressed this to hubby and I remember him saying to me “I think it may be too soon and you only need to use the bathroom to do a number two” lol.

I was sitting on the toilet and hubby was with me while another intense surge came, and I yelled at hubby to call someone as baby was coming. (this was my wobble moment) Hubby called the labour line at 12.04pm to tell them to send the midwife. Hubby then ran downstairs to start to fill up the birth pool, in the living room downstairs (he wanted me to get my water birth lol).

He then came back up and I got off the toilet and had a bit of a rest period maybe 2 mins or so. I decided to feel down there to see if I could feel the baby’s head and I must have felt something but couldn’t be sure as another intense surge came and I let out a primal roar/shout. At this time Hubby called the emergency services around 12.24pm as he couldn’t get through to labour line again. While he was talking to the emergency services person on the other end of the phone, I asked him to see if he could see the baby’s head at which point he said “I don’t know if it’s your hair or the baby’s head” lol.

I then had a very powerful surge, and I let out another primal roar and then heard hubby saying the head is out. He was at the same time talking to the emergency services person but put the phone down and managed to say to me “you need to breath him out now”.

My body knew exactly what it was doing and I didn’t need to do anything as our son glided out one shoulder after another (hubby’s visual recollection) and hubby received him at 12.29pm. At this point I remember asking hubby if baby was ok and then our son gave a cry which was a relief to both of us. I then went instinctively into mummy mode and told my husband to hand him to me and to be careful of the cord so that we could have skin to skin. Hubby got back on the phone to the emergency services person who he could hear saying “what’s happening” lol

They advised to keep baby warm with towels and to check he was breathing ok. The paramedics then arrived to make sure we were both ok. The midwife followed shortly after. We delayed cord clamping and I had a physiological third stage, birthing the placenta naturally. We then had a magical few hours bonding in our own bed. I had a minor tear and graze and didn’t need any stitches.

We did however have to go into hospital for observations as baby’s temperature was a bit low and an ambulance was then called to take us in. The ambulance crew joked about getting a ride via ambulance on our shared birthday. We spent a couple of nights in hospital for observations but everything was fine afterwards.

I can say the whole pregnancy and birthing experience was truly positive and empowering. My husband is also in awe of having witnessed this miracle and helped deliver his own son. So very magical indeed. A great experience for everyone and I believe the digital pack helped us tremendously.

Thank you, Siobhan.