Birth story - Jess and baby Emily

On the 8th of December at around 10:45pm my waters decided to break whilst I was just about to fall to sleep! With panic and dread going off in my head I managed to stay calm and practice the breathing techniques whilst on the way to the hospital! As I was just over 36 weeks pregnant I had to stay in over night and be booked in for an induction the following night! At around 5:30am in the morning I started having contractions that kept coming and going.

I had an examination to see how far dilated I was at around 1pm and was told I was 2cm dilated! I kept doing my breathing techniques as the pain was getting unbearable and 2 hours later I had to call the midwife and had another examination to find I was 6 cm dilated!!! I got rushed to the delivery ward and was on gas and air straight away!! I was offered an epidural but couldn’t have one because I had a high temperature so I had to carry on with no pain relief. I was in the mode and focused on my breathing techniques.

I suffer from anxiety so the breathing techniques helped so much because I was scared I was gonna go into meltdown and have a panic attack but the positive affirmations from the course kept me going and I knew I was capable of doing this!!

Emily Rae was born at 9:10pm that very same night! She came out and was put immediately on my chest and I have never felt love like it. She was perfect.

She had trouble with her breathing so she had to be put in an incubator and was on oxygen for the next 2 nights but 6 weeks later she is now healthy and fit and loving life! I can’t thank this course and community enough for the help it’s given me. It’s made me a stronger person and now I feel like I can do anything after giving birth to my baby! Thank you for helping me believe I was capable of delivering my baby.