Birth story - Keya and baby Daxleigh

A bit of background…

We ended up in hospital with my 2 year old for 18 days when I was just over 35 weeks. I was really struggling with worrying for him and essentially living in hospital, getting terrible rest and just not preparing for my new babe at all how I'd have liked too. When we were discharged he still wasn't well and my partner, other son and I all caught viruses off of him from being at the hospital and all the exposure.

So in summary, we were exhausted, sick and living in a house of contamination. So I was quite stressed, knowing we weren't ready to welcome babe, but also had to fight the thoughts in the back of my mind that babe would be huge if they didnt come soon. I started to feel better the day before she came.

On Dec 3, I woke up around 3:15 to some surges. They were pretty moderate but I had been having them most nights around that time for a couple weeks so I didn't think too much.

By 3:45 they were lasting a minute and 5 minutes apart, so I called my midwife. We planned to meet at the birth center at 5am. I always down play the severity of things.

By 4:15 they were intense, powerful and regular, every 2-3 minutes so I phoned the midwife back and said I'd be at the center sooner. I was face to face with myself in the mirror, focussed on how exciting it was and how soon I would have my baby and how each surge was one step closer. I was able to smile through many of them which was a HUGE game changer.

Got to the birth centre around 4:45, where she was running the tub. I got straight into the shower (which is incredible at the birth center, two different heads and 4 adjustable jets). We knew going in that my babe was posterior (facing out or back to back) so that jet on my back was life saving.

Then the water in the shower got a bit cold so I moved to the tub. My surges were incredibly strong at this time but I had my mom there and I was listening to Siobhan and I could focus on the positive.

I labored in the tub until my baby was born. I switched from on my knees to reclined back a bit to try and alleviate my back labor. I said things like, "the surges are good" "the water is warm" "I feel comfortable" "my baby is coming soon" and meant them. They were simple but true and I could hold onto that.

It was so different for me to either of my first deliveries, and I put 95% of that credit to hypnobirthing and how Siobhan educates through her online course.

It is such a simple shift, but incomparably powerful. To have control over your mind and being able to form the belief that everything is going as it should, and to know how to help your body do exactly what it's meant to, makes all the difference.

And to clarify, both my first babes were born in hospital, vaginally and naturally, with no complications, but I always got to the point of negative self talk and a bad head space.

Not with this one. The only wobble I had was the very very end. I had already pushed out my sweet peas head, and in my previous expereince, the rest of baby followed without much effort. Not this gem. It took another good 2 pushes to get her shoulders out so the rest of her could follow and I was so focussed on how I expected it to be that that tiny bit of extra required effort almost unhinged me. But I stayed present and calm and all was well.

I could keep my head about me.

My babe was born at 5:57am, not even 3 hours after things kicked off. 💜💜💜