Birth story - Laura and baby girl

I shared the story of my son's birth on here (he was born in April 2019) and you might want to read that first to set the scene...it was a very fast birth, with no time to fill the pool for a water birth, but nonetheless a super positive and empowering experience.

So this time around I was set on having the water birth I always dreamed of, and while the midwives encouraged me from the start to go for a home birth, both my husband and I preferred the thought of giving birth in the birth centre again...also as we don't have that much space in our flat to set up the pool etc.

As my boy was born at 39+2, I truly expected this little girl to come early too. Pregnancy was easy, except for more nausea in the first trimester, which I didn't really have with my boy, and lightning crotch and more regular cramps etc, in the third trimester this time around. From 37+4 weeks or so she actually felt so low in my pelvis that I wasn't sure I would even be able to do my last day at work (which was around 38+4). Anyway, I did finish work and was actually excited to have a few days to chill, but fully expected baby girl to arrive the following week.

Similar to my last pregnancy I stayed very active throughout, including teaching back to back spin classes at the weekends.

Anyway, week 39 came and that night I thought things might be starting as I felt a lot of pressure down there and quite crampy, but it all stopped again.

Fast forward to Saturday, 8th of October and I taught my usual two spin classes that morning. If you have read my previous birth story, I went into labour the day I taught a double spin class and gave birth to my boy just under 12 hours after finishing the last class...

Anyway, that afternoon I felt a lot of pressure in the pelvic area again as I went for a walk in the park while my husband took our 3 year old son swimming. When I came home, I thought I felt cramps that kind of came and went, similar to when things started with my son. I didn't want to get too excited or hopeful, but when my husband came home, I said I am feeling some things.

However, when we sat down to have dinner with our son it kind of faded again and I thought maybe not today but tomorrow (my mother jokingly said she wants another Sunday baby as our son was born on Easter Sunday in 2019).

My husband and I watched a movie and I went to bed straight after. At 3:30am I woke up feeling crampy again or what I thought could be a very mild contraction.

It was a while later when I felt the same again, but it was very mild again. I drifted in and out of sleep between these surges / contractions. At 7am I woke up with another surge and felt they were a little stronger, so started to use the upbreathing. Still very manageable though, so decided to stay in bed. Around 7:30am our son joined us in bed (as is usual at weekends) for cuddles. The surges were still over 10 minutes apart, sometimes more and very light. So we stayed in bed together and I breathed through them when they came. I told my husband I would go for a walk around 8:30am to see if I can get things moving along.

He got up around the same time to make breakfast for our son.

I left just after 8:40am and started timing the surges with the Freya app.

After only just over 10 minutes, the app said I am in established labour. I felt like I was still managing well, so continued walking for a bit. However, the surges now started to come more frequently and I decided to head back.

Around two blocks from our home, I felt they were coming a lot stronger and I actually had to stop and breathe. At this point I was a bit worried whether we would make it to the hospital in time.

The moment I walked through the door I told my husband to call his mum to come over (who luckily only lives a short walk away) and call an Uber. This was around 9:15am. I told my husband to call the birth centre to tell them we are coming and to start filling the pool - not giving up hope yet of my water birth!

We got in the Uber at 9:25am and at that point I felt my body started to push.

I was kneeling on all fours on the floor in the back of the car and with every surge I was roaring like a Tiger at this point. Every time the car stopped, I got a bit worried that we are stuck in traffic, so I decided to keep my eyes closed so I wouldn't start panicking.

The breathing went a bit out the window at this point as the surges were so strong and I felt so much pressure that my body was just making all the noises in the world. With the third or so surge my waters broke but luckily my husband announced we are just around the corner from the hospital.

When we walked into the hospital, I started roaring again as I had another surge.

So when we got up to the birth centre they already held the doors open as they heard me downstairs...

They guided me into a room and one of two midwives pulled off my pants as I kneeled on the floor. I said I wanted a water birth but she said she can see baby's head (this is around 9:50am). So I moved over slightly, to lean over a big cushion, staying UFO, and in the exact same position as when I gave birth to my son.

The next surge came and I went along with it and pushed. I felt her head coming down and almost crowning, but did not want to 'push too far', but let my body do its thing, so I stopped pushing and the surge passed. The midwife checked the baby's heart rate and she said I need to change position as baby wasn't too happy. However, the same thing happened with my son so I was not too concerned. But I leaned onto my left as instructed. The midwives also said to try and push but work with my breath, which was a helpful reminder. One of the midwives put a flannel on my perineum to protect it, which I was very grateful for.

The next surge came and I gently pushed and breathed down at the same time. I felt the baby's head move down again and crown, they told me to push a bit more, and I gently kept pushing until the head popped out. I have to admit, while I felt her crowning, I would not describe it as a ring of fire and it wasn't painful at all. This time around, I also did not feel like anything 'tore' or ripped, which I felt when my son was born.

They told me to push again to get the body out, but I trusted my body and waited for the next surge, gently breathed and pushed with it and the body came out and they handed her through my legs so I could put her on my chest (they mentioned the cord being very short). This was exactly at 9:58am, which was recorded as the time of birth and around 8 minutes after we arrived.

I kept sitting on the floor, enjoying skin to skin. I told the midwives I want to wait for the placenta to come out and they told me I have an hour. We sat on the floor in awe of what just happened and my husband cut the cord when it was white.

As we got close to the hour and the placenta hadn't come out yet, they told me to try and go to the toilet as emptying the bladder may help. So I handed our beautiful baby girl to my husband and went to the toilet. The placenta came out with very little effort as I started peeing.

I also had a quick shower to clean up and then went back to sit on the bed and give our daughter her first feed. She latched on straight away.

The midwife asked me whether I wanted to watch when she examines the placenta and I agreed as I was quite curious. It is truly amazing what our bodies produce and do in order to grow a little human being.

At 11am I asked whether we would go home, but we were told we need to wait until five hours post birth so they can complete the post birth checks with the baby. So we waited until 3pm, during which time I fed her and she slept on my chest.

We got home just after 4pm and introduced our son to his new baby sister.

After my first birth experience, my biggest fear was that my second birth would not be as positive. But I can truly say that this was another amazing, positive and very empowering experience, all thanks to the PBC, which I used for both pregnancies / in preparation of labour. I cannot recommend this course enough and have done so to many friends.