Birth story - Laura and baby Hallam

Following a traumatic birth with my first son in 2018, I dreamed of a completely different experience second time around. I completed the digital pack and the knowledge it gave me left me feeling empowered, confident & excited to give birth again!

I spent my evenings reading though positive birth stories which prepared me for all of the different ways things could go, but showed me that as long as I felt in control then it could be a positive experience no matter what. Before bed I would listen to positive affirmations & would often fall asleep practicing the breathing techniques whilst listening to the hypnobirthing tracks & positive affirmations.

After a presentation scan showed that baby was no longer breech I was so happy that I could choose our local midwife led maternity unit as my birth place; it’s a wonderful place (I was transferred back there after the birth of my first son for a few days) and their whole ethos matches everything taught in the course.

My due date came and went but I chose to decline a sweep, trusting in my body & knowing that baby would come when he was ready. On 09.07.20 (40+4) I started having tightenings which I just put down to Braxton Hicks, these continued overnight & into the next day. At lunch time the next day I had a show, then by 6pm I was having regular contractions.

I spent the evening at home using the FREYA app; listening to the hypnobirthing tracks, focusing on my breathing & bouncing on my birth ball. I put my TENS machine on about 9pm and phoned the MLU to give them a heads up, then continued to labour at home for as long as I was happy. I was really surprised at how quickly things were progressing, and by 11.30pm I phoned them back to tell them I was ready to come in.

When we arrived we were met by our amazing midwife who showed us into our birthing room which was just perfect; candles, essential oils in the diffuser, coloured low lights & the pool already filled. The environment was beautiful and didn’t feel at all clinical, which was instantly relaxing.

I chose to have an examination as I wanted to know how things were going, to my absolute amazement I was already 8cm, I felt so proud of myself! I stayed upright leaning over the pool & breathing through my contractions which were getting stronger with each one. I started using gas & air then soon after I suddenly felt my waters go with a huge gush, things seemed to progress very quickly after this as all of a sudden I could feel my body begin to push. At this point I remember having a moment because I thought things were going too quickly - hello transition! We were joined by our second midwife and I got into the pool, the warmth of the water was lovely but I didn’t get much time to enjoy it as just 6 minutes later at 1.46am on 11.07.20 (40+6) our baby boy was born very quickly into the water! It was the most magical moment.

I had precious skin to skin time in the pool and delayed cord clamping. Once out of the pool I was examined & had stitches for a second degree tear (which I didn’t even realise had happened) whilst my husband had skin to skin, then the midwife took the time to show us the placenta & explain how it worked which was fascinating. When I later looked at my phone I saw that our second midwife had taken lots of photos & even filmed the moment I gave birth, such special memories which I will treasure forever.

I stayed for 2 nights to get support to establish breastfeeding. Covid meant no visitors (apart from husband one hour a day) so I made the most of my newborn bubble & spent time really getting to know my new baby before going home to introduce him to his big brother & begin our life as a family of 4.

I feel so lucky to be able to say I had my absolute dream birth, it was the most incredible & healing experience and I feel I like the positive birth company had a huge part to play in that, so I am truly grateful.

If there’s just one thing I could recommend to any pregnant woman it would be to complete the online course, as every woman should be empowered to feel like the superwoman they are.