Birth story - Lotti and baby boy

I woke up at 1.30am Saturday morning needing the toilet. I then started having some uncomfortable tightenings roughly every 10 minutes but didn’t think much of it. I struggled to get back to sleep but managed to doze a little in between the surges. They gradually got stronger throughout the morning but were still about 7 mins apart so I thought we had a while to go (my first labour lasted 34 hours).

Suddenly at about 10.20am the surges became intense and I felt a strong pressure very low down. It felt like something had quickly changed. My body then started to push. I shouted my husband to call the hospital but while he was looking for the phone number I felt like the baby was coming out. I told him to ring 999 and I asked my mum to come round quick.

Five minutes later, as my husband was still on the phone to the operator, I felt the head coming out. My mum arrived just in time to catch the baby. He was born at 10.35am so it all happened quite quickly. My body just took over and there was no stopping it.

It was the most amazing experience and I’ll never forget it. I used the up breathing technique for most of it but didn’t get chance to even think about the down breathing! I used the Freya app throughout and found it really helpful and relaxing.

The paramedics arrived about half an hour after he was born. I couldn’t believe I’d done it on my own with no pain relief! After a quick trip to hospital for some stitches and a check over, we were back home within a few hours. This is the second time I’ve done the online hypnobirthing course and I can’t recommend it enough. I can safely say I had a very positive experience!