Birth story - Louise and baby Olivia

I did a hypnobirthing course with our local hospital with my first baby and immediately connected with it- it made perfect sense to me and I loved the science behind it all. I felt so informed and the knowledge I gained took away any fear I had about giving birth and gave me such confidence in my body’s ability to birth my baby naturally. I had a pretty quick, straightforward, peaceful water birth in my local home from home midwifery led unit.

When I found out I was pregnant with my second baby I knew I wanted to retrain in all the tools I’d learnt in hypnobirthing. I purchased the positive birth company course and again felt really confident about birth the second time round. As my first birth was relatively quick, I knew that this one would be similar and I wondered whether it would be worth exploring a Homebirth. With all the restrictions for mothers with Covid, I settled on a homebirth and I am so glad I did.

On the morning of Olivia’s birth, my husband and I went for a forest walk with our first born. We both had the feeling that we were coming to the end of doing those ‘last things’ as a family of three and it felt really special to soak up that morning. During the walk I was struggling physically which wasn't usual, we walked every day and I had been feeling great. I felt tightening in my tummy, cramps and Braxton Hicks, but this was nothing unusual as I’d been having these on and off all week.

When we got home the cramps felt strong and I wondered whether they would pitter out after lunch time like they had done previously over the last few days. They stayed all day, around the same strength and by my son’s bedtime they were still there. I wondered if maybe tonight would be the night.

Not long after we put our son to bed, I started to feel the urge to go to the bathroom, then the first contraction came at 8.15pm and from then they came thick and fast, strong and long. I got the Freya app started and contractions began at 3 minutes apart. After 10 minutes they were coming every minute and it felt like I wasn’t getting a break in between them. My body started to shake and I knew I needed to get myself into the zone quickly or I could end up panicking at how quick and intense it was. My husband phoned my mum so she could collect our son and then rang the midwives on call. It was all happening very quickly. My husband ran the bath for me as I like the water at the “start” of labour. I got the birth affirmations going and tried to breathe along with Freya but I was struggling to catch my breath with how strong they were. I have to admit, this time was a bit frantic as my husband was trying to do everything - get my son’s bags together, get him out of bed and ready, run the birthing pool downstairs and attend to me when he could. I knew I had to rely on what I’d learned and in the confidence I had to do this myself. I really focused on getting my mind in the right place at this stage, on my breathing and getting my body relaxed. I got into the bath, listened to the affirmations and counted the contractions. At this point I knew I was never going to make it to the birthing pool downstairs, this was going to happen here in the bathroom and soon.

I heard my parents arrive just before 9pm and my husband came upstairs to be with me. I don’t think he realised how far on we were at this point and just how soon our daughter was going to be born. The moment he said, “He’s away with your parents now and he’s really delighted to see them, he’s happy,” my body made one almighty push at the end of the contraction. The midwife arrived at 9pm, almost immediately after my parents left and Olivia Rose was born in the bath at 9.09pm. I really felt such a sense of empowerment and, “I can do this” as I felt Olivia moving down. I took my time, embraced it and breathed her out calmly and slowly. I felt amazing. The midwife passed her through my legs and I lifted her up to my chest. I cannot describe the euphoria at this moment. I was elated and amazed that she was here after 1 hour from first contraction. The beauty of a homebirth was that not long after that I was tucked up in my own bed, having our first feed and the all important tea and toast. It was bliss.

I cannot recommend hypnobirthing enough - it’s not to say that everything will go perfectly if you hypnobirth, but it is to say that you will have the tools to keep yourself calm and relaxed however you choose to birth and whatever that birth may look like for you.