Birth story - Maria and baby boy

I definitely got lucky with my first birth as my labour was only 2 1/2 hours long! My waters had broken at 9pm and I had my daughter at 11:25pm with just gas and air. I was quite nervous about giving birth again as the first time it was so quick that I didn't really get time to process anything. I kept thinking how I would cope with the pain as it was bad enough for the 2 hours I was in labour. I definitely didn't want an epidural due to the side effects that can come with it and also because I absolutely hated needles. I was so glad when I had discovered hypnobirthing as it helped me to overcome my fears I had about labour.

I had read the book and purchased the digital pack which was packed with helpful videos. Although I hadn't finished watching them all, I was feeling much better overall and I was actually excited!

My midwife was sure I would give birth early when she checked me at 36 weeks as baby was really low and head was engaged, but I had actually ended up going to 40weeks and 4 days. I ended up being diagnosed with Covid-19 at 37 weeks, after which all the tightenings and signs of labour I was getting stopped for some reason. On the 5th May at around 6am I had started getting tightenings and they got a lot stronger in just 2 hours. The Freya app told me that I was in established labour and I called delivery suite and was told to come in. I was getting regular surges and they were getting stronger each time. They sent me and my husband straight to delivery suite as it seemed like I was very close and I didn't want to be internally examined. After an hour and a half they had moved me into the triage ward and my husband had to leave.

By 12pm the doctor had come and she said that she didn't feel like I was in established labour as my surges were now 2 in every 10 minutes and I didn't seem to be in much pain. My waters also hadn't gone by this time, whereas the first time my waters went before I went into labour. They wanted to send me home so I allowed them to do an internal examination. Thankfully I was 6cm! I called my husband to let him know he could come and we were back in the delivery suite.

I had asked the midwife whether I could use the pool and she went to get it ready. By the time the pool was ready the surges were much stronger and I decided to just use the UFO position on the bed. This definitely helped better than being on your back and I hadn't realised that I was actually in transition, which would explain why I felt like giving up then! I had been using the breathing techniques till now and decided to use gas and air. I told them I felt like pushing and one of the midwives (3 in the room) told me to go with what my body was saying. The 2 others were unsure as I was checked a few minutes ago and I was 8cm.

They couldn't get baby’s heart rate and had to put a clip on his head to check, I had a bit of a wobble here as I felt like something was wrong. The time after that was quite a blur, baby was being born sunny side up and I was tearing. At this point my waters had finally broken. They decided to do an episiotomy even though I wasn't aware until after the birth. A few doctors had come in as by now I was definitely tired (I didn't have no food since I woke up!)

After a few pushes baby was out weighing 8.3oz. I felt like I needed to push again after 5 minutes and after one big push the placenta had come out naturally. I had stitches due to a 2nd degree tear and the episiotomy. I definitely recommend hypnobirthing as it helped me a lot throughout my pregnancy and labour. I was glad that I had gotten through this without any intervention and also an epidural which I was very nervous about (fear of needles is real!)