Birth story - Meg and baby Lennon

My first child was born very quickly - 5 hours start to finish. Although it was a straightforward natural birth I was left slightly traumatised from the sheer force of it. I hadn’t prepared myself at all.

So when I fell pregnant again I knew straight away hypnobirthing was something I wanted to look into. Due to the pandemic and lack of work the idea of doing a big expensive course was a bit daunting, The PBC digital pack was found online and I started it around week 25. I threw myself into the course, keeping up with the recommended practicing. I found that by doing the positive affirmations and relaxation tracks not only made me feel totally at ease with the idea of labour but was amazing at helping me be a calmer parent to my 4 year old. Even my relationship with my husband became stronger.

At 37 weeks, one evening, I realised I hadn’t felt the baby move for a bit, I wasn’t too concerned as he often had periods of quietness but I decided needed to be safe and get checked. He was, as suspected, totally fine on the monitor and kicking around like mad as I waited for the triage staff to get a doctor to give me the ok. To my surprise when the doctor arrived he told me I could get a sweep right there and then, or the following Monday. I asked why and he said because I would be 38 weeks in a few days he was safe to come out and it was better than risking if there was a placenta problem. I asked the alternative and he offered monitoring every 3 days. I decided to go with this as there was no evidence I had any problems (I also had a growth scan a few days before and everything looked absolutely fine so this helped with my decision). I had no idea, pre doing The PBC course, that I could in fact say yes and no to whatever I wanted so I was so grateful for this info behind me. The rest of the pregnancy carried on fine, with the monitoring every 3 days. We were set for a home birth and had a pool hired and ready to go.

At 39 + 6 weeks I woke up thinking this might be the day, I’d had twinges for a few day and Braxton Hicks for weeks. At around 10.30 pm I felt my first very mild contraction, excited I got up and started to get prepared. After the first birth being so quick I assumed this one would be super fast.

I went downstairs lit a few candles and started on relaxation tracks. After I was confident I was feeling ultra calm I put on Bridget Jones and sat on the floor doing some active birth yoga. Feeling really good and breezing through the contractions.

By 3am nothing had progressed, I was feeling tied and nervous as to why things were not ramping up. Things felt different to my first child’s birth and I suspected the baby was back to back.

I woke my husband and he joined me downstairs for support and I soon relaxed again.

At around 4am contractions were still 8-10 mins or so apart but I finally felt like things were moving forward. I sensed that things might ramp up really soon so I told my husband to call the midwife.

By 5am they were 2 mins apart and still no sign of the midwife. My husband kept trying them but there seemed to be an issue with who they sent out to us.

We remained calm, the Freya app was incredibly helpful as Matty had been figuring out the pool and dealing with our 4 year old who had woken up and come downstairs. It was an incredible experience feeling every movement, I literally could feel him passing down the birth canal, yes it was uncomfortable at this stage but totally manageable when breathing correctly. Sometimes I would miss breathing and pain would kick in but as soon as I remembered to breath again I felt in control.

At about 6am Matty asked me if I wanted to get in the pool but I was unable to move from hands and knees. 10 minutes later I felt the urge to push, still no midwife so I told Matty to call an ambulance as we were always told to do so if no midwife was present. The man on the other end started to talk matty through delivering a baby. My 4 year old sat on the sofa saying how he could see the head coming and going again. This was 6.19am. This is the point where I lost it slightly, I was feeling frightened but I still remember having moments of total calm.

We heard the ambulance and I felt a wave of relief and suddenly his head popped out, I stared down at his little face and could feel his little head moving slightly. So bizarre. 30 seconds later the ambulance crew came rushing in, they had gas in hand which was brought straight over and I got a quick suck on it then out fell his little body.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was after his head arrived. I think it was rather nice for the ambulance crew to see a birth when they’ve probably seen so much horrid stuff at the moment. They stuck around for a while and the midwives turned up about 20 minutes later and helped me deliver the placenta. The whole experience was lovey really and I look back feeling really excited by it all. I’m so happy I discovered the PBC and can help spread positive stories! Thank you!