Birth story - Mum and baby girl

After a traumatic birth with my first including a 24hr labour, 2hours of pushing, episiotomy, a 3rd degree tear and an enlarged bladder requiring a catheter for a week. It was safe to say I was more than a little nervous about giving birth again when I became pregnant with my second baby. My friend told me about the positive birth company and sent me her copy of ‘Practical ways to make birth better’. I was a little sceptical to start with but read through it anyway and began practicing the breathing exercises. I was offered a sweep at 38weeks to ensure baby wasn’t going to be too big which I accepted and had a 2nd a few days later. The day after my second sweep I went for a long walk around town and that night began having tightenings....

They weren’t consistent so I wasn’t expecting anything to happen that night but may be the next day. By around 930pm they had started to get stronger and I was able to use my breathing to breath through them. I began timing them but decided to go to bed to try and get some rest first. As they got stronger I wasn’t able to sleep much and eventually I got up and bounced on my ball using my tens machine to help me focus. At 2:30am I called the maternity ward and we decided that as I recovered quickly after contractions I could probably wait a bit longer. I felt so in control and relaxed and proud that I was managing to breath through them with relative ease. Once I hung up they ramped up a gear and I decided it was time to sort my son out and get things ready. The contractions got stronger but I was still able to breath through them. We got in the car at around 3:30am and everything changed. They came fast and strong and I was really having to focus on my breathing to get through them....

We live about 25minutes drive from the hospital and after around 10minutes in the car suddenly I couldn’t control my breathing and I began to ‘moo’, the surges changed downwards and I could feel the baby coming. I recognised the signs straight away and told my partner that she was coming. The surges came quickly and were pushing my baby down further until I began to feel her coming out. I pulled down my leggings and felt down to see if I could feel anything and there was her head coming. Another surge began pushing her head out and I just had to go with my body birthing my baby. My parents jumped out and tried to flag down a passing ambulance which didn’t stop. We tried calling an ambulance but with my partner being deaf and unable to talk on the phone I was unable to communicate through the contractions. I didn’t have time to panic as baby was coming and my body was doing it all. Thankfully another ambulance passed and my partner was able to wave it over to stop....

The paramedics came over and took the phone. I was relieved that we had help and told them quickly to get me some pain relief. After a puff on gas and air her head was delivered. They told me to push with the next contraction and without any effort she was born. I always read the affirmations about your body being able to do it and I didn’t believe them because my first labour was so hard. But it’s absolutely true. My body did everything it should have. I didn’t push, I just stayed focusing on my breathing and keeping calm and my body did the rest. I still can’t believe how easy it was, although dramatic, compared to my first birth. I felt amazing and empowered that I had done everything myself and how amazing my body was. The breathing exercises kept me focused throughout and have given my daughter the most amazing birth story!