Birth story - Pooja and baby Aarya

After having an induction due to baby's size and ending in an emergency c section at 38 weeks in my first pregnancy, I was torn about what to do the second time round. I was offered an induction again if I went to term or I could have a natural birth before my due date. I was quite eager to have a VBAC and that's when I stumbled across the PBC course after a friend suggested it.

At 38 weeks I went to the toilet at 10pm on a Sunday and as I got up, I felt something trickle out of me, I thought great, my bladder has well and truly gone on me! But as I walked to the bed more started trickling. I had 3 bouts of diarrhoea and I thought in my head this was it, baby was ready! I thought i would go to sleep and see how I feel in the morning.

At 11pm my contractions started, slow like an intense powerful feeling every 20 minutes. I put my headphones in and listened to positive affirmations alongside the breathing on the Freya app every time a contraction came and bounced on my ball. By 5am they were coming every 10 minutes, I rang the maternity ward, as advised by them as I had had a previous c section. They told me to make my way down.

When I got to the hospital, the contractions started to slow down. The midwife said she would check me and I told her not to bother as I didn't think I was that far along. The doctor wanted me to be monitored continously which meant laying on the bed and not moving my entire labour, I declined this. From 6am to 1pm I laboured in a room and my husband would press the breathing button on the freya app everytime my contractions came. At 2pm I asked the midwife to check me, I was 4cm and got moved to the labour ward. As soon as I got in the room I asked the midwife to close the blinds and turn the lights to dim.

At 5pm I was 8cm and ready to push. I was struggling, asking for an epidural as the contractions were earth shaking, my husband supported me by telling me to focus on my breathing. I pushed for almost 2 hours until the doctor came and preformed an episiotomy and with 2 final pushes baby girl was born at 7.31pm.

The joy I felt after was amazing, I did it. I never thought or believed that I could have a natural birth following a c section until I listened to the PBC course. It has taught me just how much inner strength I have and makes me feel like I can accomplish anything by just listening to my body. I will forever remember the course and will still use the breathing techniques in general life. Thank you so much for my life changing experience ❤️