Birth story - Sarah and baby Eden

This was our first baby and we had been working hard on practising hypnobirthing techniques in the build up to meeting him. At 36 weeks, we found out that our baby was facing back to back which immediately filled us with worry about how the birth would pan out.

My fiancé helped me to remain focused and in the green zone by spending the next 3 weeks taking long walks in the park, relaxing in a bath in the evenings, bouncing on a birth ball and remaining in a UFO position as much as I could. I also spent some time each day listening to the positive affirmations on the Freya app and my birthing playlist of classical songs that filled me with emotion. I trusted in my body and I knew that my baby knew when and how to be born.

When I reached 39 weeks, I had a bloody show and I knew this was the start of labour. We spent that day walking around our favourite park, watching funny tv shows and treated ourselves to a take away pizza. The surges became stronger by the early morning and we knew it was time to get ourselves ready. We put my playlist on repeat, lit candles, took a bath and started to let the oxytocin flow. I used a TENs machine throughout my early labour at home and it really helped me manage the surges as they increased in intensity. As soon as I reached 3 regular surges within 10 minutes lasting 60 seconds each, we travelled to the birth centre.

When we arrived, our room was everything we had imagined. Dimmed lighting, a pool, fairy lights in the ceiling. My fiancé got to work immediately setting up our space, using aromas and our music. He shared our birth preferences with the midwife and became the keeper of our cave. I chose to be examined on arrival and was so pleased to hear that I had reached 4cm so the pool was filled and I got in. The hot water was a huge relief.

Throughout each surge, my fiancé was on my side and by my side. He held the gas and air for me as I breathed through each surge and reminded me to not tense up and to breathe deeply. When the surges were powerful, he repeated affirmations to keep me focused and in the green zone and got me snacks and drinks when they calmed.

He also advocated for me for our birth preferences when decisions had to be made to help me progress further. Towards the end, the baby needed extra space to rotate into the correct position but my bladder was full and stopping him from moving. We used our BRAIN and decided to have a temporary catheter fitted as I couldn't go to the toilet. As soon as my bladder was empty, I listened to my body and felt the urge to push until our baby rotated and was no longer back to back.

Our baby was born not long after and we remained in the water for skin to skin and delayed the cord clamping whilst our music was still playing in the background. It was an incredible moment that I'll remember forever. He was born naturally with no intervention and I had no rips or tears.

We waited for my body to naturally deliver my placenta but I had been in labour for many hours by this point and I was too exhausted. We used our BRAIN again and opted for the medical management whilst I focused on our baby and continued with skin to skin time on the bed to allow our baby to latch onto my breast on his own.

My fiancé then took over for some skin to skin time whilst I was checked over; it was beautiful watching them together. We can only look back at my birth with positivity and this is thanks to hypnobirthing. Giving birth was the proudest moment of my life so far; I truly feel like a superhero.