Birth story - Sarah and baby Thea

Having now experienced childbirth (something I had always been anxious about but always wanted children) I really think that without the course the pain would have overwhelmed me and sent me into panic, and it could have been a very different experience.

In the end, however, I was fortunate enough to have an amazing water birth. Prior to doing the course I had flatly refused to entertain the idea of a water birth; I didn’t like the thought of sitting in cold water surrounded by my own waste! But now I don't think I'll ever forget the blissful relief when I got in the pool.

On the day my labour began, my husband, Josh, and I had the confidence to stay at home for 10 hours before going to hospital. When we arrived I was 5cm dilated and they were able to offer me the pool right away. Approximately two and a half hours later our baby girl arrived and I had the privilege of lifting her out of the water and onto my chest. I had been worried about it for so long, and there I was having the kind of labour so many women wish for.

I know I was lucky, and that some women have unavoidable medical issues that mean they never get the chance to experience such a birth (including my friend that I mentioned who had to have an unplanned caesarean) but I also know Josh and I were able to work at creating a positive experience because of what we’d learnt on the course. Josh watched all the videos with me, and in fact he frequently encouraged me to read a positive birth story on the Facebook page to counter-balance the horror stories. I didn't actually get many of these whilst I was pregnant, but I had stored them up over the years as friends and family shared their experiences with me.

During my labour, there were several occasions when the pain began to overwhelm me and I got out of sync with my breathing. I had been using the Freya app and handed it over to Josh when I could no longer concentrate. He consistently managed to get me back on track so we could keep focus and control, and this helped enormously. 

We had an amazing midwife who was on board and in sync with us - I forgot to take my birth plan and pretty much lost the ability to talk so I barely communicated with her but she massively contributed to the calm environment. Towards the end I distinctly remember her saying 'stop pushing, you're going to breathe this baby out'. Initially I was confused and took a while to work out how to regain control of my body in order to do that, but I managed to do so and got back to my down breathing (which, by the way, comes in so handy on the toilet after birth!).

Our little girl, Thea, is six weeks old today, and I think about giving birth to her pretty much every day. It was an amazing experience which I am incredibly proud of and grateful for, and the digital pack made that possible.