Birth story - Sarina and baby Rocco

We live in Switzerland and the only options on where to give birth near us is the choice of two hospitals, one very medicated and the other more natural.

Both my previous births were with epidurals and one induction and I was determined to have a different experience this time. I chose a different hospital and bought the PBC digital pack which was great as there is also no hypnobirthing courses in English near us.

I started having surges on Thursday afternoon, I noticed what I thought were uncomfortable Braxton Hicks at around 2pm. The mild surges continued through the afternoon and evening but I decided to not mention anything and go for dinner with my husband and some friends as planned. I didn’t want to get my hopes up if I wasn’t actually in labour or surges tailed off. My previous babies were ‘late’ so I really wasn’t expecting this baby to arrive before the due date- I had been eating 6 dates a day to try and avoid induction.

When we got home I told my husband I was having surges. I went to bed and tried to get some rest, I started to breath through the surges and they were now every 15 minutes. We decided to ask a friend to stay over in case. At around 4am I got up as I could no longer sleep through the surges, I bounced on the ball, made some toast and tried to watch some TV as distraction. After not long I asked Adam to get up with me and press on my back during the surges. At this point I was standing for each surge leaning on the armchair. We decided to go to the hospital at around 5am ‘to play it safe’. I spent the hour car journey listening to the positive birth company MP3s and this kept me incredibly relaxed.

Once we arrived at the hospital it dawned on me that I was actually in labour and going to have a baby and I had a bit of a cry. We were checked in to a small, bright room to be monitored. I was lying on my back, uncomfortable and desperate to be out of there. I was told I had to have a cannula put in which I didn’t want. My husband could see all of these things were effecting me being relaxed and suggested I change position (sitting on the edge of the bed) for the rest of the monitoring. We were left in the room and my husband turned off the lights, pushed on my back during surges and kept me as calm and in control as possible.

It was around 7am when the midwife checked my cervix and said I was half a cm. I tried my best to stay positive, I asked for pain relief since I thought I had a long day ahead of me. The bath wasn’t available as I had hoped and we could hear other women giving birth which was very hard to listen to at the time.

We were then moved to another room and the midwives changed over. Things started to get intense quite quickly and the midwife brought me an exercise ball and talked to me about relaxing my face during the surges. I stayed on the ball for a while and my husband helped me count through the surges and stay relaxed. I went to the toilet, was losing mucus but never noticed my waters break. After less than an hour my husband then called the midwife and she wanted to monitor me as I had asked for pain relief. I couldn’t comfortably lie down on the bed and was squirming and starting to feel out of control at this point, I think this was transition.

The midwife then checked my cervix before the monitoring and found I was fully dilated (just over an hour after being told I was half a cm) she buzzed for another midwife and I was quickly brought a wheelchair and taken to the delivery room! Once in the room I got onto the bed on my knees and held the back of the bed.

I started to feel the pressure of the baby and kept trying to keep my breathing in control, I was given a saline mask... not knowing it wasn’t having any pain relieving effects but it did help me concentrate on my breathing. I put my hand down to feel the head and excitedly let everyone know I could feel it! I went with my body and pushed when I felt the urge. I put my arms around my husbands neck and with the next surge and a huge roar out came baby onto the bed. The relief was enormous and everyone in the room was delighted, the doctor even cried! It was her birthday too.

We stared at him on the bed for a minute or two before putting him on my chest and my husband cut the cord. Baby cried for the first few seconds but then was calm and content. We took pictures, Rocco fed and we waited for the placenta. Once the placenta was delivered the midwife and doctor checked me and let me know I hadn’t torn which I was surprised and pleased about. (Previously I had torn and had an episiotomy)

My husband had some skin to skin time before I fed Rocco on the other side. We were then left in the room for two hours, soaking up the oxytocin high and morning light.

I’m so pleased I did the hypnobirthing course, my birth and recovery has been amazing this time! I felt so empowered!

I am more than happy to answer any questions, I am currently studying to become a Doula and am slightly obsessed with everything to do with childbirth!