Birth story - Sophie and baby boy

From 1:30am on 20th (due date) I managed to sleep through surges I’d been having since 2pm the day before but they were too uncomfortable by 1:30am so I got up and had a cup of tea, listened to relaxation music and sat on the yoga ball.

Between 1:30am and 3:30pm on 20th the surges were lasting over 45 seconds each but varied from between 2mins to 12mins apart. Although uncomfortable, but still not believing I was in labour, I continued my day & called my mum over at 12:30 for a walk. We didn’t get very far on the walk, 200m probably, around the housing estate and I had surges a few times where I needed to stop, focus on my breathing, and continue when it passed. At home I played relaxation music, tried out various UFO positions, had wax melt burning and had plenty to drink and snack on, as well as lavender essential oil to help me relax. 

I also put on the TENS machine at 2pm, just to try it out, but ended up keeping it on until getting into the pool later. On reflection I should have used it much earlier but I guess I was coping very well! The boost mode was amazing and really did help with surges. 

At 3pm I messaged my partner and advised he should come home from work as I didn’t think it would be much longer. Turns out we had been doing everything right from the start to boost my oxytocin and by the time he got home at 4pm we needed to call the midwives as I was in established labour. 

At 4pm mum called the midwives and my partner prepped the pool. 

At 5pm the first midwive arrived and said how amazing I was doing as she could see, and tell, I was in established labour. 

I stated on my preferences I wanted to be asked before being examined for dilation and the midwife asked my mum, who confirmed with me between surges, and I did want to know how my cervix was changing. I was 5cm and she could feel baby’s head! Just after 5pm things intensified and I knew I wanted gas and air but wasn’t sure if I needed to save the pool for later on as I didn’t want to get in too soon. It’s a good job my partner had already half filled it, and was taking care of all my 5 senses. He put the tea lights and fairy lights on and sprayed the room, brought the fan into the room too as I kept having hot flushes and feeling sickly and provided me with biscuits and juice. 

I got into the pool and started to use gas and air, I was also vocal by this point.l. I didn’t expect to be as loud as I was, the surges were so intense but I embraced every single one remembering affirmations: they were bringing my baby closer to me, my body knows how to birth my baby, all the strength I need is within me, I look forward to holding my baby in my arms; we had them on the book shelves in babys bedroom where I gave birth to him and I could see these and remember everything I needed to keep me going. Between surges I rested and relaxed to get rid of any adrenaline - I remember leaning back into the pool as if it were a hot tub and shaking my face to release tension, catching my breath ready for the next surge. When it came I literally jumped across to lean over the pool, grabbed my mum around the waist and used the gas and air, and let me body do what it needed to. 

The midwives came into the room sometime around now and were so supportive and reminded me to keep using the gas and air and to stay focused. They commented that they could see baby’s head and that he had his eyes open, they told me to lift my bum slightly and then said they would pass him under my legs to my tummy.

Baby was born. We had delayed cord clamping until the cord stopped pulsing. Then daddy had skin to skin whilst I delivered the placenta and had some stitches.