Birth story - Vicki and baby Edward

My Birth Story

 I had a quick (6 hour), drug free and fairly uneventful labour with my first son, Alex, and was lucky enough to leave hospital a couple of days later. However, the speed of the delivery and my lack of preparation (despite buying a hypnobirthing book and downloading several tracks!) meant that I felt very out of control, and ended up giving birth lying on my back with my feet in the air, surrounded by midwives and doctors barking orders at me. This time I really wanted to regain some measure of control, and give birth in a calmer environment.  I again considered hypnobirthing, but having a boisterous not even 2-year-old meant that I didn’t get around to doing anything about it. Fast forward to 37 weeks, when a friend showed me The Positive Birth Company YouTube page, and I quickly watched the ‘Up Breathing’ video and a couple of others. I kept meaning to download the digital pack, but again, time got the better of me. Alex had only been a couple of days early and so I kept thinking I had more time…

 At 38+5, I woke up at about 4am and headed to the toilet (as usual) when I thought I felt my waters break – but to be honest I wasn’t 100% sure. I went downstairs and spent the next few hours pacing around to see if anything would happen. It didn’t. About 7am, I called the hospital, who said I should head in to be checked just in case, and so I woke my husband, arranged a baby sitter for Alex and called my in laws to ask them to head down (they live in Lancashire).

 When we arrived at the hospital, the midwife couldn’t tell if my waters had gone by using the normal methods, but a snazzy new test confirmed it, and I was advised to go for a walk for a couple of hours to get things moving. 2 hours later, a chocolate croissant and 2 cups of tea later there were nigglings but nothing definite. We were told to go home and if nothing happened by the next morning I would be induced.

 Going home to see Alex was lovely, and the arrival of my inlaws meant I could fully relax, knowing Alex would be well cared for whilst we were at the hospital, and this seemed to be the catalyst I needed, and suddenly the contractions were coming every 10 mins and then every 5 mins. We headed back to hospital where annoyingly the contractions stopped again. The midwife suggested a sweep, and within 10 minutes of that things were definitely on the move. We were told to go for a walk again, and come back when I could no longer manage with the pain. For the next 2 hours, we did laps of the hospital, with me using ‘up-breathing’ on each surge. Finally, I thought I should go get my TENS machine, and we were moved to a birthing room. I had requested a water birth, and it was lovely to see the pool already set up. I was monitored every 15 minutes, but otherwise left to get on with it, and was able to focus on my breathing, with the help of the TENS. Finally, after another 2 hours I decided to get into the pool, I was starting to feel like I wanted to push, and so got out of my clothes, only just remembering at the last minute to take off the TENS!

 I was in the water for all of about 2 minutes, and had just had a puff of gas and air, when suddenly a massive surge came. This was the only time I lost my composure, as it took me by surprise. During the next surge, the head appeared, and the following surge completed the birthing of our baby. Holding my baby in my arms less then 10 minutes after getting into the pool, I was completely in shock – I had assumed I would be able to relax in the pool for maybe an hour…

 Unfortunately, due to the speed of the delivery, I had torn a bit, and so had to get out of the pool to be stitched up. This for me was the worst part, but lying there with our new baby, having had the calm and controlled birth experience I wanted, meant that I was on top of the world!

 Having arrived back at the hospital at 2pm, baby Edward (Teddy to his friends) arrived at 5.51pm, and by 10pm, we were back at home eating pizza. That night, after a mad rush to get the cot out etc, I couldn’t sleep – I think I spent all night watching my beautiful boy.

Without a doubt, watching the videos by the positive birth company helped my have the birth I wanted – the breathing techniques put me back in control, and for that I can’t thank them enough. I was so fortunate to have a speedy, straightforward labour but would wholeheartedly recommend that everyone makes the time to watch the videos and do the course.