Eliza’s Birth Story: First time mum (me!), birth pool, Midwife-led unit

My Birth Story

A stand alone birth centre, water for labour, standing delivery birth, Tirion Birth Centre

I started a hypnobirthing course at around 25 weeks after a friend told me about how she used it in her pregnancy. My husband did the course with me, sceptical at first but really bought in to it as we were going through the content. We practised the strategies a few times a week and he revised his notes regularly! I got really excited about giving birth and loved gaining understanding of exactly what changes my body would be going through as I prepared to deliver my baby. I knew fairly quickly what my preferences were and armed myself with all the knowledge in other options should they have been suggested. 

My contractions started at 40+3 (on my husbands birthday, no less!). We were in lockdown at the time so couldn't really celebrate his birthday, so we were just chilling at home, playing board games and watching Netflix. The contractions started out as really light, infrequent cramps at 10am - I wasn't convinced that I was actually in labour so I didn't tell my husband at this point. By 1pm they were spaced quite evenly apart, around 5 minutes, still manageable, so I spent time on my ball and continued playing board games as a distraction (I still hadn't told my husband). 

By around 4pm they started to get stronger and I felt I needed to start putting the hypnobirthing breathing strategies in to practice, but was still able to move around quite freely. I spent time on my knees, leaning on the sofa as the surges came and went. By 5:30 the contractions were around a minute in length and coming every two minutes. I knew from reading around contractions and labour that this could be a bit of an indicator that I was in or close to established labour so I rang the birth centre. The midwife advised that I take some paracetamol (which I chose not to do), have a bath, and come in when I was struggling to talk through contractions (this also didn't happen). 

So we ran a bath and whilst waiting for it to run I went to the toilet and saw quite a lot of blood when I wiped. The surges were getting much stronger, still two minutes apart, lasting around a minute in length so I called the birth centre again (6:15) and just said something like,

oh I know you said I shouldn't be able to talk before I come in but I think I should make my way down. She responded that they were actually about to call me back and tell me to go in based on the frequency and length of the contractions (because not everyone has the same level of pain threshold!). In between breathing through contractions I was able to stick a bit of makeup on - priorities, eh? and we headed to the birth centre which was 15 minutes away. 

The car ride was INTENSE, My husband played my hypnbirthing playlist (Disney instrumentals) on the journey whilst I focussed on my breathing. I had been pairing relaxation strategies with the likes of "A whole new world" (ha) throughout my pregnancy so it had a lovely calming affect on me and just reminded me to focus on breathing. When we got there the HCA was waiting outside for us. I was able to walk to the birth centre however when a contraction came I felt an overwhelming urge to squat so I basically looked like a leap-frog making my way inside. 

8PM the pool was ready for me and amazingly we were the ONLY couple in the birth centre (one thing to thank Covid for as they had only just reopened). The pool provided instant pain relief and felt amazing. I actually questioned whether it was a false alarm as the surges eased off so much. I spent an hour chatting with the staff, eating strawberry laces and listening to my playlist in the pool. I then had an urgent need to poop! Again there was a huge amount of blood in the toilet, the midwife confirmed it was just my show.

She examined me and said I was 7cm! I was amazed and so proud that I had spent the majority of labour at home and then with just the pool and self-management strategies as pain relief. 

As soon as I got back in the pool the surges really intensified so I started using gas and air - I knew I was likely transitioning. I stayed on my knees leaning over the side of the pool the whole time. I started pushing at around 9:45 using my 'down breathing'. The midwives expected her to be born in a few breaths as she was so low but when she didn't they asked me to stop using gas and air in case it was interfering with me recognising when a contraction was coming.

After an hour, she asked me to get on the bed to be examined. Laying on my back felt like the most unnatural position and made me so much more uncomfortable that I immediately flipped back over to my knees. The midwife was quite insistent that I needed to get on to my back however I was determined that wasn't the best thing for me or my baby. She examined me on all fours, at which point she noticed my waters hadn't broken so she broke them for me. If I were to change anything then this would be it - I wouldn't agree to having them broken again unless there was an urgent medical need. 

I spent the rest of my time labouring standing up holding on to my husbands neck. Each time a surge came I felt an automatic urge to squat deeply in to it which helped open my pelvis. Eliza was born at 11:31pm with 29 minutes left of her dad's birthday. When she was born she needed to be taken for a quick blast of oxygen so I didn't get to have her passed to me immediately and we didn't get to have delayed cord clamping (both part of my birth plan!) however I was able to make peace with this. 

I honestly believe I wouldn't have been able to cope as well at home, and in the birth centre without pain relief if I hadn't practiced hypnobirthing, and if my husband hadn't played the role he did in keeping me calm and focused. I will absolutely be using hypnobirthing next time (added later: I actually trained as a hypnobirthing teacher before my next baby was born!) and I'd love to have a home birth too (added later: I did actually plan a home birth even though I had gestational diabetes - click to read about that)